Success in doubles comes naturally for Fineman

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James Fineman has lived the doubles life since being born with a twin brother, so perhaps it’s no surprise he has found success in doubles on the tennis court.

A senior at Mount Desert High School in Bar Harbor, Fineman last Saturday won the Penobscot Valley Conference doubles championship for the third straight season.

“I like doubles because I’m not out there by myself,” he said. “When I wrestle during the winter, I’m all by myself, but in tennis I have someone to talk to and help me when I start to get frustrated.”

Fineman teamed with junior Joe Richardson to win this year’s PVC crown. Seeded third, the Fineman-Richardson pairing edged second-seeded Matt Cronan and Ian McDonnell of Bangor 9-7 in the semifinals before outlasting top seeds Aaron Taft and Ricky Segal, also of Bangor, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in the championship match.

Fineman and Richardson are 12-0 in their first season as MDI’s first doubles tandem, helping the Trojans finish the regular season with a 10-2 record and ranked second in Eastern Maine Class B.

“I’ve always lived a couple of hundred yards or so from Joe, so we’ve always known each other,” said Fineman. “Our thought processes are basically the same, but it took a little while to get used to each other.”

That it took a while for Fineman to get accustomed to a new partner was understandable, given that his previous partner was twin brother Paul.

That duo – James plays righthanded, while Paul is a lefthander – combined to win 37 of 38 career matches together, losing only in last spring’s Class B state final.

“Just being with your twin made it easier,” said James. “With the way our brains work, it was easy to communicate because we knew what each other was going to do anyway.”

But while the Finemans have rarely been separated since birth, they were separated on the tennis court this spring. With two singles players among the graduates from last year’s Eastern B championship squad – along with the second doubles team – Paul Fineman moved up to singles.

The switch has worked because Paul Fineman qualified for last week’s state singles Round of 32 along with teammate Noah Bracken, and they’ve combined with Jamie Thormann to give MDI a solid singles trio. Ian Campbell and George Loftus also have been productive since taking over at second doubles behind James Fineman and Richardson.

MDI’s only losses this season came against undefeated Eastern A top seed Bangor and undefeated Eastern C top seed George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill, and the Trojans will begin the postseason defense of their 2006 EM title today with a quarterfinal match against No. 7 Ellsworth.

“At first I thought we’d have a really hard time,” said James Fineman, “but we’re a different team than last year. Last year we had a couple of guaranteed points at first singles [James Little] and first doubles. This year, we’ve just got a bunch of solid players.”

The Finemans plan to resume their collaborative doubles career next year at Wheaton College in Massachusetts.

Persevering Ponies eye playoffs

Many high school baseball teams are making late-season runs toward regular-season goals such as preliminary-round byes, home-field advantage, or just earning a playoff berth.

Few teams had to rise farther than the Foxcroft Academy Ponies.

Two weeks into the season, Foxcroft had yet to play or practice on its home field because of drainage issues – and had an 0-5 record to show for it.

But despite a 7-6, nine-inning loss to Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln in their regular-season finale Tuesday, the Ponies have salvaged a postseason future from that inauspicious start with eight wins in their last 11 games. In fact, they moved from 14th to sixth in the Heal Point ratings in the last week alone and may still earn a Class B preliminary-round playoff game at home next week.

“The kids were a little discouraged,” said Foxcroft coach Paul Lancisi of his team’s slow start. “But the big thing was they could see that even in the losses we were in close games, there were no blowouts.

“The other thing was that as we looked at how other teams were doing, there wasn’t really a top dog on our schedule, it was open to anyone.”

Foxcroft’s early struggles were largely a result of defensive woes, as unearned runs plagued the Ponies in three two-run losses.

“We couldn’t get on the field to practice the plays we needed to make,” Lancisi said.

When they finally did get on their home field for the first time, the Ponies outlasted Piscataquis of Guilford 5-4 in 10 innings for their first win. Foxcroft then edged Hermon 3-2 the next day before finally holding its first practice session on its field – on May 9.

“The issue was the unearned runs,” said Lancisi. “Since we’ve been able to practice on our field, we’ve been able to cut that down, and we’ve gotten our walks down to a minimum and had some key hits.”

Senior catcher Nick Lancisi leads the team with a .482 batting average, five home runs, 18 RBIs, and 18 runs scored.

Lancisi, who will play at Division III power North Carolina Wesleyan next year, began the spring as the cleanup hitter, but more recently the son of the Foxcroft coach was moved to the leadoff spot because opposing teams regularly issued him intentional walks in the cleanup slot.

Senior pitcher-shortstops David White (.349) and Abe Landry (.341) also have been major offensive contributors, and Foxcroft has gotten solid production from two freshmen, third baseman-outfielder Ian Champeon (.300) and second baseman Josiah Richard (.255 and just one error as the everyday second baseman).

White (2-3) anchors the pitching staff, coming off a 73-pitch three-hitter in a 4-3 victory over John Bapst of Bangor. Landry (3-2) shut out Ellsworth in his last start, while junior Tyler Weymouth (3-0) earned a 2-1 win over Dexter on Saturday.

But perhaps the biggest reason for Foxcroft’s success, given its slow start, has had less to do with statistics and more to do with chemistry.

“We’ve gotten real good leadership from our captains [White, Lancisi, and Brad Bellemare],” said coach Lancisi. “I have to say very little, and most of what I say has to do with instruction because they handle the rest. They’ve really pulled this group together.”