No. 1 Wildcats upset in quarterfinals
by Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
PRESQUE ISLE — In a strange game that included the ejection of both teams’ leadoff hitters involving plays at home plate, the Camden Hills Windjammers scored three times in the sixth inning and added two more runs in the seventh for a 6-2 victory over Eastern Maine Class B’s top-seeded Wildcats last Wednesday.
COLLISION — Adam Carlson of Camden Hills gets ready to barrel into Presque Isle catcher Jacob Player during the first inning of last Wednesday’s EM Class B quarterfinal. 
Umpire Tom Richard gets ready to make the call. Carlson was ejected for lowering his shoulder toward Player, but CH went on to win the game, 6-2.
PI finished off its otherwise-impressive season with a 15-2 mark, while Camden Hills, who had defeated Nokomis in the prelim round a day earlier, moved on to the semifinals and a matchup against Foxcroft Academy, which the Windjammers lost on Saturday, 9-0.
The contest did not start well for the visitors. Leadoff batter Adam Carlson was on third with nobody out and broke for the plate on Kyle Ohelnik’s grounder to third. Carlson went in to home leading with his shoulder onto PI catcher Jacob Player and even though the ball came loose from Player’s mitt, Carlson was removed from the game by the umpire for the dangerous act and the run was disallowed.
Camden Hills did end up scoring one run in the inning on an RBI single off the bat of Caleb McFarland off PI starting pitcher Ryley Norton.
Sophomore righty Saul Nunez replaced Norton in the second and proceeded to fire four shutout innings against the ’Jammers. Camden Hills had a runner in scoring position in all four frames, but Nunez was able to pitch out of each jam.
Meanwhile, PI was able to push the tying run home in the second as Nunez and Evan Waddell had consecutive one-out hits before Adam Flynn drove home Nunez on a sacrifice fly.
The Wildcats took the lead in the third when Isaac LaJoie reached on a two-base infield error, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.
Presque Isle moved out to a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth, but the game’s momentum swung the other way. Jonah Stephenson walked and scored on a squeeze bunt by Norton, but LaJoie, who had reached base on a fielder’s choice, then tried to score his team’s fourth run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Tyler Seeley. The throw by CH center fielder Coleman Powers beat LaJoie, who then attempted to leap over the catcher in an attempt to reach the plate. He was tagged out anyway and the act forced LaJoie to be removed from the game by the umpire.
The Windjammers then took the lead by scoring three times in the sixth, with Ian Nason’s two-run single proving to be the key hit in the inning, and then put two more runs on the board in the seventh on an RBI single by Chandler Crans and a sacrifice fly by Alex Crans.
Meanwhile, Chandler Crans concluded his complete-game pitching performance by striking out the final two Wildcat hitters to end the game. He finished with seven strikeouts and did not allow a hit after the second inning.
“I try to establish my fastball down and away and then go with the change-up when I need it,” he said. “I give credit to my catcher (Ohelnik). He knows me inside out and called a great game.”
Coach Tim Olore said his team’s inability to play a clean defensive game and also come up with clutch hits led to the disappointing loss.
“We played very well the entire season, but tonight things didn’t go our way,” said the 28th-year coach. “Unearned runs are never what you want, especially in close games, and you also need to come up with key hits with runners in scoring position. Camden Hills did and we, on this night, didn’t.”
The veteran coach hopes the players and fans will remember this year’s team for the brilliant regular season it put together.
“We had an incredible season,” he said. “Earning the No. 1 spot in Eastern Maine and winning the PVC league – you don’t do those things just by showing up. We played with all the teams we went up against, but we just fell short on one of the goals (winning a title). I’m very proud of this team.”
