LIMESTONE, Maine – The two teams have been familiar foes over the years, both in the regular season and the playoffs, but the Limestone-MSSM Eagles have seemed to have the upper hand in most of their battles against the Ashland Hornets.
Until Saturday that is.
The Hornets dominated in all phases of the game, especially on the mound where senior Whitney Donovan was almost flawless, as Ashland beat up on the top-seeded Eagles, 14-2, in a game called after five innings due to the 12-run rule.
The win in the Eastern Maine Class D semifinal moved 11-6 Ashland into the regional final against Deer Isle-Stonington yesterday afternoon at Coffin Field in Brewer.
The Eagles closed out their season with a 14-4 record.
Donovan was nothing short of brilliant. She struck out six batters, surrendered four hits, walked one and hit another.
The Eagles pushed across unearned runs in both the first and fifth innings, but were otherwise silenced as Donovan dominated a Limestone-MSSM offense which had averaged almost 20 runs per game during the regular season.
“I stayed focus and didn’t let them rattle me,” said Donovan, who had her high school graduation earlier in the day. “I tried to just go pitch by pitch and not worry about things out there.”
The Eagles grabbed a 1-0 lead as Daniele Pelkey reached on an error to begin the first and moved to second when Stephanie Leighton was hit by a pitch. Pelkey was nabbed at third attempting a delayed steal, but Stephanie Leighton came across on an a two-out RBI single to right field by Chelsea Leighton.
In the second inning, the pitching wildness of Limestone-MSSM starter Amanda Allen was exploited by the Hornets. Ashland sent nine batters to the plate and five walked and another was hit by a pitch. Three runs came across without the benefit of a hit, but the Hornets left the bases loaded as Anna Paradis popped out to third base to end the threat.
Following a 1-2-3 second inning, with Donovan striking out two of the Eagle hitters, the Hornets batted around once again. They did get two hits, singles by Rachel Gillis and Kim Baker (RBI), but five bases on balls were the key as Ashland put four more runs on the scoreboard.
Limestone-MSSM first baseman Melissa Cantafio doubled with two outs in the bottom of the third, but was stranded as Donovan pitched out of the jam by forcing Ashlyn Kelly to ground out to Macie Bellanceau at first to end the inning.
In the top of the fourth, Allen was removed after facing five batters, with three drawing walks and another reaching after the ball got away from the catcher on a missed the third strike. Chelsea Leighton faced seven batters in relief, and in the end seven Hornets scored runs, with Brooke LaBelle and Gillis contributing run-scoring singles and Bellanceau also coming up with a hit in the inning. Ashland took a 14-1 lead into the bottom of the fourth.
The Eagles got a leadoff hit from Chelsea Leighton in the fourth, but the next three Limestone-MSSM batters were retired in succession, and Ashland went down quietly in its half of the fifth.
Limestone-MSSM tried to extend the game as Pelkey reached on an error and scored on an RBI single by Cantafio, but Kelly popped out to Donovan to end the game.
“She’s wanted this for a long time,” said Ashland coach Terry Hunter of Donovan. “She’s pitched well here before, but she was right on today and that was the key. She throws strikes and she had her change-up working.”
Hunter said his team has been a pleasant surprise with five freshmen as part of the starting lineup. Ashland started off at 1-4, but bounced back for some big wins to get into the playoff hunt. Their biggest win so far, however, came on Saturday.
The Hornets, the fifth seed in the division, won their quarterfinal Thursday over Southern Aroostook, 17-11. Ashland needed a comeback in that one, scoring seven times in the top of the seventh to grab the lead and holding the hosts off the board in the bottom of the inning.
Limestone-MSSM got into the semifinal by defeating Wisdom at home Friday, 16-4. Limestone-MSSM scored nine runs in the bottom of the fifth to clinch the win, with Stephanie Leighton coming through with a two-run single during the rally.
Karen Page had a double and a single and drove in three runs, while Kelly had two singles and an RBI and Kelsee Albert added an RBI triple. Allen struck out four batters to notch the pitching victory.
