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BANGOR – The Hermon High School Hawks had scored 32 runs on 42 hits in three Eastern Maine Class B playoff wins.
But they met their match Saturday as crafty Cape Elizabeth junior lefty Nick Freed tossed a four-hit gem at Mansfield Stadium to lead the Capers a 6-2 victory and their first state baseball championship since 1991.
The 5-foot-10, 140-pound Freed struck out eight and walked four. Both runs off him were unearned.
Freed, 5-0, threw 67 strikes among his 107 pitches.
“All of my pitches worked very well today,” said Freed, who threw a fastball, cut fastball and curve. “This was one of my best games of the season.”
“Nick was able to throw his curve for strikes today and that really helped him,” said Capers catcher Kyle Dancause. “And he threw more cutters [than usual].”
Freed’s off-speed cutter enabled him to sneak his fastball by some of the Hawk hitters.
“He had us guessing and he could hit his spots,” said Hermon second baseman Brett Danforth. “He was a smart pitcher. He was very effective.”
“He kept us off-balance,” agreed Hermon catcher Brian McGinley.
Hermon righty Billy Bart allowed just six hits and three earned runs during his complete game but three of his five walks scored and his defense let him down on a couple of occasions.
“I didn’t pitch well,” said Bart, who struck out five and walked five.
Cape Elizabeth finished 16-4 while Hermon, which had never even played in a regional final before this season, ended up 15-5.
The turning point occurred in the third inning when the Capers scored three runs on sophomore Drake Livada’s ground-ball single into a vacated shortstop hole and two ensuing errors.
Paul Kierstead had drawn a one-out walk, stolen second and moved to third on a passed ball.
Taylor White walked and broke for second on a 2-0 pitch.
Livada grounded it into left field as shortstop Phil Cayford went to cover second.
“I knew the steal was on and some holes would open up in the infield,” said Livada.
Kierstead scored on the hit and when left fielder David Wilder overthrew third trying to nail White, White raced for the plate.
Bart had backed up the throw to third but when his throw to the plate bounced away, Livada scampered home.
That gave the Capers a 4-2 lead.
“I can’t remember seeing anything like that,” said Livada. “And it happened twice in this game.”
The second instance occurred in the seventh when Kierstead tripled over Wilder’s head and wound up scoring when Wilder’s throw missed the cutoff man.
“They have a good team but we beat ourselves today,” said Hermon coach Mark Farnham.
Livada was CE’s offensive catalyst. He hit a sacrifice fly in the first and singled in the fifth and eventually scored on Tom Gruber’s sacrifice fly.
Hermon took a short-lived 2-1 lead in the second on Dustin Jalbert’s two-out, two-run line drive single to right.
“Drake has been clutch for us all season,” said Cape Elizabeth first-year coach Todd Day whose team allowed just four runs in four playoff games and received four complete games including two from Freed.
The Capers played exceptional defense to support Freed, committing just one error.
Livada and Jalbert had two singles and two RBIs apiece for their respective teams.
Sophomore Jalbert had five hits in his last two games.
CAPERS 6, HAWKS 2
Cape Elizabeth (16-4) Hermon (15-5)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
Dancause, c 3 1 1 1 Ellis, cf 4 0 0
Kierstead, ss 2 2 1 0 Bart, p 3 0 0
White, rf 1 1 0 0 Cayford, ss 3 0 0
Livada, 3b 3 2 2 2 Archer, 1b 2 0 0
P. Kertes, lf 3 0 1 0 Riendeau, pr 0 0
Gruber, 1b 2 0 0 1 Danforth, 2b 2 1 0
Weimont, cf 2 0 0 0 Joy, dh 3 0 0 0
Hatch, ph 1 0 0 0 Shorey, 3b 0 0 0
Casey, dh 3 0 1 0 McGinley, c 2 1 0
Freed, p 0 0 0 0 Wilder, lf 2 0 0
M. Kertes, 2b 3 0 0 0 Hurd, ph 1 0
Jalbert, rf 3 0 2 2
Curtis, pr 0 0 0 0
Totals 23 6 6 4 Totals 25 2 4 2
Cape Elizabeth 103 001 1 ? 6
Hermon 020 000 0 ? 2
E?M. Kertes; Wilder 2, Bart; LOB?Cape Elizabeth 6, Hermon 6; 2B?Archer; 3B?Kierstead; DP?Hermon; SF?Livada, Gruber; SB?Kierstead, White
Cape Elizabeth IP H R ER BB SO
Freed (W,5-0) 7 4 2 0 4 8
Hermon IP H R ER BB SO
Bart (L,5-3) 7 6 6 3 5 5
HBP?White by Bart; WP?Freed 2; PB?McGinley; T?2:01; ATT?400 (est.)
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