PITTSFIELD – If his debut this spring is any indication, pitching without pain will be pitching with pleasure for Maine Central Institute senior Victor Quint.

The righthander opened the Huskies’ season Saturday by striking out 16 batters and walking no one in a complete-game effort against Mount View of Thorndike.

Not all was near perfect for Quint, however, as a dropped third strike on his final strikeout sparked a two-out rally in the top of the seventh that produced two unearned runs, giving Mount View a 2-1 victory in the season opener for both teams.

“It was a tough way to lose,” said Quint.

But while that short-term result was painful, the long-term prognosis is good – both for the Huskies, who return a veteran team to a deep and competitive Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B race, and for Quint, who is finally healthy as he closes out what has been a stellar three-sport high school athletic career.

Quint fractured his right – or pitching – shoulder some 18 months ago during his junior season of football at MCI.

“I never really did anything about it, and it healed the wrong way,” he said.

Quint played through the soreness, earning first-team All-LTC football honors as a defensive back, and second-team status as a punter.

He followed that up with a full season of basketball, then the 2006 baseball season when he was named first-team All-KVAC Class B as a catcher.

But all the while his shoulder got worse.

“It hurt all the time,” he said. “I couldn’t lay on it.”

After playing American Legion baseball for Winslow-based O’Brien Oil last summer, Quint rejoined the football team last fall. But the ailing shoulder hindered the quarterback’s ability to throw, and his season eventually was shut down early due to another health concern – concussions.

The only good side to being sidelined was that it created a window of opportunity for Quint to deal with his shoulder. He underwent chromoplasty surgery last November.

“They ground down some of the bone that had been rubbing against muscle and causing pain, and they took out a ton of scar tissue,” Quint said. “There was a hook of bone there from the fracture and that had been rubbing.”

The recovery period caused Quint to miss the first half of his senior basketball season, but he returned to help the Huskies MCI defeat Presque Isle in the Eastern Maine Class B preliminary round and then upend top-ranked and defending state champion Maranacook of Readfield in the regionals quarterfinals.

“They pretty much said it wasn’t the type of surgery that would cause you to be out a long time because they didn’t have to cut any muscle,” Quint said. “It’s a lot quicker turnaround than if it had been rotator cuff surgery.”

Just a few days after MCI’s basketball season ended with a loss to Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln in the semifinals, Quint picked up a baseball.

Working with MCI trainer Mike Libby, Quint also did range-of-motion exercises to gradually strengthen his shoulder, and once preseason baseball practices began he went to the gym before the start of his school days to throw in an effort to further develop his arm strength.

“I thought to myself, ‘this feels better than it has for a long time,'” he said.

Quint, whose MCI team is scheduled to visit Camden Hills of Rockport on Wednesday, is scheduled to make his next pitching start against Winslow in Pittsfield on Friday.

He will make that start confident that his shoulder is ready for the long haul, but understanding that he needs to heed any warning signs.

“I’m not worried. If I tell coach [John Dean] my arm is sore, he’s not going to push anything,” said Quint, who hopes to play college baseball next year and currently is considering Division II programs Southern Connecticut State and Post University of Waterbury, Conn.

“But right now my arm is feeling pretty good,” he added.

Marston earns Lobster Bowl slot

Mike Marston of Skowhegan and Matt Perkins of Windham High School have been named head coaches for the 18th annual Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl all-star football game, scheduled for Friday, July 27, at historic Waterhouse Field in Biddeford.

Both Marston and Perkins have been assistant coaches at the Lobster Bowl, which brings together the top senior football players from the previous season for one final game on the high school level.

Training camp for this year’s game begins Sunday, July 22, at Hebron Academy.

The East won last year’s game 22-21, its first victory in the series since 2003. The West leads the series 14-3.

LaFountain takes Mt. Ararat post

Mount Ararat High School of Topsham will have its third head football coach in as many years with the recent hiring of veteran assistant coach Mark LaFountain to the post.

LaFountain replaces Bob Farrell, who led the Eagles to a 3-5 record in the Pine Tree Conference Class A ranks last fall in his lone season at Mount Ararat.

Previous to Farrell’s hiring, Erik Sargent coached the team for seven years.

LaFountain, a police detective in Topsham, is a Winslow High School graduate who went on to the University of Maine.

While in college, he began his coaching career with stints as an assistant at Orono and Brewer.

LaFountain’s wife, Kelly, is the girls varsity basketball coach at Mount Ararat.

Gorham’s Durgin leads NIAAA

A Maine athletic administrator has taken on a leadership role at the national level.

Gerry Durgin of Gorham High School is serving as president of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, after being president-elect of that organization last year.

Durgin is responsible for representing the association at various sectional meetings and other events at the national level and for leading the 6,000-member organization in a host of areas.

Durgin becomes the third Mainer to lead the organization, following in the footsteps of the late Bob Lahey of Old Town High School and Marty Ryan of Kennebunk as an NIAAA president.