HOULTON, Maine – The Houlton Lady Shires started the season strong and finished it just as convincingly, as they are the number-three seed in Eastern Maine Class C softball Heal Points, with a 12-4 record behind top-seeded Sumner and Calais, both with 13-3 records.
“We’ve had a great season,” said Houlton coach Bruce Nason. “I am pleased with the way the girls have performed. They have worked hard.”
The Lady Shires will await the winner of the preliminary game between No. 6 Lee and No. 11 Dexter played yesterday. The Houlton girls will play their quarterfinal game at 4 p.m. in Community Park tomorrow. The game time may change depending on the winner of the preliminary game.
For the Lady Shires to go deep into the playoffs, Nason knows defense will be the key.
“We can’t afford to make mental mistakes either defensively or on the base paths,” he said. “We must put the ball in play while hitting and see what happens.”
Nikki Eastman has been a consistent pitcher for the Lady Shires and Nason is looking for more of the same in the postseason.
“She has to continue pitching well,” he said. “And, we have to back her defensively by making the routine plays and staying out of trouble.”
On the baseball diamond, it will be the second-seeded Katahdin Cougars awaiting the winner of yesterday’s prelim game between No. 7 Limestone/MSSM and No. 10 Machias.
The Cougars will host the winner in Stacyville tomorrow. If Limestone wins, the game will be played at 3 p.m., but if Machias wins, the game will be at 4 p.m.
“We’ve played pretty well,” said Katahdin coach Marty McCarthy, whose Cougars are 13-1. “We hit the ball pretty well, pitched well and fielded pretty well, too. We scored about 100 more runs than we gave up, so that made it pretty easy as a coach.”
The only team to marr the Cougars’ perfect record was Ashland last week, and it took eight innings for the Hornets to get a 4-3 win.
Ashland’s Henry Mulligan singled and scored on Nick Gimbel’s game-winning hit. Justin Belanger pitched a complete game for the Hornets, striking out 12.
For Katahdin, Josh Guiggey tripled and doubled, while Ethan Qualey banged a two-run double and Josh McGraw tripled.
The Cougars’ pitching has been solid, as the rotation includes junior ace Andy Kay, along with juniors Guiggey and Evan McCarthy, and freshman Brandon Robinson.
“Andy leads the team in all categories,” said McCarthy, “batting, stolen bases and pitching.”
Kay has an ERA of 1.05 and is backed by Guiggey and Robinson, as McCarthy saw limited time from the mound due to a strained chest muscle.
“Brandon won three games for us,” said McCarthy. “He throws pretty well.”
McCarthy has been pleased with his pitchers’ performances, along with his fielders throughout the regular season.
“We threw about twice as many strikes as we did balls, which put a lot of pressure on other team to hit the ball” McCarthy said. “Our defense has also been pretty good, with a 90 percent rate of fielding.”
But, even when things look like they are smooth, McCarthy is quick to note, “there is always room for improvement.”
McCarthy sees one of his team’s weaknesses as being “not mentally prepared.”
“A lot of times our intensity is low,” he said. “We may even take a game for granted. We need to get ready for these teams because there are some very good teams out there.”
The top four hitters have been producing a lot of runs for the Cougars, as Guiggey leads off and is batting .442, while Kay follows as second hitter, batting .489; McCarthy is hitting at a .417 clip and in the clean-up spot is Ethan Qualey hitting .440.
To be successful in the postseason, McCarthy said, “We need to capitalize on the other team’s mistakes. If they give us an extra out, we need to take advantage of it.”
The Cougars’ solid season wasn’t a surprise, as the team put together a good season a year ago.
“The guys were all young and we were hoping for a good season this year,” McCarthy said. “We had the nucleus for a good year.”
McCarthy has many young, talented players.
“ The freshmen I have on the bench, most teams would start,” he said. “We’ve had a great season, it’s been fun and we have gotten a lot of support.”
To close out the regular season, the Cougars defeated Lee Academy, 5-2 last Thursday in Stacyville behind Kay’s double and single and Brady Curtis’ double.
Sitting in the number-four position in Eastern Maine Class D baseball is the Southern Aroostook Warriors.
