CA girls lose to defending champs
by Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
MARS HILL — The playoff draw wasn’t kind to the Central Aroostook Panthers.
Despite finishing with a 14-4 record, CA finished No. 4 in the Eastern Maine Class D standings and even though that meant a home game in the quarterfinal round, it was against the undefeated and defending state champion Deer Isle-Stonington Mariners, who prevailed, 9-5.
TAG YOU’RE IT — Shannon Todd, second baseman for the Central Aroostook Panthers, reaches out to tag Deer Isle-Stonington baserunner Katie Haskell during last Wednesday’s game in Mars Hill. 
In last Wednesday’s contest, CA bolted to a 3-1 first-inning lead on back-to-back triples by Paige Garrison and Vicki McIntyre and an RBI by Michaela King when she reached on an error. King also scored later in the inning.
From that point on, however, DI-S pitcher Sydney Ouzts pretty much held the Panther offense in check. She did allow single runs in both the third and seventh innings, but scattered six hits over the final six innings and struck out five batters in the contest.
The Mariners’ biggest hit was provided by catcher Amber Jones, who roped a bases-loadeddouble in the fourth to give her team an 8-4 advantage. The visitors had tied the game an inning earlier with a three-run outburst.
“I like the outside pitches and I drove it,” Jones said.
Jones also threw out a pair of CA baserunners attempting to steal — one in the first inning and the other in the second.
“I’ve been working on my throwing and this game was really good,” Jones said.
The Mariners showed patience against McIntyre at the plate and waited out three walks in the third and two more in the fourth to get some runners on base.
“They took advantage of our mistakes and we didn’t capitalize on theirs,” said CA coach Ryan Guerrette. “We only gave up four hits, and they only squared up on two of those, but the 10 walks [in the game] hurt us.”
