Playoff time has arrived for local softball and baseball teams.
Preliminary playoff games took place Tuesday, with quarterfinals scheduled Thursday and semifinals Saturday. The Eastern Maine championship games for classes B and D are slated for next Wednesday, June 18, with softball taking place at Brewer’s Coffin Field and baseball at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor. The state championship contests are set for Saturday, June 21 at the same venues.
One team that drew a bye into the softball quarterfinals is the Limestone-MSSM Eagles.
That’s because the squad, under first-year coach Andrew Kirby, rolled to a 15-0 record to complete its second consecutive undefeated regular season. The Eagles finished in first place in the EM ‘D’ standings.
“That was the first goal the girls set back at the start of the season,” Kirby said. “It’s not easy going undefeated, but the girls love the game of softball and put everything into it.”
Limestone-MSSM made it to the regional finals a year ago, but was beaten by Penobscot Valley High School of Howland, 7-0. The two teams could very well meet again in the finals as PVHS is No. 2 and is the only other unbeaten team in the rankings.
“The keys for us to put together a good run are going to be to stay patient when at bat and not chase bad pitches. That is something we have been working on all season and in the last third of the season they have gotten much better at being patient and working the count,” Kirby said. “The girls are always strong at hitting and always seem to have at least one big inning, which will also be key for us.”
Limestone-MSSM carries a .471 team batting average. Kelsee Albert leads the way with a .568 mark and also has the top on-base percentage at .712. She is followed closely in batting average by Chelsey Pelkey at .556, Melissa Cantafio at .519 and Ellyzabeth Bencivenga at .509.
Jackie Peers is the stolen base leader with 20 and Albert is next with 15. Madeline Williams is tops in RBI with 32, with Cantafio and Pelkey following with 28 and 24, respectively.
The Eagles have outscored their opponents by a 237-48 margin.
However, Kirby said pitching and defense could be even more important in advancing far into the post-season. He said those aspects of the game have been ‘on’ during the last part of the season and predicted if that continues, the Eagles will be successful.
Cantafio is the No. 1 pitcher and has 85 strikeouts in 65 innings of work. She has surrendered just 26 hits all season long. Bencivenga gives the team excellent depth on the mound. She has logged 20 strikeouts in 23 innings.
The Eagles closed out the regular season last Tuesday with a 17-4 win over Washburn, which finished as the No. 3 team in the division. Limestone-MSSM put seven runs on the scoreboard in the second inning and followed that up with eight more an inning later. Bencivenga’s second-inning grand slam homer was the key hit. Cantafio, who struck out seven batters in the five-inning contest, had a two-run blast to get the offense going in the opening frame.
Hannah Heald, Nicole Olson and Brittany Corey had Washburn’s only hits. The Beavers beat Fort Fairfield the following afternoon, 18-17, to go 11-4 on the campaign. In that game, Olson had a double and two singles and Taylor Howe had a pair of hits for the victors. Logan Bubar collected three hits and Alexis Coiley ripped an RBI double for Fort Fairfield.
The Beavers played No. 14 Schenck in Tuesday’s preliminary round, while Fort Fairfield, seeded fifth with its 8-7 record, hosted 12th-ranked Katahdin.
The other softball team in the area, the Caribou Vikings, failed to qualify for the Class B playoffs. They finished with a 2-14 mark, going winless in their final 12 games. Caribou placed 17th in the 19-team division.
The Caribou baseball team, however, easily made the playoffs by going 10-6. The Vikings finished regular season play last Wednesday with a 6-3 victory over Presque Isle, avenging an early-season loss to the Wildcats.
The Vikings trailed 3-2 entering the bottom of the fifth inning, but rallied for four runs to go on top to stay. Matt Milliard tripled and Cody Herbert doubled to pace Caribou’s attack against talented PI senior starter Saul Nunez.
Matt Curry, coming off a nine-inning gem four days earlier at MDI, went all seven against the Wildcats and surrendered just five hits, striking out five and not allowing a single walk. Caribou took advantage of four errors committed by the visitors.
Caribou, the No. 7 seed, hosted No. 10 Foxcroft Academy Tuesday afternoon in a prelim, with the winner earning a berth against second-ranked Hermon in the quarters.
The Washburn, Fort Fairfield and Limestone-MSSM baseball teams all logged fine campaigns and high seeds for the playoffs. The Beavers finished 12-2, what is believed to be the best winning percentage in school history, and grabbed the No. 3 position. Fort Fairfield won a lot of close games en route to a 9-5 mark and the fourth seed, while Limestone-MSSM, under first-year coach Eric McGough, got off to a strong start before faltering down the stretch, but still finished fifth at 7-7.
The Beavers split their final two games, doubling up on Limestone-MSSM last Tuesday, 4-2, before losing a slugfest against Fort Fairfield the next day, 18-10.
Keagan Page had two of the four Beaver hits off Eagle ace Chris Bernier, while Mccall Turner singled and scored a pair of runs. Page got the pitching win by going the distance and scattering six hits while fanning five. Bernier, the hard-luck loser on the mound, tossed a complete-game four-hitter and struck out 15 along the way. Tyler Morgan and Paul Gentile had two hits each for Limestone-MSSM.
At Washburn the next day, Fort Fairfield’s Ryan Pelkey doubled three times and finished with four hits as the Tigers prevailed. The Tigers’ six-run sixth inning was the key rally. Ryan Player had three hits for FF, while Page collected two doubles and three RBI to lead the Beavers at the plate.
In prelim games played Tuesday, Fort Fairfield hosted No. 13 Ashland and Limestone-MSSM entertained No. 12 Katahdin. Washburn drew a bye and awaits the winner of the game between No. 6 PVHS and No. 11 Hodgdon. The quarterfinal will be played at home Thursday.
“I am extremely proud of the effort they put in, day in and day out. We had five games decided by three runs or less and it took an entire team effort to win those games,” said Washburn coach Ben Goodwin. “Our key to moving forward will be having the same focus we had throughout the year.”
