Plenty of varsity sports were played Friday and Saturday as the weather allowed for a full slate of baseball and softball games and tennis matches to be played in central and southern Aroostook County.
A handful of contests are planned for Monday, as Katahdin travels to Southern Aroostook in baseball and softball at 3:30 p.m. Also, Woodland is at East Grand, Ashland is at Fort Kent, Fort Fairfield is at Hodgdon, Washburn is in St. Agatha to take on Wisdom in baseball and softball and Greater Houlton Christian Academy is at Madawaska for baseball. All those games begin at 4 p.m.
In tennis, Houlton hosts both the boys and girls squads from Schenck/Stearns at 4 p.m.
Results of the varsity contests which took place Friday and Saturday follow:
Tennis
Presque Isle girls 3, Foxcroft Academy 2 — At Presque Isle Friday, the Wildcats improved to 5-4 thanks mainly to a win by the No. 1 doubles team which came down to a tie-breaker.
Gaby Halley and Jenna Ouellette outlasted the Ponies’ Cheyenne Skomars and MacKenzie Harmon, 9-8 (7-3) in the difference maker.
Other results were as follows: singles: Hana Boucher (PI) def. Emily Curtis, 8-2; Miranda Bragan (PI) def. Olivia Wesley, 8-1; and Avery Nelson (FA) def. Anna Robinson, 8-5; doubles: Virginia Macomber-Aaliyah Ellis (FA) by forfeit.
Foxcroft Academy boys 4, Presque Isle 1 — The Wildcats are now 6-3 after dropping the home match to the Ponies Friday.
The Wildcats’ lone win came in first singles as Andre Daigle stopped Foxcroft’s Kaz Kawashima, 8-1.
Others results were: singles: Austin Bickmore (FA) def. Mason Young, 8-5; Foxcroft won third singles by forfeit; doubles: Griffin Loomis and Brandon Weston (FA) def. Isaac Madore and Gage Young, 8-5; Drew Dankert and R.J. Nelson (FA) def. Austin Moreau and Elijah Russell, 8-2.
Baseball
Central Aroostook 6, Katahdin 5 — Ben Thomas struck out eight batters and surrendered only two hits and two walks to lead the Panthers past the Cougars Friday.
Bradley Hotham was also strong on the mound for the Cougars, going 6-2/3 innings and allowing four hits and fanning seven. He did allow six walks during his outing.
The Panthers scored twice in the top of the seventh to come out on top.
Houlton 5, Calais 4 — At Houlton Friday, Nick Perfitt pitched three innings of no-hit relief, striking out five, to help the Shiretowners overcome the Blue Devils. Keegan Gentle paced the offense with two singles and an RBI.
Blake Collins and Jon Socabasin singled for Calais.
Ashland 24, Washburn 14 — The host Hornets spotted the Beavers a 10-3 lead before battling back in the middle innings.
Alex Kaiser ripped a pair of home runs and drove in five runs in the game. Steven Bellanceau doubled and singled twice and Jesse Wortman doubled and singled and drove in three runs.
Braedon Campbell, Joshua Jackson, Steven Nader and Julian Echieverria all collected RBI singles and Noah White added a two-run double to key Washburn’s attack.
Fort Fairfield 17, Madawaska 4 — The Tigers eased past the Owls in Fort Fairfield Friday to move to 6-2 on the season. Individual results were not reported.
Central Aroostook 14, Ashland 1 — The Panthers defeated the Hornets in Ashland Saturday as Ben Thomas and Cody McCrum collected two hits each to lead the winning offense.
Caleb Harris went the distance on the mound for CA, striking out nine batters while allowing only four hits. Baily Clark started for the Hornets and absorbed the loss. Alex Kaiser and Jesse Wortman each doubled for Ashland and Alden Routhier had his team’s RBI on a single.
Nokomis 12, Presque Isle 7; Nokomis 9, Presque Isle 8 — The Wildcats lost both ends of the doubleheader played in Newport Saturday.
Errors were costly in both games, with two first-inning errors leading to four Nokomis runs and two more miscues in the fourth leading to three more in the game one loss.
Dakota Morrow had four hits and Jonah Hudson and R.J. Gross added two for PI. Connor DeMerchant had a single and knocked in two runs. Gross was the losing pitcher and Chance Bragan pitched in relief.
Nokomis scored four unearned runs in the first inning of the second game, but PI battled throughout the game and rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game. The Warriors took advantage of a leadoff walk in the bottom of the inning to score the tie-breaking run.
Gross, Bragan and Cole Paterson had two hits apiece for the Wildcats. Bragan scored two runs and Paterson knocked in two. Hudson started and allowed three earned run in his five innings of work, while DeMerchant went the final two and suffered the loss.
Caribou 16, MCI 6; MCI 7, Caribou 6 — Caribou managed a split in its doubleheader played Saturday at Caribou High School.
