Staff photo / Dan Hiner Girard’s Gianna Saxon hits a grand slam during the second inning of Thursday’s game against Mineral Ridge at Joe Lane Stadium in Weathersfield.

WEATHERSFIELD — Neither team left the field at Joe Lane Stadium depressed on Thursday. Girard was happy it won, and Mineral Ridge almost pulled off an unlikely comeback.

The Indians had an eight-run lead midway through the game, but the Rams had the potential tying and winning runs on base in the seventh. However, the Indians held on to beat the Rams 8-7 in an offensive-filled game.

“We knew going into this game that, that was a very good team,” Girard head coach Jim Keagy said. “Our bats got going early, we were hitting. We were running and kind of stalled a little bit, but we knew we had to keep fighting defensively, and our pitcher did a great job on the mound.”

The Indians (3-3) didn’t need to wait for their bats to heat up.

Quinn Wilster drew a leadoff walk to start the game, and Caylee Wilkes followed with a ground-rule double down the left-field line. Gianna Saxon drove in both with a ground-rule double of her own down the third-base line.

The top of the second played out similarly. Gabby Doran drew a leadoff walk, and Chloe Plant doubled to left to put runners on second and third. Doran scored on a fielding error on a Wilster flyball to left field.

Then Wilkes was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Saxon extended Girard’s lead to 7-0 with a grand slam over the cones in left field, recording her sixth RBI of the game. She finished a triple shy of the cycle.

“(Saxon’s) one of our best hitters. When we have traffic on the base paths, when she’s up to bat, we love our chances,” Keagy said.

Plant reached on an error with two outs in the top of the third, and Ava Serrano made it an 8-0 Indians lead with an RBI double to left.

Kourtni Kaminski singled to center field to start the bottom of the third, getting the Rams (4-2) their first base runner. She reached second base on a bunt and advanced to third on a wild pitch. But Plant caught a pop-up and struck out a batter to strand Kaminski.

Then Ridge found some offense.

Maddie Gerberry got into scoring position for the Rams with a one-out double to left-center field in the home half of the fourth. Savannah Turek followed with a walk, and Kelcie Dye got Ridge on the board with a three-run home run to left field, cutting the deficit to 8-3.

“This game was definitely different than our first five. We did a lot of smallball in the first five,” Mineral Ridge co-head coach Will Sandy said. “Today, the situations just didn’t really present themselves. We just put girls on, and it’s nice when your middle of the order can drive in a three-run home run.”

The Rams got another opportunity at runs when Turek doubled and Dye was intentionally walked to start the bottom of the sixth. Alyssa Ylonen made it an 8-6 game with a three-run home run to center field in the next at-bat.

“Our talent shouldn’t outweigh our mental awareness, and when they come in and do what they’re supposed to do, we can beat anybody,” Mineral Ridge co-head coach Joe Merolillo said.

Mineral Ridge got the tying run to the plate after Gerberry doubled in the seventh. Dye drove in Gerberry for her fourth RBI of the day, making it a one-run game with two outs.

Ylonen walked to put the tying run in scoring position and the winning run on base. But Plant got a flyout to end the game and hold onto the win.

Plant earned the win for Girard. She allowed seven runs on nine hits and two walks, striking out six in a complete game.

Turek took the loss. She gave up seven runs – six earned – on four hits and two walks. She struck out three in 1 1/3 innings before Ylonen entered in relief. Ylonen pitched the final 5 2/3 innings for the Rams and only allowed one unearned run.

“We talk about trying to get better every game and having an opportunity,” Keagy said. “We knew we were maybe going to play this game today on the turf. We had a good practice yesterday. And I told them, ‘Be ready to play tomorrow because we’re going to play regardless, whether it was on the field or on the turf.’ And we had a great day yesterday and we were ready to lock in.”