Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – The Viking and Wildcat rivalry played out on the softball and baseball diamonds under the lights at Presque Isle High School on May 20. A duo of decisive plays put Caribou on top and gave them the bragging rights of the first seasonal match.
Pitching and defense at the softball field kept the game in low digits as Viking Serena Grier and Wildcat Krista Coffin threw for their teams.
Presque Isle had the lead up to the top of the seventh inning when Grier hit an RBI to tie the game, and Katie Ouellette crossed home to give Caribou a 3-2 lead. Presque Isle couldn’t recover in their final round at the plate.
Caribou coach Ryan Deprey approved of the defensive play during the game. “Defensively we’re better when Serena’s pitching because I can put Ashley Doucette and Kristen Espling in the left infield,” explained Deprey. “We knew we needed to make them hit, and that they don’t play very many long balls. So, we needed to keep making sound plays.”
Doucette hit a double and Grier added a single for the Vikings.
Coffin led PIHS offense with an RBI double.
Presque Isle and Caribou kept each other in check on the baseball field through the first three innings of play. The bottom of the third ended with a Wildcat advantage 3-2. In the top of the fourth Jarryd Rossignol blasted a home run to push three runs past home and gave the Vikings a boost toward the eventual 15-4 final.
“We had things going the first three innings,” said Presque Isle coach Tim Olore. “We were playing small ball, but then we gave them three outs an inning … They capitalized on that.”
Caribou’s Eric Brown singled twice and doubled while teammate Pat Thibodeau doubled twice in the victory. Mike Doucette doubled and singled for CHS.
Philip St. Peter pitched a full seven innings for Caribou partnered with catcher Seth Sager. “He has a good fastball, change up and curve ball to keep batters off balance,” commented Caribou coach Jimmie Thibodeau about the Viking defense. “A good defense behind a pitcher can really help, and that’s what Caribou has been doing very well.”
According to Olore, PIHS pitchers Brennen Shaw and Ethan Braley also put in top pitching performances combining for eight strikes.
At bat, Presque Isle’s Adam Kingsbury singled three times, and Braley doubled twice. Bennett Cassidy added a double, and Steve Ford hit two singles.
Lynx top Wildcats
Mattanawcook baseball proved their third-place Heal Point standing defeating Presque Isle last Wednesday, 13-4. PIHS had a fourth inning comeback with four runs, but couldn’t manage the upset. Shaw tripled for two runs, and Eric Morris doubled and singled for the Wildcats.
PIHS softball faced a similarly intimidating foe one their home diamond and fell 7-0 to the Lynx pitching strength. Jenna Stephenson, Coffin, Allisen Donovan and Jodie Buckley all singled for Presque Isle.
Memorial Day doubleheaders
Presque Isle softball and baseball fought back from an opening game defeat to win the final game of their doubleheaders with Mount Desert Island on Monday.
PIHS softball batters tagged home plate seven times in the fifth inning of their second game toward the 11-8 win.
Allison Young hit a double and a single with two RBIs in the victory. Stephenson and Kayla Legassie hit three singles each.
In the first game, Donovan doubled for two runs in the 4-2 loss.
Wildcat baseball scored two runs in the sixth inning to take the lead from MDI and kept the Trojan batters back for the 5-4 win. Eric Morris posted an RBI double while Cassidy had a single, double and two RBIs for PIHS. Ford hit two singles.
Shaw posted an RBI double in the opening loss 12-2.
With the split, Presque Isle softball brings their record to 2-8 while Presque Isle baseball posts a 6-9 record.
Staff photo/Meridith Paterson
NIC GALLANT takes a swing at bat for Presque Isle. The Caribou catcher is Seth Sager.