Noah Frost was the offensive hero in the opener as he had three doubles and a single and drove in three runs and scored three runs in the six-inning game called early due to the run rule. Mason Patten went the first four innings on the mound and got the win, while Sebastian Marquis came on in the fifth and tossed two scoreless and hitless innings of relief.
In the second game, MCI took advantage of four Viking errors to plate four unearned runs and held off a late rally by Caribou to take the second game. The Vikes scored twice in the sixth and left baserunners on second and third in the seventh to fall short. Frost and Alex Ezzy each doubled and Cullin Caverhill singled twice to lead Caribou’s offense.
GHCA 18, Washburn 4 — The Eagles unleashed a 14-hit attack and took advantage of six fielding errors by the Beavers to prevail in Washburn Saturday.
Jeremy Stone had two doubles and Austin Winslow had three hits and three RBI to lead GHCA’s offense.
Patrick Saucier collected two hits and Carvor Pendexter doubled and drove in two runs for Washburn.
Katahdin 27, Madawaska 3 — At Stacyville Saturday, Nathaniel Schimkaitis rapped four hits, scored four runs and had five RBIs to lead the Cougars offensively. Brody Guiggey, Nikolas Drew and Cooper Drew shared pitching duties and combined to allow just one hit, while striking out nine.
For Madawaska, Justin Pelletier had the lone hit.
Softball
East Grand 17, Hodgdon 4 — At Hodgdon Friday, Kianna Caissie, Haleigh Shay, and Jenny Crone each singled twice to lead East Grand past the Hawks.
For Hodgdon, Kora Lambert singled three times and Sidney Crane doubled.
Houlton 13, Calais 5 — At Houlton Friday, Houlton senior Aspen Flewelling blasted a home run among her three hits to propel the Shiretowners to victory over the Blue Devils. Victoria Forbush and Alex Maker provided two hits each for Houlton.
For Calais, Sophie McVicar stroked two singles.
Katahdin 12, Central Aroostook 3 — The Cougars swept the season series against the Panthers by taking Friday’s game played in Stacyville. Winning pitcher Lily Cullen struck out nine batters, while Lindsay Drew smacked a two-run homer and Erin Lake contributed three singles to lead the offense against losing pitcher Caitlyn Harris, who struck out seven batters during her outing.
Annika Nicholas tripled and singled to lead the Panthers at the plate.
Ashland 24, Washburn 1 — The Hornets sailed past the Beavers in Ashland Friday, scoring nine times in the first inning led by Shelby Stolze’s three-run homer.
Amber Chasse tripled, doubled and singled and Hailee Cunningham doubled and singled for Ashland.
Madawaska 22, Fort Fairfield 4 — The Owls used two homers off the bat of Jenna Dugal in their blowout win over the Tigers Friday in Fort Fairfield.
Makaila Beck doubled and singled for Fort Fairfield.
Ashland 14, Central Aroostook 2 — Hailee Cunningham hit two home runs, doubled and knocked in five runs to key the Hornets past the Panthers Saturday in Ashland.
Willow Hall and Olivia Tardie collected three hits each for the winners. Kaitlyn Ferro, Ashland’s freshman pitcher, allowed just three hits to earn the victory.
Caitlyn Harris, Maci Beals and Libby Grass had a single apiece to lead CA.
Nokomis 15, Presque Isle 3; Nokomis 14, Presque Isle 2 — At Newport Saturday, the Wildcats were soundly beaten in a pair of games that went just five innings due to the run rule.
Presque Isle managed only two hits all day, courtesy of a triple off the bat of Savannah Rodriguez and a single by Anna Trombley, both coming in the game one loss. Wildcat coach Terry Cummings said some defensive miscues were costly in both contests.
Caribou 10, MCI 9; MCI 18, Caribou 6 — The teams split Saturday’s doubleheader played in Caribou, with the Vikings using a late comeback to take the first one and MCI dominating game two.
Heather DeMerchant’s three singles and two RBIs and Taylor Labreck’s three singles and one RBI were huge for the Vikings in the opener, but Brooke Moir provided the game-winning hit and also was the winning pitcher.
Taylor Devoe had two hits and knocked in two runs to lead Caribou in the second game, which ended after five innings due to the run rule.
Katahdin 14, Madawaska 3 — At Stacyville Saturday, the Cougars had a fantastic day at the plate, including a pair of three-run home runs by Lindsay Drew and Danielle Libby. Drew also had a single in the contest. Other hitters were Lily Cullen, double and triple; Erin Lake, double and single; Leanne Fitzpatrick, two singles; Hannah Drew, double; Jordyn Gardner, double; Emma McNally, single; and Josie Brownlee, single.
Katahdin’s Cullen struck out eight batters.
For Madawaska, Riley Lausier had five strikeouts. Jenna Dugal and Megan Roy each had a single.
