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Back in her glory days as a player, Jen Marzolf teamed with Jen Wardwell to help lead the Bucksport Golden Bucks to four straight appearances in the Eastern Maine Class B finals.
Now Marzolf is trying to lead Mount Desert Island to some glory years of its own as the Trojans’ varsity softball coach.
“Our team goal is to make it to the semifinals this year after losing in the quarterfinals last year,” Marzolf said. “This group is very confident and we have good defense and depth in the program.”
Marzolf’s Trojans had a frustrating start as they lost their first four games by a combined five runs.
“Yeah, it’s been tough. The one we thought we’d win was called in the seventh on account of weather and we just knew we were going to come back to win it,” she said.
This is Marzolf’s fourth year with MDI’s softball program as she was the junior varsity coach the previous three years. She succeeded Greg Linscott, who resigned after four years on the job due to conflicts with his work schedule at Graves Plumbing.
Ironically, Marzolf – who earned a degree in business administration and sports management at Husson College – is in the same business as Linscott as she works in customer relations for Island Plumbing and Heating.
In 1997, Marzolf relocated to the Mount Desert area, where much of her family lives.
The competitive Marzolf, who said she regrettably never played softball for Husson despite being asked to play, has made a fairly smooth transition from JV to varsity.
“It hasn’t been as bad as I anticipated. It was a big step, but since I’ve known these girls for the last several years, it definitely eased the transition,” she said. “The kids are the best part about this job.”
The Trojans are currently 1-6 and ninth in the nine-team southeastern division in Class B, but given how many close losses they’ve had, Marzolf is confident MDI is on the verge of turning those close losses into wins.
MDI features an athletic lineup with senior Alicia Boisvert and junior Bracey Barker on the mound. The Trojans entered the season with 13 players, but were down to 12 for much of the first two weeks due to injuries.
“Our hitting’s been a little slow to come around, but we seem to be making progress and this group is phenomenal. They work very hard, they adapt well, and they have high expectations, so we’re due for some wins,” Marzolf said.
Yes, the Trojans have already matched up once against Marzolf’s alma mater and the results were not good for MDI. Bucksport won going away, but the rematch is May 21 at Bucksport, and Marzolf is confident the Trojans will give the Bucks a better game on her old stomping grounds the second time around.
Junior duel
Pitching duels like this one are rare even at the major league level.
Saturday night’s baseball game between the Brewer Witches and Old Town Indians at Heddericg Field in Brewer turned into what could arguably be the best head-to-head pitching matchup of the season as both teams’ starters held the opposition’s lineup scoreless for eight full innings.
“I don’t care. You can put me on record. This was one of the best pitching performances of the last 10 years,” said Brewer coach Dave Morris of Old Town’s 4-0 victory. “I mean, come on…. Three hits and four walks combined over almost nine full innings?”
Old Town junior righthander Ryan Brown earned the win in this low-scoring affair after allowing only one hit (a Joe Griffin double in the sixth) in eight innings while striking out 13 batters and walking three.
Junior lefthander Chad Gomm took the tough-luck loss despite 11 strikeouts, two walks, and three hits through eight. Gomm gave up two doubles in his last inning before having to leave the mound with two outs in the ninth. The final statistical line on Gomm included 12 strikeouts, five hits, and three earned runs.
Old Town scored all of its runs in the ninth.
“Between both of them, they had 24 strikeouts over eight innings. That’s impressive,” Morris added. “The only one I’ve seen to compare this to was [former Bangor high star] Matt Kinney’s performance in the [1995] state game for Bangor. I would have paid 20 bucks to watch this game.”
Chris Rand relieved Brown in the ninth and struck out the side.
Francoeur out at Deering
Deering boys varsity basketball coach Mike Francoeur has resigned his position with the two-time defending Western Maine Class A and Southern Maine Activities Association champs.
Francoeur, who lost his history teaching position at Deering when his contract wasn’t renewed last week, elected to resign due to the fact that he was no longer an on-site member of the faculty.
He reportedly chose to resign because he felt he owed it to the players to be available to them at school at times other than practices and games.
Francoeur compiled a 40-5 record after two seasons with Deering, which won its first back-to-back regional titles ever and first basketball titles since 1937. The 35-year-old Francoeur is married with twin 7-year-old sons.
Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600, or aneff@bangordailynews.net.
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