Pandas take 13-game win streak into quarterfinal

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Here’s something that should come as absolutely no shock to those who follow Eastern Maine Class D baseball – the road to the regional championship may end at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor next week, but it goes through Lee Academy.

The top-ranked Pandas, EM champs in 2002 and 2004 and a regional finalist last spring, will take a 13-game winning streak into Thursday’s quarterfinal at home against No. 8 Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook, an 11-10 winner over No. 9 Shead of Eastport in Tuesday’s preliminary round.

And at 15-1 overall, Lee has matched Class B schools Bucksport and Winslow for the best record in Eastern Maine.

No one can accuse the Pandas of playing a soft schedule. They play four Class C schools (Calais, Dexter, Penobscot Valley of Howland, and Piscataquis of Guilford) and four Class D playoff qualifiers in Bangor Christian, Katahdin of Stacyville, Woodland, and defending state champion Deer Isle-Stonington. Lee picked up Deer Isle-Stonington this year after traditional rival Mattanawcook Academy moved up to Class B.

“I don’t know if I thought we’d be 15-1 exactly,” said Pandas’ coach Dave Hainer, “but I knew we were going to be competitive based on what we had coming back.”

That returning cast includes the first six hitters in the batting order from the 2005 team that finished 15-4, reaching the EM final before losing 3-0 to Deer Isle-Stonington.

That contingent of seniors features four three-year starters in Tyler Thompson, Charlie Boulrisse, Everett Houghton, and Blaine Clark, as well as leadoff hitter Kris King and B.J. Crocker. It’s a group that has helped the Pandas produce a team batting average approaching .400.

Lee also has gotten an offensive boost from its No. 9 hitter, junior center fielder Derek Worster, who teams with King to get on base in front of the run producers in the lineup led by Thompson, a shortstop who will continue his playing career next year at Div. III Grove City College in Pennsylvania.

The pitching staff features Boulrisse – who pitched a five-inning no-hitter against Woodland earlier in the season but has battled a sore arm recently – along with Thompson, Clark, Houghton, and junior Travis Linscott.

The Pandas’ lone loss this spring came at Calais, a game in which Lee made nine errors.

“It was a wakeup call,” said Hainer. “We learned you can’t just show up and win, you’ve got to make plays.”

A breakthrough win for Schenck

Schenck of East Millinocket’s 10-0 Class D preliminary round baseball victory at Ashland on Monday is believed to be the Wolverines’ first postseason win in 28 years, according to coach Eddie Dempsey.

“That’s what people are telling us,” he said.

In a real sense, that five-inning victory marked Schenck’s second “playoff” victory as the Wolverines needed to defeat rival Stearns of Millinocket in its final game of the regular season to earn the No. 13 seed in Eastern D and a trip to No. 4 Ashland.

“We really did start our playoffs with that game,” Dempsey said, “because when the Heal points came out, we had to win that one if we were going to get in.”

Against Ashland, Schenck used a six-run third inning to break the game open and eventually win under the 10-run rule.

“That felt pretty good, because we’ve been at the other end of the 10-run rule six times,” Dempsey said.

Schenck, playing its first year in Class D after dropping from Class C, has retained a largely Class C schedule, with Class C foes Stearns, Dexter, Central of Corinth, Penobscot Valley, and Penquis of Milo along with Class D powers Katahdin of Stacyville and Deer Isle-Stonington comprising the Wolverines’ 14-game schedule.

After losing each of its first four games by the 10-run rule, Schenck rallied from a 4-0 deficit to defeat Dexter for the first time in many years. Schenck went on to win five of its last 10 regular-season games, including the 5-4 victory over Stearns that advanced the Wolverines to the playoffs.

Making that effort all the more impressive is that Schenck fields just a 10-player roster. The Wolverines played one game with nine players, and finished one game with just eight players on the field due to injury.

“The kids we have really play hard, and they’ve really stuck together,” said Dempsey, who added that the players have sacrificed a number of family and school-related activities to ensure that the team could field enough players for each game, including some that were rescheduled due to inclement weather.

Schenck, which visits No. 5 Central Aroostook of Mars Hill (11-4) in a regional quarterfinal Thursday, has been led by three seniors: first baseman Nick Bishop, shortstop Jordan Pelkey, and lefthanded pitcher Shawn Landry.

Bishop was named the first team All-Penobscot Valley Conference Class D first baseman after leading the team in batting with a .565 average, while Pelkey earned first-team All-PVC honors as a utility player for batting .370 and anchoring a strong defense despite a recent shoulder injury.

“We can catch the ball with anybody,” Dempsey said.

Landry has been the ace of the Schenck pitching staff, with a one-hitter against Penobscot Valley and a complete-game victory over Dexter to his credit.

FA’s Pelletier recognized

Josh Pelletier of Charleston and Foxcroft Academy, the 2006 New England wrestling champion at 275 pounds, has been named an honorable mention All-American by Wrestling USA magazine.

A three-time individual state champion, Pelletier helped Foxcroft win the 2004 and 2005 Class C state team championship.

He finished his career with a 110-11 record. As a senior he lost just once, but avenged that defeat to David Smith of Mountain Valley of Rumford a week later. A state champ at 215 pounds as a sophomore and junior, Pelletier won the 275-pound crown as a senior by edging Elijah Trefts of Lisbon 3-2 in the state championship match.

He went to win his New England title in dramatic fashion, winning the semifinal with a 1-0 decision and then scoring a reverse and near fall with 29 seconds left in the final to rally from a 1-0 deficit in that match.

Pelletier’s championship, combined with a fourth-place finish at 215 pounds by James McPhee, helped Foxcroft finish fifth in the New England team standings. That’s the best performance by a Maine team since 1977, when Rumford placed fourth.

Pelletier, also a standout football and baseball player at Foxcroft, plans to attend Liberty University beginning this fall on a four-year ROTC scholarship.

Top Tigers honored

Top senior athletes at Dexter Regional High School were recipients of the third annual Tiger Awards during a banquet this week.

The Tiger Award is given to a Dexter High athlete who has been a dedicated, high-performing team member in a variety of athletic situations, and has distinguished himself or herself in an assortment of athletic experiences rather than specializing in a single sport.

Recipients of the 2006 Tiger Awards are Nicci Burton, Sabrina Cote, Vanessa Hartford, Tracy Mountain, Billy Greene, Ryan Martin, Nick Peirce, and Brandon Woodman.