Peers recall Ron Soucie memories

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Brewer High School athletic director Dennis Kiah caught the late Ron Soucie for several years.

The remarkable lefthander and John Bapst High School three-sports star died of cancer eight days ago.

But Kiah also faced his friend during summer league ball.

He recalled this one particular game in which his team had only two hits off Soucie.

“And I had both of them,” said Kiah, who knew what to expect from his former batterymate.

“After the game, he said, ‘Kiah, you can’t hit me.’ I made the mistake of saying, ‘I’m just glad you didn’t throw me any curveballs,,” recalled Kiah.

A few weeks later, Kiah faced Soucie again.

“We beat him something like 9-2, but he struck me out four times. I didn’t even foul tip the ball,” said Kiah, who was served a steady dose of curves.

Another one of Kiah’s fond memories occurred when he and Soucie were batterymates and conjured up a scheme.

“We were playing a night game and everyone was having trouble seeing the ball. I was going to go out to the mound when we had a two-strike count on a batter with two outs and nobody on base and take the ball from Ronnie. He was going to wind up and pretend to throw a pitch and I was going to pop the ball into my glove,” said Kiah.

Their coach, Ken Perrone, had nixed the idea early in the game but eventually relented.

Unfortunately, Kiah said, a hitter reached base with one out when one of their teammates dropped a popup.

“Ronnie tried to pick him off first 12 or 13 times [so they could implement their scheme]. And Ronnie had a great pickoff move. Finally, the guy hollered over, ‘Soucie, I’m not going anywhere,'” said Kiah.

And, to this day, Kiah insists it would have worked.

I’m sure it would have.

Having been a teammate of Soucie’s one summer and facing him in practice, his curve ball was unhittable for lefties.

Even if you knew it was coming, you couldn’t help but bail out.

And his fastball exploded and tailed in on a lefty’s hands.

He was the most dominant pitcher I ever faced.

Off the field, he was easy-going with an infectious laugh.

He was an avid sports fan and extremely knowledgeable.

He will be missed.

Maine-UNH series memorable

How often have you seen it?

A huge buildup to a game or a series only to have the game or games turn out to be yawners. They either become lopsided or there’s little action.

But the hockey series between the University of New Hampshire and University of Maine exceeded expectations last weekend.

In front of sellout crowds in Manchester’s new Verizon Wireless Arena and Durham’s Whittemore Center, the two teams played like NCAA championship contenders.

Maine overcame a turnover-plagued 4-2 Saturday night loss in Manchester with an impressive performance in a 3-2 overtime win in Durham on Sunday night. They hadn’t won in Durham since 1998.

It was a physical series but there were very few cheap shots. They may be rivals, but there is a mutual respect.

The crowds were deafening.

It has always been a border war, but their recent battles in the Frozen Four and the Hockey East championship game have elevated the rivalry.

It was college hockey at its very best.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231 or 1-800-310-8600. His e-mail address is lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.