Title hopes still alive for a few

These are days for crowning achievements at high schools everywhere. Graduation has sent thousands of young Mainers off to the real world, or at least the next stage of their formative years, complete with memories galore.

But these are days when diamonds are forever, too, diamonds of the baseball variety that can foster one more memorable moment for those skilled and determined enough to emerge as best of the best.

Schoolboy athletes from three area schools have the chance to create one more lasting memory Saturday, when Bangor, Searsport, and Deer Isle-Stonington compete for state championships.

Their stories may be different, but the goal is the same.

Bangor’s game against Deering of Portland at Morton Field in Augusta marks the final chapter in a remarkable school year. The Rams already have won six Class A state championships in team sports, seven in the last 52 weeks when counting the 2006 baseball crown that set the tone.

Boys soccer. Boys basketball. Girls swimming. Boys swimming. Boys indoor track. Boys outdoor track. And that doesn’t count the close calls, like trips to the Eastern Maine finals in football and boys tennis.

Yeah, Bangor has the largest enrollment in the state, so goes the inevitable line from those whose hearts reside with other schools. But enrollment alone isn’t enough. Such teams are built on talent, coaching, support, fortitude, desire, and myriad other ingredients that make up the championship recipe.

And by any athletic standard, this has been a banner year for Bangor.

So, too, has Searsport drawn inspiration by the performance of its baseball players, who have significantly raised the athletic profile of one of the state’s smaller Class C schools.

The Vikings ended a 31-year baseball state championship drought in emotional fashion last spring, winning the Class C crown after dedicating the season to the memory of a player’s father, a supportive dad who died in a car accident the previous year. That title also represented a profile in perseverance as Searsport had come close the previous two years only to fall in the Eastern Maine final.

This spring, no longer on the outside looking in, Searsport has risen back to the top, a run capped off when Nate Adams threw a 71-pitch no-hitter to lead the Vikings to a 2-0 victory over perennial power George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill in the EM final.

Only a rematch with Saint Dominic of Auburn remains, and one more memory to be made.

Like Bangor and Searsport, Deer Isle-Stonington has lived the championship experience and would love to live it again.

Folks on the island have been going through a “basketball hangover” since March in the aftermath of the Mariners’ first Class D boys basketball state title since Deer Isle and Stonington high schools consolidated in the 1960s.

And while the area has always been a basketball hotbed in the tradition of Down East Maine, it also has emerged as a baseball hotbed. Two years ago, the Mariners stunned heavily favored North Yarmouth Academy to win their first state title in that sport.

After an early postseason exit last spring, the team came back motivated this spring, and it has showed with a dominant run to the Eastern Maine title.

The Mariners are underdogs no more, and that’s fine with them. They enjoy where they’re at right now, and just like Bangor and Searsport, they know there’s still one more memorable moment to experience before school’s truly out for the summer.

Ernie Clark may be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or at eclark@bangordailynews.net.