Balls popped in gloves, boys paired off to play catch, and the pitching machine smelled like burning rubber.

Inside Bangor High’s Red Barry Gymnasium, baseball practice began with some throwing drills. Pitchers – a few of whom have already been working out for a week – tossed to catchers. Hitters took big cuts at pitches in a makeshift batting cage.

Although the Rams are still inside, as are most of the state’s baseball and softball teams as Saturday’s late-winter storm coated the ground with a thin layer of snow, practice opened Monday afternoon for baseball, softball, track and field, tennis and lacrosse.

After getting his group of about 70 boys started for the afternoon, Bangor coach Jeff Fahey sat in a small room off the gym. Every few minutes a boy came into the room, grabbed a small weight, rested on some chairs and stretched out his throwing arm.

Most of them were pitchers. Fahey has 25 kids gunning for spots in the rotation and bullpen, but the Maine Principals’ Association only allows eight pitchers (and two catchers) to report a week early.

For small schools, eight pitchers is enough. Not at Bangor.

“It’s ridiculous for a school our size,” Fahey said.

“… What happens is, like with these guys here, they weren’t here last week, so they come in, throw a little bit harder, their arms are a little bit sorer, they don’t tell anybody, and they start putting stress on the arm,” he added. “I think every single kid who tries out for pitching should be able to come out.”

That’s something teams have had to live with for several years. New for this season, however, is a move that allows the 10-run rule to be waived if both coaches agree to do so during the pre-game meeting.

The MPA baseball committee made the change last year. It’s in place on a trial basis for this season.

Fahey said he doesn’t like the 10-run rule – whereby the game ends if a team is winning by at least 10 runs in the fifth inning (or bottom of the fourth if the home team is ahead). There is to be no waiver in junior varsity or ninth grade games, and the 10-run rule will be in effect for all playoff games.

At a recent rules meeting, Fahey said, the coaches were told umpires have been instructed not to bring up the 10-run rule at all during the pre-game conference. If there’s no discussion of waiving the 10-run rule at that time, then it is still in effect for the game.

“I guess I’m not for it and I think if it does come up at plate conferences, depending on who we’re playing and what kind of season they’re having, I would vote not to use it,” he said.

Bangor’s numbers are down a bit this year, but considering what Fahey has returning, the smaller tryouts don’t bother him. Of the five Rams who graduated last year, the biggest loss will likely be No. 2 pitcher Josh Heath.

With the entire infield back, Fahey said he’ll spend more time than usual focusing on offense. He’s also hoping that will help the Rams in the postseason, where they have faltered in the semifinals for three straight years.

“[Hitting] has been our nemesis in the semifinals,” Fahey said. “… Normally inside we spend endless number of hours on defense, but because I have the whole infield back, we’re going to spend a lot more time hitting.”

The Rams’ last Eastern Maine final appearance was in 2000, former coach Bob Kelley’s last year.

This year’s baseball crop has plenty of championship experience, too. Four of five starters and the first two players off the bench from the Eastern Maine runner-up basketball team are baseball players.

“They just go from one sport to another. A school our size, we should be [competitive] every year. I don’t care who’s coaching.

“As good as the group was that I inherited from [Kelley], this will probably be our best team, I think,” Fahey said. “I hope.”

Stupinski: season ‘taken away’

Erika Stupinski’s dislocated left shoulder kept her on the sidelines for all but the first six games of the Eastern Maine Class A basketball season.

But Stupinski didn’t just sit on the bench while she was recuperating.

“I was riding the bike every day at practice and some days when my coach wasn’t at practice, she would let me run a practice,” said the 5-foot-9 point guard for Mount Ararat of Topsham, who was named Miss Maine Basketball Friday night.

Stupinski had hoped at some point to return, but her doctor gave her the bad news in late February. There was no way she would be able to come back.

The Eagles got to the Eastern Maine Class A semifinals, where they lost to regional champ Cony of Augusta.

“It was so hard sitting there the whole time but the team wanted me to wear my uniform and my warmups so I still felt like part of the team,” she said. “But in the tournament games at the Bangor Auditorium, where I pictured myself being one last time, [she realized] it all got taken away from me.”

Stupinski injured the shoulder in a Jan. 2 game against Lawrence of Fairfield. She was forced to wear a brace that kept her arm at a 30-degree angle for about eight weeks.

Ralph Mims, the Mr. Basketball winner from rival high school Brunswick, said he wasn’t surprised Stupinski won the Miss Basketball award.

“I sat right there and told people, she’s going to get it, the things she’s accomplished in her three years,” he said. “If she didn’t have that injury, people would have seen that she really earned this award.”

Stupinski will be healed in time to use her basketball scholarship to Division II Stonehill College in North Easton, Mass. One thing Stupinski won’t be able to do? Play soccer.

“It’s going to be hard not ever playing again,” said the soccer All-American. “A lot of people think that [soccer is her sport], to be honest. I get questions all the time, why are you playing basketball and not soccer?”

Ghiringhelli nabs D-II offer

Hampden Academy’s Johanna Ghiringhelli will have only played one year of high school basketball when she leaves Hampden in June, but she made a big impression while she was here.

The exchange student from Paraguay was recently named the Big East Conference Player of the Year, and impressed some Western Maine coaches who saw her in the Maine McDonald’s senior all-star game Saturday at Husson College.

Ghiringhelli, who is considered a senior, has also made an impression on college coaches. She revealed Saturday that she has been offered a scholarship to NCAA Division II Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.

Ghiringhelli isn’t sure if she’s going to accept the offer, what with all of her family and friends back in Pilar, Paraguay. She’ll head back home after school ends in June.

“It’s hard. I don’t know what to think. It’s like half and half,” said the 5-6 standout, who averaged almost 11 points, four rebounds and three steals per game in Big East play.

“I’m going to wait until I get back home to see how I feel and what I think,” she added.

Ghiringhelli was a starter on the Hampden soccer team and plans to compete in track and field for the Broncos this spring.

If Ghiringhelli chooses to attend Saint Anselm, she’ll have plenty of company from Maine, including former Hampden standout Emmy Russell and ex-Calais star and Miss Basketball winner Lanna Martin.

McDonald’s scholarships

McDonald’s all-state academic honorees Lisa Gibson and Danny Forcella left Friday night’s Maine McDonald’s senior all-star dinner with more than a plaque.

Skowhegan High’s Gibson and Falmouth High’s Forcella also won $1,000 scholarships from McDonald’s.

This is the second year in a row McDonald’s has given out scholarships.

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