Veteran coach Murray Putnam is making his 73rd appearance in postseason play and isn’t taking anything for granted. The Warriors await the winner of No. 5 Fort Fairfield and No. 12 Wisdom as their opponent in tomorrow’s quarterfinal game at Dyer Brook.
If Wisdom wins the prelim game, the quarterfinal game will be played at 1:30 p.m., but if the Tigers are the winners, the game will be played at 3 p.m.
This season has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the Warriors. At times, the squad hasn’t generated an overload of offense and experienced some defensive lapses — mental and physical. On the other side, there have been times the Warriors have shined from the mound.
“Our pitching has helped us immensely at times,” Putnam said.
Rotating on the mound are Dakota Sleeper, Rob Toothaker, Tyler Robinson and Dennis Casey.
“We are where we are at based on a combination of some things that did go well at given times,” Putnam said. “We will give it our best shot and take it from there.”
The Warriors and Tigers did play against each other this season in a very close 2-1 game.
An example of impressive Southern Aroostook pitching came as Sleeper was throwing a perfect game going into the seventh inning with one out.
“He was pitching extremely well that day,” said Putnam. “Conversely, the Towle boy was throwing just as well, too.”
The Warriors led 1-0 and picked up their second run in the fourth for a 2-0 lead.
“In high school ball or any ball, a one- or two-run lead is very susceptible,” Putnam added.
But, a couple of miscues, which at times the Warriors have been prone to do, according to their coach, gave Fort Fairfield a run, spoiling Sleeper’s perfect game.
The Warriors did not play Wisdom on the regular season, but no matter the opponent, Putnam knows it will be a tough game.
“I’m going to assume, if you play a team about a month ago, they may be substantially improved over what they were,” he said.
It will take consistency in all aspects of the game for the Warriors to go beyond their opening game.
“We will need to play pretty much miscue-free ball,” Putnam said. “We can’t give a team four, five or sometimes six outs in an inning without getting hurt. We don’t give the good teams the extra out or stuff can happen.
“Our pitching needs to be constantly ahead of the hitters,” he added. “That’s another way you can get burned, if you struggle on the count. And I think offensively that our pitch selection needs to be consistent. We can’t give outs away by flailing at bad pitches when we are already up on the count. That puts your offensive opportunity on its heels defensively.”
The Warriors are 10-5 on the season, and they are looking to continue their strong baseball tradition in the playoffs.
“We’ve had a great season,” said Houlton coach Bruce Nason. “I am pleased with the way the girls have performed. They have worked hard.”
The Lady Shires will await the winner of the preliminary game between No. 6 Lee and No. 11 Dexter played yesterday. The Houlton girls will play their quarterfinal game at 4 p.m. in Community Park tomorrow. The game time may change depending on the winner of the preliminary game.
For the Lady Shires to go deep into the playoffs, Nason knows defense will be the key.
“We can’t afford to make mental mistakes either defensively or on the base paths,” he said. “We must put the ball in play while hitting and see what happens.”
Nikki Eastman has been a consistent pitcher for the Lady Shires and Nason is looking for more of the same in the postseason.
“She has to continue pitching well,” he said. “And, we have to back her defensively by making the routine plays and staying out of trouble.”
On the baseball diamond, it will be the second-seeded Katahdin Cougars awaiting the winner of yesterday’s prelim game between No. 7 Limestone/MSSM and No. 10 Machias.
The Cougars will host the winner in Stacyville tomorrow. If Limestone wins, the game will be played at 3 p.m., but if Machias wins, the game will be at 4 p.m.
“We’ve played pretty well,” said Katahdin coach Marty McCarthy, whose Cougars are 13-1. “We hit the ball pretty well, pitched well and fielded pretty well, too. We scored about 100 more runs than we gave up, so that made it pretty easy as a coach.”
The only team to marr the Cougars’ perfect record was Ashland last week, and it took eight innings for the Hornets to get a 4-3 win.
Ashland’s Henry Mulligan singled and scored on Nick Gimbel’s game-winning hit. Justin Belanger pitched a complete game for the Hornets, striking out 12.
For Katahdin, Josh Guiggey tripled and doubled, while Ethan Qualey banged a two-run double and Josh McGraw tripled.
The Cougars’ pitching has been solid, as the rotation includes junior ace Andy Kay, along with juniors Guiggey and Evan McCarthy, and freshman Brandon Robinson.
