PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — After scuffling through the first inning, Connor DeMerchant settled down and pitched his Presque Isle Cushman’s baseball team to a 7-2 victory over AFSL/CFCU of Caribou and the Northern Maine Community Recreation Association Pony League championship.
Caribou baserunner Alex Ezzy steals third base as Presque Isle third baseman Riley Roderick makes the late tag during the NMCRA Pony League baseball championship game played in Presque Isle Monday, July 24. (Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg)
The game was played Monday, July 24 at the Bishop’s Island ball field in Presque Isle.
DeMerchant loaded the bases to begin the game on a walk, a hit batsman and a single by Caribou’s Jacob Soucy. Then DeMerchant’s own throwing error allowed both Alex Ezzy and Brandon Poitras to cross the plate and grabbed a 2-0.
After that, DeMerchant was literally unhittable. Over his final five innings of work, the right-hander allowed only six baserunners. Nobody on the Caribou squad was able to muster a hit. He wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the third by inducing Soucy to ground out to PI first baseman Zack Fletcher.
With two outs in the sixth, Hayden Hunter of Caribou reached on a double error by PI shortstop Chance Bragan and Soucy drew a walk, but despite owning the hardest hit ball on the afternoon, Carter Quist was retired on a lineout to Bragan to end the game.
DeMerchant finished with nine strikeouts. He was able to work around four walks, three hit batsmen and three PI errors.
“I switched up my pitches a lot and that seemed to be working,” DeMerchant said. “They couldn’t catch up with the fastball and I snuck in a curve.”
Connor DeMerchant releases a pitch during the late innings of the Pony League championship baseball game played Monday, July 24. DeMerchant threw a complete-game one-hitter, leading Presque Isle to a 7-2 victory. (Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg)
Poitras, Caribou’s starting pitcher, got off to a brilliant start by retiring the first six batters he faced, three coming on strikeouts. He got into trouble in the third by walking two of the first three batters he faced and then allowed a triple to deep left field by PI leadoff hitter Sam Beaulieu, tying the game.
With two outs, Beaulieu scored on a wild pitch to give his team a 3-2 lead. Shortly after striking out the final batter he faced to end the inning, Poitras was ejected from the game for using improper language.
Soucy came on in relief and surrendered two runs in the fourth, keyed by Fletcher’s triple and Riley Roderick’s double; a single run in the fifth on Fletcher’s RBI single which plated Ricky Goupille from third; and another in the sixth when Mitchell Dumais doubled in Colby Bonville.
Caribou pitchers struck out 11 batters — six by Poitras and five by Soucy — but gave up seven hits, including four for extra bases.
“We’ve had enormous leads all season except for two of our games,” said PI coach Brad Boyles. “I think those two games helped them realize you aren’t always going to blow out teams and it’s important to keep your focus.
“With the pitching and the defense we have, the kids knew eventually they’d come around with the bats,” Boyles added.
Presque Isle finished the season with a 10-1 overall record, while Caribou went 9-2.
Union 122, Fort Fairfield, Grand Falls 2 and Mapleton were the other teams qualifying for the playoffs in the 10-team league. After drawing byes for finishing as the top two teams in the league, Presque Isle beat Union 122 and Caribou defeated Mapleton in last week’s semifinal round and clinch berths in the finals.
Edmundston 1, Edmundston 2, Grand Falls 1 and Van Buren were the other teams in the league.
