Mt. Blue’s Mosher verbally commits to UMaine

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For Christina Mosher, college has been an easy decision.

She’s wanted to go to the University of Maine forever, she said, and last week the 6-foot-4 junior center from Mt. Blue of Farmington made a verbal commitment to play for the Black Bears starting in the 2007-08 season.

“That’s where I wanted to play pretty much forever,” said Mosher, who was a third-team All-Maine player this season.

Mosher said she will be receiving a full scholarship for four years.

Over the course of her high school career Mosher had received from phone calls from other schools and the requisite pile of letters from around the country, she said, but she never considered playing for another school.

Mosher first visited the campus in Orono as a sophomore.

“I just fell in love with it,” she said. “It’s close to home, they have good fan support, and it [felt like] a very welcoming community.”

And watching former Mt. Blue star Heather Ernest enjoy a successful career at UMaine proved inspirational.

“It makes me think I can do it, too,” said Mosher, who lives in Farmington.

A Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference North Division all-star, Mosher averaged 16.9 points and 12.2 rebounds per game for the Cougars this season. She also added 3.6 assists, 3.0 steals and about 2.0 blocks per game, and converted more than 60 percent of her field-goal attempts.

Committing early was important to Mosher.

“Now I know where I’m going and what I have to do to get ready,” she said. “I can just go out and have a fun senior year.”

Mosher expects to sit down with the UMaine coaching staff, including head coach Ann McInerney, after camp this summer to talk about what the school expects from her in the 2006-07 season.

McInerney cannot comment on recruits until they sign a National Letter of Intent. The early signing period is in November. The eligibility of all student-athletes is contingent upon admission to the university and compliance with all NCAA rules, including registration with the NCAA Clearinghouse.

Wadleigh shakes off surgery

All she wanted was to get in a few good innings of work while making her way back from off-season surgery.

Instead, John Bapst pitcher Gwen Wadleigh fired a no-hitter in her first start of the season, a 12-0, five-inning victory over Caribou, despite still coming back from a knee injury.

Wadleigh, a senior, allowed one walk while striking out seven in her first career no-hitter – while still in physical therapy for surgery she had April 3 on her right knee.

“It was absolutely amazing to come back and throw my first no-hitter in my first game back from surgery in my senior year,” Wadleigh said moments after arriving at Husson College for practice after a PT session.

Wadleigh started the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Vikings because of injuries to other players. In the third inning, Wadleigh said, she started to tire. But she also knew she had the no-hitter going.

That was enough to keep her in the game.

“I wanted to stay in. I wanted to finish it,” she said.

The other advantage of starting Saturday’s game was getting in a few innings of work before this afternoon’s matchup against perennial powerhouse Bucksport. Wadleigh has yet to find a way to beat the Golden Bucks in her four-year career.

“That’s kind of one of my big goals this year,” she said. “It’s been the game I’ve been pumping myself up for this year.”

Wadleigh underwent arthroscopic surgery to fix a basketball injury in her right knee, which is the leg with which she pushes off the rubber.

“I’m having so much less pain now,” she said. “It’s great. It’s been nice to come back sooner.”

Even though Wadleigh isn’t fully recovered, the Bapst offense provided 12 runs in five innings, and she was able to stick with a fastball-changeup combination rather than work in other pitches.

“We weren’t mixing it up too, too much,” she said. “We were just kind of trying to hit corners. Some of my stuff isn’t back completely yet because I haven’t been throwing enough, but my accuracy is back and I’m able to hit inside-outside.”

Wadleigh was also grateful to coach Bill Baker for what he didn’t say during the game.

Last year Wadleigh had a no-hitter going in an Eastern Maine Class B preliminary-round playoff game against Fort Kent. When the final Warrior batter stepped to the plate, Wadleigh said, Baker told the Crusaders on the bench to stand in anticipation of the no-hitter.

But the Fort Kent player, Iris Guimond, singled to spoil Wadleigh’s effort in the 6-0 win.

“I was just hoping he didn’t say something [in the Caribou game],” Wadleigh said. “Coach kind of learned his lesson on that one.”

Wadleigh’s return will likely provide a boost to the Crusaders, who struggled in the preseason and lost their season-opener to Hermon.

It’ll also be meaningful for her because she “hated” to miss games. Wadleigh figures she has missed about eight games since her freshman year.

“It was interesting sitting on the bench,” she said with a smile. “I’m a compulsive eater and I probably gained like 5-10 pounds sitting on the bench. It was awful. I’m so used to being in control of the game.”

Cimino among top 10 juniors

McAuley of Portland basketball star Ashley Cimino has been named to the USA Today Underclassman All-USA girls team.

The team is made up of 10 members of the Class of 2007. Cimino, a first-team All-Maine player and the Gatorade Maine Player of the Year, is the only player from New England chosen.

The 6-2 forward averaged 17.4 points and 9.0 rebounds per game while leading the Lions to the Western Maine Class D final this year.

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