“Andy leads the team in all categories,” said McCarthy, “batting, stolen bases and pitching.”
Kay has an ERA of 1.05 and is backed by Guiggey and Robinson, as McCarthy saw limited time from the mound due to a strained chest muscle.
“Brandon won three games for us,” said McCarthy. “He throws pretty well.”
McCarthy has been pleased with his pitchers’ performances, along with his fielders throughout the regular season.
“We threw about twice as many strikes as we did balls, which put a lot of pressure on other team to hit the ball” McCarthy said. “Our defense has also been pretty good, with a 90 percent rate of fielding.”
But, even when things look like they are smooth, McCarthy is quick to note, “there is always room for improvement.”
McCarthy sees one of his team’s weaknesses as being “not mentally prepared.”
“A lot of times our intensity is low,” he said. “We may even take a game for granted. We need to get ready for these teams because there are some very good teams out there.”
The top four hitters have been producing a lot of runs for the Cougars, as Guiggey leads off and is batting .442, while Kay follows as second hitter, batting .489; McCarthy is hitting at a .417 clip and in the clean-up spot is Ethan Qualey hitting .440.
To be successful in the postseason, McCarthy said, “We need to capitalize on the other team’s mistakes. If they give us an extra out, we need to take advantage of it.”
The Cougars’ solid season wasn’t a surprise, as the team put together a good season a year ago.
“The guys were all young and we were hoping for a good season this year,” McCarthy said. “We had the nucleus for a good year.”
McCarthy has many young, talented players.
“ The freshmen I have on the bench, most teams would start,” he said. “We’ve had a great season, it’s been fun and we have gotten a lot of support.”
To close out the regular season, the Cougars defeated Lee Academy, 5-2 last Thursday in Stacyville behind Kay’s double and single and Brady Curtis’ double.
Sitting in the number-four position in Eastern Maine Class D baseball is the Southern Aroostook Warriors.
Veteran coach Murray Putnam is making his 73rd appearance in postseason play and isn’t taking anything for granted. The Warriors await the winner of No. 5 Fort Fairfield and No. 12 Wisdom as their opponent in tomorrow’s quarterfinal game at Dyer Brook.
If Wisdom wins the prelim game, the quarterfinal game will be played at 1:30 p.m., but if the Tigers are the winners, the game will be played at 3 p.m.
This season has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the Warriors. At times, the squad hasn’t generated an overload of offense and experienced some defensive lapses — mental and physical. On the other side, there have been times the Warriors have shined from the mound.
“Our pitching has helped us immensely at times,” Putnam said.
Rotating on the mound are Dakota Sleeper, Rob Toothaker, Tyler Robinson and Dennis Casey.
“We are where we are at based on a combination of some things that did go well at given times,” Putnam said. “We will give it our best shot and take it from there.”
The Warriors and Tigers did play against each other this season in a very close 2-1 game.
An example of impressive Southern Aroostook pitching came as Sleeper was throwing a perfect game going into the seventh inning with one out.
“He was pitching extremely well that day,” said Putnam. “Conversely, the Towle boy was throwing just as well, too.”
The Warriors led 1-0 and picked up their second run in the fourth for a 2-0 lead.
“In high school ball or any ball, a one- or two-run lead is very susceptible,” Putnam added.
But, a couple of miscues, which at times the Warriors have been prone to do, according to their coach, gave Fort Fairfield a run, spoiling Sleeper’s perfect game.
The Warriors did not play Wisdom on the regular season, but no matter the opponent, Putnam knows it will be a tough game.
“I’m going to assume, if you play a team about a month ago, they may be substantially improved over what they were,” he said.
It will take consistency in all aspects of the game for the Warriors to go beyond their opening game.
“We will need to play pretty much miscue-free ball,” Putnam said. “We can’t give a team four, five or sometimes six outs in an inning without getting hurt. We don’t give the good teams the extra out or stuff can happen.
“Our pitching needs to be constantly ahead of the hitters,” he added. “That’s another way you can get burned, if you struggle on the count. And I think offensively that our pitch selection needs to be consistent. We can’t give outs away by flailing at bad pitches when we are already up on the count. That puts your offensive opportunity on its heels defensively.”
The Warriors are 10-5 on the season, and they are looking to continue their strong baseball tradition in the playoffs.