HOULTON, Maine — Hopes of returning to the regional championship were dashed Saturday for the Houlton baseball team as the No. 2 Shires lost to No. 3 Orono 11-2 in a Class C North semifinal.
“I am proud of the guys for the season that we had,” Houlton coach Jim Castner said. “Each young man gave me everything he had every single day at practice and the games. I thought we grew well as a team and have fantastic team chemistry. Simply put, Orono was a better team Saturday.”
Orono pitcher Jackson Coutts was nearly untouchable on the mound as he allowed just three hits and one walk, with 13 strikeouts.
Coutts’ presence also was felt at the plate as the Shires intentionally walked the hard-hitting Red Riot five times in Saturday’s game, including one time with the bases loaded. Kohle Parker tallied three singles to lead Orono at the plate, while Connor Robertson and Jayden Dana both had two singles.
“My thought behind them [intentional walks] were that he was going to put the ball in play and Desisto, the hitter behind Coutts, was not going to hurt us as much,” coach Castner said. “Of the 4 walks, Desisto only had one hit. With the bases loaded and one out, I put the odds of Coutts hitting the ball to the outfield in some manner at 90 percent. So I figured they were going to get one run, and we should prevent it from becoming more than one.”
Houlton’s Cameron Graham, right, reaches first base safely in Saturday’s semifinal game against Orono as Red Riot first baseman Kohle Parker has to leap into the air to field the ball. No. 3 Orono beat No. 2 Houlton 11-2 in the Class C semifinal. (Joseph Cyr)
Houlton’s Nick Perfitt and Cameron Graham shared pitching duties. The two combined to allow nine hits and 10 walks, with four strikeouts.
Offensively for the Shires, Isia Bouchard had two singles and Keegan Gentle doubled.
The Shires were battling injuries coming into the game and things only got worse in Saturday’s game. Nick Botting entered Saturday’s game nursing a dislocated shoulder from Wednesday’s prelim. Botting served as the designated hitter in Saturday’s game.
On the very first play of the game, the Shires suffered another injury as first baseman Bouchard collided with Orono baserunner Evan Kenefic as Bouchard tried to field a fly ball down the first base line. Kenefic was called out for runner interference and Bouchard remained in the game, but had to leave following the second inning. Bouchard left the complex, but returned later on and re-entered the game.
Due to some injuries, we had some guys that were not used to seeing regular time in the field at certain positions,” Castner said. “Our offense was fantastic all year, but we did not get the hits today when we needed them.”
