Big play helps NYA turn game around Panthers rally by Lee for crown

loading...

BANGOR – One pitch.

One pitch which led to one swing of the bat, which led to a slow grounder to the right of the pitcher’s mound, which led to a first baseman’s scoop and throw, which led to a catch and a footrace between pitcher Colin McKenney and runner Frank Severance.

That one pitch, which led to the third out of the third inning after McKenney barely beat Severance to the bag, was what Monday night’s Class D state championship baseball game turned on.

Before the pitch, the Lee Academy Pandas were leading 6-3 and threatening to break the game open. After, McKenney became a whole new pitcher, his Panthers found their hitting stroke, and North Yarmouth Academy went on to a 12-6 victory on a cool night ending with a light rain shower at Mansfield Stadium.

The Panthers persevered and rallied from a five-run deficit to a comfortable win and their second state title in three years behind McKenney. The senior righthander settled down after yielding six hits and six runs in the first three innings, and went on to retire nine straight batters en route to four innings of one-hit shutout ball and his ninth win of the season.

“I’ll tell you what, I looked at the scoreboard and saw us down 6-1 and I said ‘I think we might have just cost ourselves a state championship’,” McKenney recalled shortly after his 119-pitch effort.

Instead, McKenney calmed himself down and concentrated on keeping it simple as he used a solid curve to set up an increasingly accurate fastball that began picking up more and more speed as the game wore on.

“I just got into more and more of a rhythm as the game went on, and my fastball got better and better,” said McKenney.

The result was McKenney striking out the side in the fourth and throwing 1-2-3 innings in the fourth, fifth, and seventh.

“I think that last out was the turning point for him,” said NYA head coach Bruce Poliquin, whose Panthers finish 14-4. “I think if he’d given up a hit there, it would have knocked him over the edge.”

Instead, McKenney escaped a jam with runners at second and third and watched as his team plated two runs of their own on Chris LaChance’s two-run double to make it a 6-5 game in the fourth.

From there, the Panthers tied it in the fifth on Ben White’s leadoff single, a throwing error, and a wild pitch; and then delivered the knockout punch in the sixth by sending eight guys to the plate and scoring five runs after the first two batters were retired.

The biggest hits were delivered by Micah Mangini and Tim LaChance, who each hit two-run singles in an inning prolonged by two fielding errors leading to three unearned runs. The Panthers capped the scoring in the seventh with another unearned run – their sixth of the game.

“Defense has been pretty solid for us this year, but that was the thing that basically did us in tonight,” said coach Randy Harris, whose Pandas finish 15-6 after making only their second state final appearance overall and first since 1991. “I think we were right on the verge of knocking them out in the third, and Frank almost beat that out at first, but they hung in there and came back strong.”

McKenney led NYA’s offense with two singles, a double, and three runs in five at-bats. White also had three hits, all singles.

“It was like night and day for us,” said White. “Their pitcher [Jeremy Ham] was throwing a slider and we hadn’t seen anything like it, so it took us awhile to get used to it and wait on him better.”

Severance led Lee with three singles. Nate Dow chipped in with two RBI singles.

PANTHERS 12, PANDAS 6

North Yarmouth (14-4) Lee Academy (15-6)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Curran, c 3 1 0 0 Emery, cf 3 1 0

Welch, ss 4 1 0 0 Severance, 1b 4 2 0

C.LaChance, 2b 4 0 1 2 Stevens, 2b 2 0

McKenney, p 5 3 3 0 J.Ham, p-rf 4 0 2

Mascetta, rf 3 1 1 0 Dow, ss 4 0 2 2

a-Moss 0 1 0 0 Currie, c 4 0 0

White, lf-cf 5 2 3 1 Mallett, lf 2 1 0

Mangini, 1b 3 1 1 2 A.Ham, lf 1 0 0

b-Lawrence 1 0 1 0 Thompson, rf 2 0 0

Farrell, 3b 4 1 0 0 Grant, p 0 0 0

c-Rancourt 1 0 0 0 Worster, 3b 2 1 0

DeLuca, 3b 0 0 0 0

T.LaChance, cf 2 1 1 2

Griswold, lf 0 0 0 0

Totals 35 12 11 7 Totals 28 6 7 4

a-ran for Mascetta in third, b-singled for Mangini in seventh, c-reached on error for Farrell in sixth

North Yarmouth 102 215 1 ? 12

Lee Academy 240 000 0 ? 6

E? Welch 2; Severance, Stevens 3, J.Ham 2; LOB? NYA 11; Lee 7; 2B? C.LaChance, McKenney; Emery; S? Mangini; Thompson; SB? Welch, Mascetta, T.LaChance 2, Curran, McKenney, Lawrence; Severance

North Yarmouth IP H R ER BB SO

McKenney (W, 9-2) 7 7 6 2 5 6

Lee Academy IP H R ER BB SO

J. Ham (L, 3-3) 6 9 11 6 7 4

Grant 1 2 1 0 0 1

HBP? Curran by J. Ham; WP? J. Ham 3; BK? J. Ham; PB?Curran; Currie; T? 2:38; ATT? 550 (est.)