Corbin sparks Crusaders Van Buren beats Wisdom, advances

VAN BUREN – Nicole Corbin led the No. 8 Van Buren Crusaders to a 16-9 playoff victory over the No. 9 Wisdom Pioneers in high school softball action Friday.

Van Buren will visit No. 1 Fort Fairfield Tuesday in a divisional quarterfinal.

With Van Buren trailing by one in the bottom of the fifth inning, Corbin emptied the bases with a three-run triple to give the Crusaders what would be the game-winning hit.

Corbin also pitched seven innings and struck out five for Van Buren. Corbin also singled. Danielle Gagnon added two base hits, including a two-run single in the fourth inning. Amy Vaillancourt and Micah Laplante each hit for three singles. Vaillancourt knocked in two runs and Laplante drove in one.

Shannon Berube drove in a run with a triple in the first inning and added a single for Wisdom. Michelle Bourgoin had a pair of RBI singles and Chelsie Anderson singled twice.

No. 9 Wisdom (2-11) 300 033 0 – 9 10 3

No. 8 Van Buren (4-10) 301 435 x – 16 11 3

Lizotte, Chamberland (4), Lizotte (6) and Boisine; Corbin and Gagnon

Baseball

Washington Acad. 11, Machias 10

At East Machias, Barret Craven led the Raiders of East Machias to victory with two home runs in the Down East Athletic Conference Championship game.

Craven hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to give Washington Academy a 3-2 lead and added a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at eight apiece.

The Raiders scored what would be the game-winning run in a three-run sixth as a run scored on a balk, Steven Colbeth had an RBI single and a third run scored on a passed ball for a 11-8 lead.

Machias fell short of tying the game by scoring two runs in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Scott Brokaw and an error. James Randall added a one-run double in the third inning for the Raiders.

Ed St. Pierre, Will Hasselman and Jarad Day each singled for Bulldogs and Nate Poore struck out seven in five innings for Machias.

Machias (7-6) 110 060 2 – 10 3 6

Washington Acad. (11-2) 002 153 X – 11 5 4

Poore, Stevens (6) and St. Pierrre; Colbeth, Craven (3), Harmon (5), Je. Gray (5), Ja. Gray (6), Colbeth (6) and Sagonde.

Messalonskee 7, Nokomis 2

At Oakland, Chris Feather held the Nokomis Warriors of Newport to two runs through six innings before the Class A preliminary matchup was called due to rain.

Feather struck out three batters and got on base with a double. Ryan Hross singled twice for the Eagles of Oakland. Ty Phillips and Eric Castonguay each knocked in a run with a single in the bottom of the fifth inning. Messalonskee scored its five other runs on Nokomis errors.

Mike Jacques led Nokomis with a double and a single and Ben Davis got on base with a double. Josh Vile knocked in a run with a fielder’s choice in the second inning and Justin Veazie brought in Nokomis’ second run of the game with a sacrifice fly. Jacques struck out five batters.

Nokomis (1-16) 010 001 – 2 6 5

Messalonskee (5-12) 410 020 – 7 7 0

Jacques, Veazie (6) and Mackenzie; Feather and Gilbert