Recruit opts out of Maine Young heading to rival Vermont

loading...

The fallout has begun from Ann McInerney’s sudden resignation last month as the women’s basketball coach at the University of Maine.

Tonya Young, a 6-foot-1 post player from New Hampshire who in November signed at National Letter of Intent to play basketball at UMaine beginning in 2007-08, won’t be playing for the Black Bears after all.

UMaine athletics spokesman Brent Williamson confirmed Monday the university has given Young a release from her NLI, which means she is free to attend and compete elsewhere.

Williamson said UMaine athletic director Blake James would have no further comment about the decision to grant Young the release.

According to the Web site of the New England Crusaders AAU program in New Hampshire, Young has since verbally committed to attend Vermont, one of UMaine’s staunchest America East rivals.

Under NLI rules, which are administered by the Collegiate Commissioners’ Association, a student-athlete who signs an NLI must attend that school unless given a complete release by that school.

If UMaine had forced Young to honor her commitment, and she had opted not to attend, she would have forfeited one year of athletic eligibility and would have had to serve a year in residence (two semesters) at her new school before becoming eligible to compete.

In that case, Young wouldn’t have been eligible until the fall of 2008. As it stands, she can play for Vermont next season.

Young starred at Mascoma Valley Regional High School in Canaan, N.H., where last season she was named the New Hampshire Class I Player of the Year. Young scored more than 2,000 points en route to becoming her school’s all-time leading scorer.

Young’s departure will leave UMaine thin in the post. The Black Bears’ only returnees are 6-foot-6 sophomore Sandra Vaitkute, 6-foot junior Brittany Boser and 6-foot sophomore Katia Bratishko.

Among that trio, which combined to score only 60 points last season, Vaitkute was the only notable contributor.

UMaine baseball re-energized

With its postseason hopes at stake, the UMaine baseball team put together its most complete series of the season over the weekend.

Coach Steve Trimper’s Black Bears (17-26, 8-8 America East) received outstanding pitching, crisp defense and more consistent hitting as they moved back into fourth place in the conference standings.

With two weekends left, UMaine controls its own destiny in the quest for a third straight America East title. Four teams will qualify for the double-elimination tourney, which will be played May 24-26 on the home field of the highest seeded team with lights.

The Bears’ confidence level grew during Saturday’s sweep, and received another boost with Sunday’s series-clinching 8-1 victory over Vermont.

“It’s a testament to us and coach and the whole team really,” said senior co-captain Joel Barrett of Brewer. “Coach is doing a great job, doing everything he can. It’s been a struggling year, but you can’t point fingers or anything like that. To get this win [Sunday] was just absolutely huge.”

However, UMaine has found it difficult this spring to put together bunches of wins. For that reason, the players aren’t getting ahead of themselves.

“We shouldn’t relax,” said sophomore pitcher Alejandro Balsinde. “We need to keep playing hard and try to keep winning some games. You don’t want to let the momentum stop.”

Next up is a critical four-game series at Hartford that begins Saturday afternoon.

UMaine got into a good offensive groove against a Vermont staff that went into the series with a nifty 2.18 team earned run average in league play and had allowed 29 runs in its first 11 AE contests.

The Bears piled up 27 runs and 42 hits in four games against the Catamounts.

“Hopefully we can keep momentum with these wins and keep pitching well because when we pitch well, we hit well,” said senior Greg Norton of South Portland. “They feed off each other.”

Barrett climbing UMaine charts

Barrett is having another productive season at the plate for the Black Bears.

His consistency over the past four years have enabled him to make a steady rise among the list of the program’s career batting leaders.

The former Brewer High star picked up three hits over the weekend and has moved into second place on UMaine’s career hits list with 268. Barrett, who passed T.J. Sheedy’s 266 hits (1995-98) will wind up second behind major leaguer Mark Sweeney, who had 328 hits from 1988-91.

Barrett also ranks second all-time with 58 doubles and is within reach of Sweeney’s record 66 doubles.

And with four RBIs against Vermont, Barrett has moved into fifth place for his career with 161.

UM makes football staff changes

UMaine football head coach Jack Cosgrove has made a handful of staff changes during the offseason as the Black Bears prepare for their inaugural season in the Colonial Athletic Association next fall.

The most significant departure is former UMaine quarterback and longtime Bears assistant coach Bobby Wilder, who in February accepted the head coaching position at Old Dominion University in Virginia.

Wilder took with him former UMaine quarterback and Bears assistant Brian Scott of Waterville to become the Monarchs’ offensive coordinator, while Bears secondary coach and special teams guru Andy Rondeau left after one season to become ODU’s defensive coordinator.

Cosgrove said staff changes are inevitable and speak to the quality of individuals UMaine has been able to attract to the program.

“That’s probably going to be part of the way of doing business here,” Cosgrove said after Saturday’s Jeff Cole Scrimmage. “We just conduct our search, find the guys that are out there and bring in as quality a coach as we can.”

UMaine also lost two-year assistant Brian Dickison, who hooked on with his alma mater, Thiel College in Pennsylvania.

The Bears have welcomed two new coaches this spring in Frank Giufre (offensive line) and Joe Rossi (secondary).

The most significant vacancy is that of offensive coordinator. UMaine pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach Kevin Bourgoin appears to be the frontrunner as he called the shots during the scrimmage.

“The team as a whole, going through some coaching switches, has done a great job of not worrying about that and transitioning and becoming comfortable with the coaches,” said sophomore quarterback Mike Brusko.

If Bourgoin is promoted, UMaine will have one spot to fill to complete the staff.

“It all comes together and having the advantage of spring practice allows those guys to come out and coach and get to know our kids,” Cosgrove said.