Their hits were falling in rapid succession, a tsunami of runs was crossing the plate, and victory seemed very much at hand.

The Douglas Freeman Mavericks, however, were taking nothing for granted.

Sure, they were in the midst of a 12-run third inning en route to a 17-3 softball victory over J.R. Tucker on the Tigers’ Pat McGuire Field Thursday night.

Sure, senior righthander Caroline Baird was holding the home team in check with a well-placed array of pitches and a solid defense behind her.

Sure, giving in to complacency, whether consciously or not, would have been easy, especially with the spring break hiatus on the horizon.

Coach Carly Simonds’ crew knew better.

“As the score started climbing, it was important to remember not to get too comfortable,” said Annie Keating, the Mavs’ junior catcher who pulled yeoman’s duty behind the plate and went 2-for-4, smacked a home run in the monster third inning, and contributed four runs batted in.

“The more we hit the ball, it was definitely infectious, but you never want to assume you’re going to win, because they can always come back.”

The take-nothing-for-granted mindset served the Mavericks well.

“We worked really well together as a team,” said Baird. “It never goes well when teams are in pieces.  We did an amazing job of hyping each other up and bouncing back if things didn’t necessarily go our way.”

Mixing curves, changeups, drops, and fastballs, Baird allowed just three hits and one walk and struck out four in three innings in the circle.

Before she faced her first batter, the Mavericks led 3-0, but she pitched with a focus and intentionality that enabled her to work her way out of a bottom-of-the-first, bases-loaded jam unscathed.

“I do my best not to get in my head,” she said. “I tried to think of it as a zero-zero ball game the whole time. When there’s a big lead, it gets me going a little too much. The best way to calm myself down is to say, ‘OK, it’s an even ball game. You never know what can happen.’”

Freeman (2-2) scored two more runs in the second to go up 5-0.

The dam burst in the third.

Allison Campbell drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third on wild pitches. Brooklyn Aldrich walked as well, and No. 9 hitter Maeve Bridge delivered a shot up the leftfield line that scored Campbell and moved Aldrich to second.

Aldridge and Bridge advanced a base on an infield out, then scored on Keating’s single to centerfield.

After the Mavs loaded the bases, Baird’s single, also to center field, scored Libby Booker (courtesy runner for Keating) and Kayleigh Perks. 

Then, in rapid succession, Ryleigh Perks scored on Campbell’s infield single, Aldrige singled home Evelyn Drinkwine (courtesy runner for Baird), and Bridge laced a double to left to send Campbell and Aldrich home. 

At that point, the Mavs held a 14-0 lead. 

That’s when Keating cleared the bases with her never-in-doubt dinger over the 200-foot left field fence.

“Our main goal tonight was to hit everything to the right side,” said Keating. “If you think about hitting right side, right side, you can time it up, and the ball will go anywhere: right field, left field, centerfield.

“We saw that tonight. Keep it simple. Keep it short to contact. Make sure not to swing for the trees.”

Keating, though, swung, at least once, for the trees, albeit unintentionally.

“Honestly, it sounds cliché, but I didn’t even try to hit it out,” she said. “All I could think about was hit it to right field. My first two at-bats, I was really early on the ball. Thinking about hitting to the right side helped me get on time, and I was able to pull it to leftfield for a home run.”

The Mavs delivered 12 hits. Baird went 2-for-4 with three RBI. Ryleigh Perks, a Gardner-Webb commit, went 2-for-3 and scored three runs. Her twin sister Kayleigh, a Virginia Tech signee, was 2-for-4 and scored twice.

Kendall Shockley, Payton Banton, and Corinne Lewis crossed the plate for the Tigers in the bottom of the fifth.

“We never assume anything,” said Simonds, the Mavericks’ first-year coach, of her squad’s decisive win. We’ve been in situations like this before where you think you know a team, but you come out and you’re surprised.

“We came out assuming they had the potential to beat us. Our efforts showed that we came to play tonight.”