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With the high school softball postseason set to kick off today, Ashland and the Limestone Community School/Maine School of Science and Mathematics are the only Eastern Maine teams that will head into the playoffs with a zero in the loss column.
“Isn’t that something, huh?” said Ashland coach Terry Hunter, whose 15-0 and top-seeded Hornets await the winner of today’s matchup between No. 8 Central Aroostook of Mars Hill and No. 9 Fort Fairfield.
“Limestone, they’re very formidable, they do have a great hitting team,” said Hunter of the Eagles, who finished the regular season 16-0 and earned the No. 2 seed in the EM Class D tournament.
The baseball postseason also begins with today’s prelims while softball and baseball quarterfinals are set Thursday and the semifinal rounds on Saturday.
The Hornets are one of the more balanced teams in the field as they’re sound at the plate, in the pitching circle, and defensively.
Senior righthander Whitney Flint has compiled a 2.11 earned run average while striking out a school-record 152 batters this spring, eclipsing her mark of 141 set last year.
“That’s 152 batters that you don’t have to worry about, that’s quite something,” Hunter said. “That makes quite a difference, there’s no question.
“She’s the best pitcher in Aroostook County, no question, by far.”
However, one thing that makes a pitcher even better is a formidable catcher, and that’s where Flint’s cousin and classmate Mindy Chasse comes in.
“Mindy and [Whitney] have been doing that since rec league together, they grew up together playing every sport together,” said Hunter.
He added that Flint has been a solid defensive catcher in terms of blocking balls in the dirt and gunning down runners at second base.
Flint and Chasse, who hit third and fourth in the Hornets’ order, have been Hunter’s leading catalysts at the plate.
Chasse sports a .583 batting average while Flint has hit .653 with five home runs and 44 RBIs while stealing 24 bases.
Andrea Mayo has been very steady at the top of the lineup, hitting .545 with five homers while No. 2 hitter Taylor Baker is batting .478.
The Limestone Eagles have also been cranking out hits and piling on runs en route to their No. 2 ranking.
As good as Limestone’s offense has been – they’ve scored 10 runs or more in all of their victories – sophomore righthander Jasmine Cote has won 12 games in the circle.
Another strong Class D team that could contend for the title is Bangor Christian. BC’s Jillian French has spearheaded coach Robert Leathers’ Patriots to a 13-3 mark, and with quality pitchers like French and Ashland’s Flint, the margin for error in this tournament is slim.
“If you have a bad day, you’re done, that’s just the way it is,” Ashland’s Hunter said. “I’ve been on both sides of it.”
If there’s an experience advantage, albeit a small one, the Hornets may have it as a number players are the same ones who won an Eastern Maine title in soccer and advanced to the regional basketball finals this school year.
“They handle the pressure pretty well,” Hunter said.
He added that Woodland and Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook, who enter as the fourth and fifth seeds, have plenty of potential.
Balance in Class C
In Class C, Sumner of East Sullivan and Calais occupy the top two slots heading into the postseason in a well-balanced field.
No. 4 Washington Academy of East Machias has dealt Sumner two of its three losses. The fourth-ranked Raiders have beaten Calais once while No. 3 Houlton took both regular-season matchups from the Blue Devils.
Orono leapfrogged into the No. 5 slot and avoided the preliminary round with an 11-inning win over No. 7 Penobscot Valley of Howland in last week’s regular season finale, arguably one of the best games of the spring.
The Howlers, along with Penquis of Milo and Lee Academy, boast three of the region’s top pitchers in Casey McCloskey, Erica Lyford and Brooke Harris, respectively.
The No. 6 Pandas are one of the hotter teams in the bracket, as they’ve won 10 of 12 games after starting 1-3.
Senior All-Star games set
The State Senior All-Star softball games will be held on Thursday, June 26 at the Cony High School field in Augusta.
Festivities will begin with the East Class A and B All-Stars taking on the A-B West squad at 5 p.m. and the Classes C-D game at 7 p.m. The Miss Maine Softball honor will be handed out in between the two nine-inning contests.
Witches win KVAC crown
The Brewer softball team won the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship over the weekend.
Coach Harry “Skip” Estes’ Witches, the top team in the North division, defeated South champ Cony of Augusta 2-0 at Coffin Field in Brewer Saturday morning. The game was originally scheduled for Friday and was moved to Saturday due to weather.
Brewer is riding the momentum of 10 consecutive victories into the postseason, and has earned the No. 1 rank in Class A. The Witches will face either No. 8 Oxford Hills of South Paris or No. 9 Messalonskee of Oakland in the quarterfinals at home Thursday.
rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net
990-8193
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