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BANGOR – Searsport High School junior righthander Nate Adams said he threw his last no-hitter in Little League when he was 11 or 12 years old.
He couldn’t have picked a better stage for his latest one.
Adams no-hit George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill in the Eastern Maine Class C championship game Wednesday night, striking out eight and walking one, and Tom Cameron supplied the offense with a two-out, two-run single in the fifth inning as Searsport triumphed 2-0.
Second seed Searsport (15-4), the defending state champion, faces St. Dominic of Auburn (18-1) in Saturday’s 2 p.m. title game at Mansfield Stadium.
Fourth seed GSA of Blue Hill wound up 11-8 with three of those losses coming to Searsport.
The hard-throwing Adams threw just 71 pitches, 47 for strikes, and retired the last 17 hitters he faced.
He faced the minimum 21 hitters as the Vikings turned two double plays behind him.
“To throw [a no-hitter] in an Eastern Maine championship Class C baseball game against GSA, your rivals … there are no words to describe the feeling. It’s great,” said Adams, who improved to 6-1. “My two-seam fastball was my best pitch. It came right back over the plate [from the outside corner across to right-handed hitters]. I had that going really well. My curve was decent. It wasn’t as good as my last game but it was still decent.”
Adams pitched a six-inning shutout against Stearns last Saturday, striking out nine and walking one in a 10-0 win.
“He just blew us away with fastballs,” said GSA junior catcher Lucas Marks. “He got ahead in the count a lot.”
GSA junior righthander Josh Astbury concurred.
“He beat us with his fastball today. He throws pretty hard,” said Astbury, who pitched well in defeat.
Freshman Evan Kingsbury opened the decisive fifth inning rally with a sharp, one-out, line-drive single to center. Freshman pinch hitter Josiah Brazier put a bunt down the first base line and was credited with a hit when first baseman Nate Hines slipped while trying to field the ball and tag him.
“I think I had some dirt in my cleats or something,” said Hines.
Caleb Ashey walked to load the bases.
Casey Ashey tried to squeeze Kingsbury home but the alert Astbury fielded the ball and tossed it to catcher Marks for the forceout.
Cameron then hit a soft liner up the middle to break the tie.
“I had to seize the moment,” said Cameron. “I didn’t want to let anybody down. I made sure my footing was right and my elbow was up. I knew he wasn’t going to give me anything good to hit so I wanted to hit the first outside strike. I wanted to extend my arms and blast it the other way. I didn’t want him to throw me any junk.”
Astbury and Marks said it was an offspeed pitch.
“He made a great effort on the ball,” said Marks. “It took a great piece of athleticism and concentration to hit that back up the middle.”
Searsport coach Dave Pepin said, “Tommy’s been a big clutch hitter all year for us. He’s hitting in the three spot for a reason. He’s had four walk-off [game-ending] hits over the last two years.”
Astbury pitched 4 2/3 innings of five-hit, two-run ball, striking out six and walking two. Caleb Hale finished up by retiring all four hitters he faced.
VIKINGS 2, EAGLES 0
George Stevens (11-8) Searsport (15-4)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
Astbury, p-ss 3 0 0 0 Cal. Ashey, ss 2 0
Ensworth, lf 3 0 0 0 Cas. Ashey, c 3 0 0
Marks, c 3 0 0 0 Cameron, 1b 2 0 2
Warden-Black, 3b 1 0 0 0 Nickerson, 3b 3 0
Hines, 1b 2 0 0 0 Adams, p 3 0 0
Whitney, dh 2 0 0 0 Bagley, dh 3 0 0
Hale, rf-p 0 0 0 0 Ritchie, cf 0 0 0
Lawson, 2b-rf 2 0 0 0 McHatten, 2b 2 0
Dickinson, ss-2b 2 0 0 0 Kingsbury, rf 2 0
Walton, cf 1 0 0 0 Brassbridge, lf 1 1 0
Pickering, ph 1 0 0 0 Brazier, ph 1 0
Totals 20 0 0 0 Totals 22 2 5 2
GSA 000 000 0- 0
Searsport 000 020 0 – 2
E- Cameron; LOB- GSA 0, Searsport 5; DP- Casey Ashey-Caleb Ashey; Adams-Caleb Ashey-Cameron;
GSA IP H R ER BB SO
Astbury (L, 5-3) 4 2/3 5 2 2 2 6
Hale 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 2
Searsport IP H R ER BB SO
Adams (W, 6-1) 7 0 0 0 1 8
T- 1:41; ATT- 300 (est.)
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