Another strong season has vaulted the Bucksport softball team into top spot for the Eastern Maine Class B playoffs, which start with preliminary games today.

And the 14-2 Golden Bucks are hoping last year’s very short postseason run won’t happen again this year. Bucksport didn’t last a game in 2004, falling to Erskine Academy of South China 10-8 in the prelims. The loss was due in part to an uncharacteristic 10 errors.

“I think that’ll twist them up a little this year,” Bucksport coach Mike Carrier said after a recent practice.

Sounds like it already has.

“It comes up sometimes,” sophomore pitcher Terren Hall said with a smile. “We don’t think we’re going to do that again this year. We have more confidence in ourselves and in everything we do.”

There’s a good reason for so much confidence on the team, which will face the winner of today’s prelim between No. 8 John Bapst and No. 9 Fort Kent in a quarterfinal Thursday.

The Bucks have put together a well-rounded hitting, pitching and defensive squad.

Bucksport is hitting .373 as a team and has averaged 7.6 runs per game in the regular season.

As for the 7-1 Hall, she has a miniscule 0.15 earned run average – she has given up one earned run in 60 innings – with 8.9 strikeouts per game and less than a walk per game.

And she’s only allowed 25 hits.

“[Opposing] coaches are telling [their players] to go up there and swing three times and that makes it tough,” Carrier said. “The hits that they’ve gotten off Terren, I think half of them have been up in the air just past somebody’s glove and screwed into the ground. Most of them have been dribblers.”

Hall was able to add a few pitches this year thanks to her work throwing in the offseason.

“I added a riseball, a curve and a screwball,” she said. “The rise seems to be working pretty good on most batters, when it works.”

Opposing batters won’t have it any easier should Hall get roughed up. Kristi Allen, the Bucks’ backup, is 5-1 with a 1.54 ERA.

As amazing as her ERA is, Hall’s .586 batting average is just as impressive. She’s also driven in a team-high 25 RBIs and is such a good hitter that she hasn’t struck out in 58 at-bats.

“I just make sure I hit consistently and make sure the team is doing what it does best,” she said.

The Bucks are hoping their defense carries over from the regular season, too, as they have a 95.6 fielding percentage. They didn’t have an error in their final three regular season games.

Bucksport’s two losses came against defending Eastern Maine Class A champ Brewer and EM Class B rival Ellsworth. Hall gave up her lone earned run in the 2-1 loss to the Eagles but still had a single and scored the Bucks’ only run.

Carrier said he sees a difference in the team from last year to this year.

“Other than the Brewer game [a 6-2 loss] they seem much more focused,” said Carrier, who has a career record of 240-36 in 15 years. “Everything seems to be business at hand. And we have fun, too. If you’re not having a good time you might as well not be out here.”

Selander’s excellent adventures

Caribou senior Monica Selander had her cheering gallery on the run – or at least on a fast walk – Saturday morning during the Class B state track and field championships at McMann Field in Bath.

Selander had two field events right off the bat at the same time Saturday morning. That meant coaches Roy Alden and Todd Alley shuttled back and forth between the high jump and javelin, which were on opposite sides of the complex, trying to coordinate with judges just when Selander would be back for her next attempts.

Selander performed well under pressure, especially at the high jump. One of three jumpers seeded at 5 feet, she easily cleared 4-6 and 4-8 but missed her first two attempts at 4-10 – with the javelin judges waiting for her across the field.

“No pressure, Monica,” a teammate called out.

If she was feeling it, she wasn’t showing it. Selander cleared 4-10 on her final chance, then quickly changed shoes, headed back to the javelin, where she had earlier tossed off a throw of 105 feet. She faltered there with a foul on her second attempt, changed shoes again, jogged back to the high jump, and calmly became the first jumper to clear 5-0, which she did on her final attempt.

Then it was back to the javelin for a throw of 102-7. Finally, she changed shoes again and went back to the high jump where she missed all three attempts at 5-2.

Getting those jumps off her mind was key to focusing at the javelin.

“I think I cleared them all before I left [for the javelin] so I didn’t have to think about the jump,” said Selander, who had the same schedule last year. “I wanted to keep that good feeling and put that into the javelin. You just have to clear your mind, I guess.”

Later in the afternoon things calmed down a bit as the first-team All-Maine basketball standout had just the discus in which to compete. Selander provided a light moment for the crowd when she fouled an attempt off the roof of a car in the parking lot adjacent to the throwing area.

“I said before, ‘I can’t believe people park their cars so close. Someone is going throw it out of bounds and hit a car,”‘ she said with a laugh. “I’m just glad it wasn’t a window.”

Still, Selander had a good showing with a second in the high jump, a third in the discus (107-2) and a sixth in the javelin. She was the defending champion in all three events.

“I felt like last year a lot things went my way that usually don’t go my way,” said Selander, who will play basketball for Norwich next year. “Not that I didn’t work for it, but I was a little lucky. I knew it would be hard to get a repeat.”

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.