WELLS RIVER — Fifty-nine looks mighty fine on the Oxbow High softball team.

The Olympians, four-time defending VPA Division III champions, extended their consecutive victories streak to that point Thursday with a 13-0 defeat of Blue Mountain. Oxbow is 11-0 this season and has outscored its opponents, 158-1.

The Division IV Bucks (7-4) held the Olympians scoreless for three innings and trailed only 1-0 after five frames. However, the visitors exploded for six runs during the sixth and another half-dozen tallies during the seventh.

“Today was a close game and we were a little on edge, but we stayed well-composed,” said Oxbow first basemen Noemi Rosa. “We don’t let it get the better of us. We stay calm and work through that.”

Rosa had a triple and a home run and three RBIs and sisters and battery mates Stassi and Mazie Bourgeois each had a single, a double and two RBIs. Stassi Bourgeois, a senior pitcher, recorded 14 strikeouts, including the 600th of her high school career, while throwing a three-hitter and walking none. Sixty-seven of her 87 pitches were strikes.

“We’ve been preparing for this game from the start of the season,” said Blue Mountain coach Mike Murray, noting that many of his players are friendly with assorted Olympians. “We poured everything into it today. We knew we were facing a faster pitcher than ever before and we were struggling with her rise ball.”

Because batters so rarely put the ball into play against their pitcher that Oxbow fielders must make a concerted effort to remain alert.

“When there are those few games when we see some action in the field, we’re able to keep ourselves collected because we practice it so much,” said Rosa, a junior who estimated there are half a dozen Olympians who play club softball during the summer and fall.

Blue Mountain’s Tori Florentine produced a double and Bucks pitcher Kaylee Hamlett allowed 12 hits but only four earned runs as the defense struggled behind her. Hamlett struck out four Olympians and walked three.

“She must have thrown 140 pitches, which is 35 more than she’s had in a game this year,” Murray said.

Oxbow has beaten every foe by at least 10 runs this spring, including three victories by more than 20 runs. The Olympians sprint out of the batter’s box, intent on taking an extra base or bases whenever possible. Braylee Phelps hit a line-drive single to center field and circled the bases when a Buck overran the ball.

“We play all-out every single game, no matter the opponent,” Rosa said. “It keeps us really engaged and in the moment. When our energy and enthusiasm and focus is up, we perform our best.

“We’ve had complaints that we’re too into games when we’re winning by a lot. It gets on people’s nerves.”

Oxbow Coach Chuck Simmons orchestrates his team’s intensity with passionate exhortations audible to all. When one player looked off-balance during a swing, he roared from the third-base coaching box. “If I see you on that front foot again, it’s 50 pushups!” he shouted, tongue in cheek. “I want to see that confidence right now! Smile for me. There you go.”

An inning later, Simmons ordered Rosa to clear her mind after a swing and a miss.

“Think of chocolate cupcakes or something,” he said loudly. Rosa’s next swing produced her triple.

“You get used to it,” said a smiling Rosa, who’s played for Simmons since youth ball. “It’s good to have a coach who keeps the energy up but holds you accountable. I think it’s a helpful and effective coaching style.”

Oxbow’s dominance begs the question of why it doesn’t petition to move up to Division II. Simmons said his school missed a chance to do so in 2021 when the scheduling cycle and division placements for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years was created.

Oxbow athletic director Heidi Wright, who arrived in July of 2022, wrote in an email that the setup was extended by the VPA for the current school year “to align with the NVAC and SVL league cycles.”

Assuming there isn’t another extension, it seems Oxbow could petition to move up in softball later this year.

“We’ve shown we can run with tougher teams and if we had more of them, we could definitely succeed,” Rosa said.

Said Simmons: “It would give our kids the chance to feel pressure and feel overwhelmed and anxious to make them better in the long run. But I think we only had something like 78 girls in our school last year, so just because we petition up doesn’t mean we’re going to get it.”

Notes: Paul Stanfield, who oversees a Vermont high school sports history site for the VPA, wrote in an email this week that he believes Oxbow’s winning streak is a state softball record. The national record is 112 consecutive victories ... Stassi Bourgeois has committed to play next season at NCAA Division II West Virginia State. The Lady Yellow Jackets were 14-32 this spring. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute, the school is one of 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the U.S. ... Overheard outside the Blue Mountain dugout: “I’m tempted to get hit by a pitch but I don’t want a bruise to show up in my prom pictures.” ... Oxbow’s baseball team, which began last season 1-8 before rallying to finish 5-12 and reach the playoffs, has begun the current campaign 1-10 ... Simmons also coaches Oxbow’s varsity boys soccer team and its JV boys basketball squad. He’s known for often driving those teams’ buses to games.

Tris Wykes can be contacted at ctwykes@aol.com.