Bradford, Vt. — All Oxbow High junior Mary Bourgeois had to do was heed the advice from behind home plate with one out in the bottom of the third inning of Tuesday’s softball game with visiting Randolph. Look at the gap in right-center field, said someone in the crowd. Smack one right in there.

That’s exactly where Bourgeois put the ball, a double that jump-started the Olympians’ offense en route to an 8-1 victory at Oxbow High School. After a slow start offensively and a hiccup on defense in the first inning, it was the way veteran Oxbow head coach Robin Wozny expected her team to respond.

“It shows character,” Wozny said. “(Randolph) came ready to play. They came with a game plan, and it worked early on. We had to make some adjustments, and we did. In the long run, we staved it off and scored some runs late.

“We had some calls that didn’t go our way, we made some mistakes, but in the long run we stuck with it,” she added. “Different people stepped up. That’s what we need.”

Alex Giesing scored the game-winning run in the third inning and added insurance in the sixth with an inside-the-park home run to left field. Not that there has been any doubt about Oxbow’s offense this season: The undefeated Olympians (11-0) have outscored opponents, 171-13, this far.

But the major difference with this year’s team is its pitching depth, with veteran Bourgeois being backed up by talented freshman Madison Fornwalt. It’s an added aspect to Oxbow’s game that Wozny said she’s never had in her 27 years as coach.

“I’ve been lucky to have one (pitcher),” she said with a laugh. “I was happy watching Mary coming up. To have two is just a blessing. I’ve never had that before.”

Fornwalt and Bourgeois have split time in the circle this season, with the intention of keeping both rested and healthy for the playoffs. Oxbow fell to lower-seeded Leland & Gray in the quarterfinals last year, an early exit for a team hoping to make its first Vermont Division III championship game since 2013. This season, with four of the top teams in D-III within striking distance of each other, the Olympians don’t want to take any chances.

Wozny has had to find a balancing act between keeping both pitchers involved and, at the same time, developing Fornwalt — who also plays second base — for the future.

“We’ve been every other game (alternating between both pitchers),” Wozny said. “(Fornwalt) has been developing a lot.”

Randolph pounced on Oxbow early, six days after falling to the Olympians, 11-2, at home.

On Bourgeois’ first pitch of the game, Randolph junior Jenna Sprague bunted down the third-base line, catching most of the Oxbow defense off-guard. Sprague eventually came around to score on an RBI single from Mackenzie Rumrill to give the Ghosts a 1-0 lead.

“They’re a very good bunting team; they put a lot of pressure on you,” Wozny said. “We knew that from last game, so we knew coming in that there was going to be some pressure there. We made that one mistake early. … I told the girls yesterday, ‘They can’t bunt if we’re ahead and they’re behind by a couple.’ That was the plan, and after they got up on us 1-0, we kind of hung our heads because they knew they had to get ahead.”

Oxbow stormed back in the third inning starting with Bourgeois’ double to right-center field. Fornwalt and junior Kayleigh Trojanowski drove in two more runs in the inning to give the Olympians a 3-1 lead. Oxbow scored another in the fifth, following a triple from Bourgeois into deep center field, and four more in the sixth to seal the deal.

Bourgeois finished the game with nine strikeouts, seven hits and one walk allowed in seven innings of work. Fornwalt began warming up behind the dugout in the fourth inning, but Wozny said it was more of a precautionary measure.

“The plan for the day was to only have (Bourgeois) pitch three or four and have Maddy come in,” Wozny said. “But Mary just got stronger as the game went on, I thought. She had a rough first inning, but she was getting stronger. With runners on base, she was shutting them down.”

Oxbow is still one of only two undefeated teams in D-III, the other being Richford (12-0), which has only allowed 10 runs against all year. But the Olympians might already hold the advantage, having played six of their 11 games against D-II opponents. Oxbow also holds the trump card on its resume after handing Lyndon, one of D-II’s top teams, its only loss this season.

“These girls are playing well,” Wozny said. “As long as they continue to play solid like that and hit … we’re going to score some runs, as long as we don’t give them a four- or five-run head start.”

Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or at 603-727-3306.