AMHERST – The ARHS Vikings are back at the top of high school slo-pitch softball.
The Vikings rode a pair of five-run innings to a 17-3 win over Halifax West to claim the NSSAF provincial championship on Monday in Brookfield.
The final round robin game, semifinals and final were supposed to be played Saturday, but got rained out and were rescheduled to Monday.
In the fifth, the Vikings got a three-run home run from Jacob Melanson as well as single home runs from Cole Stevens and Jackson Comeau to put the game out of reach.
The Vikings jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on homers by MacKenzie Comeau and Mike Farrell, who also homered in the fourth after Jackson Comeau reached on an error.
Amherst only gave up two runs in the third and a single run in the fourth.
The Vikings eked out a semifinal win over Glace Bay in the semifinal earlier Monday, winning 23-22 in a slugfest that saw the Amherst squad get out of a bases-loaded jam in bottom of the seventh with the tying run at third and the winning run at second.
Cole Stevens homered twice in the game for Amherst as the two teams traded runs throughout the game that was anything but a defensive battle.
Amherst scored five runs each in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
ARHS opened the tourney with a 13-8 loss to host South Colchester, who scored four in the third and four in the sixth while Amherst got four in the sixth and three in the seventh to keep it close.
Amherst earned a 16-9 win over J.L. Ilsley High School in the second tournament game with Mike Farrell and MacKenzie Comeau each homering and the Vikings scoring three in the first and five in the second to build up a big lead early and then put the game away with five more in the fifth.
The Vikings’ offence continued to roll in the final round robin game, a 17-3 win over Central Kings as MacKenzie Comeau and Cal Hoeg each homered twice and Cole Stevens, Jackson Comeau and Mike Farrell each homered once.
