November 24, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Raiders capture crown> Look, Davis give spark to victory

BANGOR – The beauty of the playoffs is they give unsung and overshadowed players an opportunity to thrust themselves into the limelight.

Take, for example, Washington Academy sophomores Jeff Look and Nate Davis during Tuesday’s Eastern Maine Class C title game.

Look, who went 10-for-31 during the regular season (.323) but hadn’t had an at-bat in the two previous baseball playoff wins, ruined Narraguagus High School righthander Alan Stanwood’s perfect game bid with a leadoff single in the sixth that triggered a two-run rally.

Davis, who had only six RBIs in 16 games, drove home the winning run with a seventh-inning sacrifice fly as Washington Academy triumphed 4-2 at Mansfield Stadium.

The 16-1 Raiders, who won their first Eastern C title since 1987, will now face 15-3 Falmouth in Saturday’s 7 p.m. state C final at St. Joseph’s College in Standish. Narraguagus finished at 16-3.

Washington Academy senior shortstop-pitcher Glen Wood and senior first baseman Mike Fergerson said Look’s hit turned the game around.

“That got the fire started,” said Wood.

Fergerson added, “We all had our heads down. That got us back into the game.”

Look took a called strike and grounded the next pitch up the middle.

“I just wanted to get on base. I wanted to get something going,” said Look. “It was a perfect pitch to hit, a fastball down the middle.”

Stanwood said, “I was trying to put it outside but I hung it over the middle.”

“That hit took a little wind out of Alan’s sails,” said Narraguagus catcher Mike Worcester.

Look raced all the way to third when Nick St. Pierre’s sacrifice was bobbled and no one covered third.

Look scored on Joey Tuell’s sacrifice fly and pinch-runner Jeremy Look scored on Josh Ramsdell’s grounder to short.

Narraguagus tied it on Chad Berry’s triple and an infield error but WA won it in the seventh.

Winning pitcher Brandon Ashby lined a leadoff single to center and, following a wild pitch, pinch-runner Matt Demerest went to third on Fergerson’s opposite-field single to right. Davis scored him with his fly ball to right field.

“I was just trying to get the ball to the outfield to get the run across,” said Davis.

Matt Gardner, who ran for Fergerson, eventually scored when Stanwood failed to cover first on a two-out grounder by Jeff Look off first baseman Joe Haskell’s glove.

Mike Worcester, whose two-out fly-ball single to left had staked Narraguagus to a 1-0 lead in the third, doubled off the fence in left center field with two outs in the seventh for his third hit of the game but Wood came on to relieve Ashby and he fanned Stanwood for the final out.

Senior righties Ashby and Stanwood duelled brilliantly as each used sweeping three-quarter arm curves and snapping overhand curves to keep the hitters off balance. The curves also made their fastballs more effective.

Ashby fanned 11 and walked two while spacing six hits. He threw 84 strikes among his 130 pitches.

Stanwood, who admitted to tiring in the later innings, fanned eight and didn’t walk a batter while allowing three singles. Just one run off him was earned. He threw 63 strikes among his 91 pitches.

Ashby said it was one of his two best outings of the season along with a two-hit 6-1 win over Lee on May 23. That game was also at Mansfield Stadium.

“I love this field,” grinned Ashby.

Raiders 4, Knights 2

Washington Acad. (16-1) Narraguagus boys (16-3)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Ramsdell, cf 3 0 0 1 Smith, 2b 4 0 0 0

Wood, ss-p 3 0 0 0 Meyer, 3b 4 0 1 0

Ashby, p-ss 3 0 1 0 Worcester, c 4 0 3 1

a-Demerest 0 1 0 0 Stanwood, p 4 0 0 0

Fergerson, 1b 3 0 1 0 Berry, lf 3 1 1 0

b-Gardner 0 1 0 0 J. Haskell, 1b 3 0 1 0

Davis, lf 2 0 0 1 Gage-Croll, cf 2 0 0 0

Cates, c 3 0 0 0 Stewart, ss 3 0 0 0

Smith, rf 1 0 0 0 Haycock, rf 2 1 0 0

Jeff Look, rf 2 1 1 0

St. Pierre, 3b 1 0 0 0

c-Jer. Look 0 1 0 0

Tuell, 2b 1 0 0 1

Totals 22 4 3 3 Totals 29 2 6 1

a-ran for Ashby in 7th inning

b-ran for Fergerson in 7th inning

c-ran for St. Pierre in 6th inning

Washington Academy 000 002 2 – 4

Narraguagus 001 001 0 – 2

E – Cates 2, Tuell 4, St. Pierre; Meyer, Worcester, Haskell 2B – Worcester 3B – Berry LOB – Washington Academy 1, Narraguagus 8 SB – Jer. Look, Jef. Look; Meyer, Haycock, Haskell S – St. Pierre; Gage-Croll SF – Davis

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Washington Acad.

Ashby (W, 7-1) 6 2/3 6 2 2 2 11

Wood (S, 3) 1/3 0 0 0 0 1

Narraguagus

Stanwood (L, 6-2) 7 3 4 1 0 8

WP – Stanwood 2 TIME – 1:57 ATTENDANCE – 183


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