For the second year in a row, two of Maine’s top high school softball players have been selected to participate in the TurnerSport USA Hawaii Classic this winter. This time, they’re both from Eastern Maine schools.

Brewer junior pitcher Jordan McLain and Bucksport junior pitcher Terren Hall were picked out of more than 1,500 nominees to participate in the nine-day tournament in Honolulu.

Last year, Bangor High pitcher Kelly White attended the tournament, which features players from all over the country. White was joined by Scarborough’s Ambre Davidson.

The TurnerSport USA Hawaii Classic will be held at the Central Oahu Regional Park Complex starting Dec. 28. The tournament will feature a pool play format the first three days of play, followed by the medal round the last two playing days.

Players are nominated by their high school or club coaches. All players are in their junior year of high school. Fewer than 25 percent of the nominees are selected.

McLain and Hall have been two of the top pitchers in Eastern Maine the past two years. As a freshman she helped pitch the Witches to the Eastern Maine Class A championship, was named to the Penobscot Valley Conference first team, and was named the Rookie of the Year. She also played right field. This past season McLain was the PVC Class A Pitcher of the Year.

Hall, who also plays third base, pitched the Golden Bucks to the Eastern Maine Class B runner-up title last spring and was the PVC Class B Pitcher of the Year. She was also on an ASA team that won the state Class A title this summer.

Both pitchers participated in the Aug. 16 TPS Top 96 Softball Showcase in Lowell, Mass., McLain’s fastball was clocked at 60 miles per hour, which was second-best at the New England event that drew coaches from several small Massachusetts colleges as well as Bates in Lewiston. McLain also went 2-for-3 with a double.

Hall also clocked top times at the Lowell showcase, with a 58 mile-per-hour fastball and a 48-mph off-speed pitch. McLain’s top off-speed pitch was 46 mph.

Both girls are raising money for airfare, ground transportation, lodging, food and tournament expenses. To make a donation, write to Jordan McLain, 372 Center Drive, Orrington, ME, 04474 or Terren Hall, 252 Blanket Lane, Prospect, ME, 04981. Make out checks to TourneySport USA.

Owl basketball to honor Sirois

It hasn’t been easy for the Madawaska senior class to return from summer vacation, especially as the classmates and teammates of Kenny Sirois face their final year of high school without him.

Sirois, 16, died of a genetic heart condition after jogging with his twin brother, Mark, on Friday, June 3. Sirois was a member of the Owls’ basketball and baseball teams.

Sirois’ teammates plan to honor him this winter with wristbands.

“Most of the team wears wristbands anyway and we’re going to get some with a No. 22 embroidered on them,” said Alan Campbell, a member of the boys varsity basketball team that won the school’s first Eastern Maine Class C quarterfinal game last winter.

“People keep asking, well, what would Kenny do, and it’s hard to say,” Campbell added. Kenny was funny, if somebody was down he would cheer them up.”

Sirois scored six points and had eight rebounds in that game – neither of which was a team high in that game, but typical for the 6-foot-3 forward.

“Kenny, he was our leader,” Campbell said. “He didn’t lead in scoring but he led in the hard stuff, like setting picks, hard picks, making a statement.”

The baseball players wore wristbands with Sirois’ No. 24.

Cross country captains Campbell and fellow senior Nathan Lizotte, who wrestles in the winter, said the senior class also wants to find a way to remember Sirois at their graduation next spring.

“It’s like an empty spot,” Lizotte said of starting school without Sirois.

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