FA tabs Larlee for girls basketball post

loading...

Former Schenck of East Millinocket basketball standout Rachel Larlee will take over as coach of the Foxcroft Academy girls basketball team next winter.

Larlee, a 2000 Schenck and 2004 UMaine-Presque Isle graduate, who is currently teaching and coaching in the Milo school system, was one of four applicants interviewed, Ponies athletic director Tim Smith said.

It will be Larlee’s first varsity basketball job, although she spent this spring season coaching the Penquis of Milo varsity softball team.

“Her experience as a varsity softball coach was a help,” Smith said. “She has a good idea as far as understanding the differences between the levels. … She has a passion. She’s a basketball person. That was her aspiration, to be a basketball coach.”

Larlee, a 1,000-point scorer at UMPI, racked up plenty of basketball honors during her playing days. She was a McDonald’s senior all-star and Penobscot Valley Conference honorable mention all-star in 2000, and was Eastern Maine Class C all-tourney honorable mention in 1999.

Smith liked not only Larlee’s playing credentials but also the fact that she has played for and worked with some of the top coaches in Eastern Maine. Those coaches include former Schenck girls coach Jay Brown, current Penquis girls coach Wally Russell and Penquis boys coach and athletic director Tony Hamlin.

“She played for some of the coaches I really respect,” Smith said. “She played for Jay Brown in high school and I respect a lot of the things he does. She coached with Wally Russell and I know he’s been a good mentor for her. She’s got a close relationship with Tony Hamlin.”

Larlee replaces Bobby Hartford, who resigned in April after four years. The Ponies were 10-62 under Hartford, including 4-14 in the 2006-07 season.

Cravens heading to ECSU

Ellsworth ace pitcher Catie Cravens ended her high school career Saturday, but the Penobscot Valley Conference all-star will continue to pitch next spring at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, Conn.

“I found the coach, we started talking and it went on from there,” Cravens said after the No. 2 Eagles fell to No. 6 Bucksport 8-2 in an Eastern Maine Class B semifinal. “I went down to visit the school and I liked it.”

Cravens finished the season with a 12-1 record, 104 strikeouts and 13 walks in 86 innings of work and a 0.48 earned-run average.

She also hit fourth for the team and batted .400 with 16 hits, 10 RBIs and one home run.

Eastern Connecticut State went 21-16 last year.

Cravens, meanwhile, was key to the Eagles’ season, one of the program’s best in recent memory. Ellsworth went 15-1 in the regular season and wrapped up with a 16-2 record.

“It’s been the best team that I played on all four years,” she said. “It’s hard to go out this way but it was a good season.”

Hall earns unique honor

Regardless of what happens in Tuesday evening’s Eastern Maine Class B final, Bucksport (16-3) pitcher Terren Hall will end her remarkable high school career this week.

Hall, who was named the Penobscot Valley Conference Class B Pitcher and Player of the Year, may be the first player to win both honors two years in a row, 17-year Golden Bucks coach Mike Carrier said.

Bucksport has always had a strong softball program, but Carrier said he believes Hall has had a huge impact, especially on the offensive end.

That has carried over to the rest of the team, he added. Before Hall reached the varsity level, the Bucksport program had had just one home run leave a ballpark. This year alone there were 14 over the fence, hit by six different girls.

“She and her father, Terry, who is a great hitting coach, have elevated our hitting,” Carrier said. “We’ve always been a great hitting team but never with power like we have right now.”

Hall, who will play for the University of Maine next year, has been stellar in the circle so far this postseason. In three playoff wins she’s given up three runs, eight hits and three walks while striking out 37.

“Pitching-wise I think she’s smart,” said Hermon coach Adam Leach, whose Hawks were one of just two teams to beat Bucksport in the regular season but fell to the Bucks 2-0 in a quarterfinal.

“She can tell by the batter’s stance where to throw it, when to throw it,” Leach added. “She outsmarts batters more than anything else.”

Wilson has knee scare

Cony of Augusta pitcher Mika Wilson had a scary moment during the fourth inning of Saturday’s Eastern Maine Class A semifinal against Brewer at Coffin Field.

The sophomore came out of the circle to field a ball when she fell to the ground as her left knee buckled.

Wilson got up and finished the game, earned a 7-5 win, and doesn’t think she did any serious damage. But the potential for trouble with her knee was there considering her history.

Wilson is coming back from an anterior cruciate ligament repair and has had meniscus problems as well as a chipped bone in that knee.

But Wilson said she didn’t feel like she did any damage and planned to have a trainer look at her knee this week

“I’ll have her help me to get it ready for Skowhegan,” Wilson said. “I’m glad I didn’t re-tear it. That would have been a bummer.”

Griffin wins Gatorade award

Kelsey Griffin, a senior pitcher at Scarborough High, has been named the Gatorade Maine Player of the Year for softball.

Griffin, the Southern Maine Activities Association Player of the Year, led the Red Storm to a 16-0 regular-season record and a berth in the Western Maine Class A final. She hadn’t allowed an earned run through the first 10 games of the season with 129 strikeouts and seven walks in 68 innings.

She was batting .412 with two home runs and 12 RBIs.

Griffin will attend NCAA Division II Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., on a scholarship.

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