St. Dom’s enters the tournament as a No. 5 seed despite
its 12-3 record.
A 12-win season and a first-round bye apparently doesn’t earn you what it used to.
The St. Dominic softball team went 12-3 this season, losing only one game in Class C. Though the Saints earned a pass to the quarterfinal round, they open the playoffs on the road against a formidable Dirigo team Thursday.
“We went 12-3, and we’re still in fifth place,” said St. Dom’s coach Dan Samson. “The teams with fewer wins moved ahead of us. It just means we play in a lot easier division and the quality isn’t there.”
The Saints toughest challenges this year came from Class B squads. Gray-New Gloucester and Poland handed the two-time defending regional champs two of their losses. The third came against Class C foe Sacopee Valley, a team the Saints split with.
The scenario isn’t all that unfamiliar for St. Dom’s. Just two years ago as the Saints marched to the Class C state title, St. Dom’s was seeded fifth. The Saints won at Madison, then beat top-seeded Hall-Dale on the road before edging the Hawks in the regional final.
“In order to win the states, you’ve got to beat them all,” said Samson. “We won the state two years ago, and we had to travel all the time.”
At this point, the Saints are just glad for the opportunity to play. It has been nearly two weeks since St. Dom’s ended its regular season.
“It’s going to be 13 days,” said Samson, who practiced at 8 a.m. Tuesday just to do something different. “You kind of get rusty. Practices can only do so much and some of our scrimmages got rained out. So we’re anxious.”
The Saints have had to juggle their lineup a bit. Pitcher Amanda Collette has a thigh injury and may be lost for the season. St. Dom’s still has Emily Goss and Audrey Pleau available. Pleau saw more outfield time this season, but now may be counted on more heavily from the mound.
Goss pitched well down the stretch, and Samson used them both in a pre-tournament scrimmage with Oak Hill Monday. Goss started and Pleau came on in relief.
“It works well,” said Samson. “When we did it in the scrimmage, we beat Oak Hill in eight innings.”
The Saints face a Cougar (11-5) team that has lost in the quarterfinals three straight years. Dirigo has a fine pitcher in MVC all-star Angela Fenstermacher, who has a solid defense around her. The Dirigo offense was paced by MVC all-stars Ashley Stone and Jessica Blaisdell.
Fifth-seeded Gray-New Gloucester faces a similar situation in Western B. The Patriots finished fifth at 11-5 and play fourth-ranked Greely (12-4) tonight at St. Joseph’s College. These two teams met early in the year with the Rangers taking a 3-2 win. In that meeting, Michelle Robb took a no-hitter into the seventh and finished with a one-hitter for Greely.
It will be the third straight year that these two teams meet in the tournament. Greely won 1-0 in last year’s quarterfinal en route to the state championship.
In another Western B quarterfinal, Oak Hill (12-5) plays at Lake Region (13-3). The Lakers are coming off one of their best regular seasons ever. The Raiders hope to follow up an impressive 9-1 win over York in Tuesday’s prelim when Julie Lizotte scattered five hits while Jill Lizotte and Danielle Sargent helped spark the offense.
Rematches describe many of the other local games. Class A action features two pairs of familiar foes. Unbeaten Leavitt (16-0) and Oxford Hills (10-7) meet for the third time this season in Eastern A. The Hornets won the regular season games, 12-0 and 1-0. Sam St. Hilaire quieted the Viking bats in both outings.
In Western A, Lewiston (11-6) has to travel to Berwick to face top-ranked Noble (13-3). The Blue Devils beat the Knights 5-1 in the regular season.
“They’re a good ballclub,” said Lewiston coach Fred Royer. “We’re going to have to play well. Psychologically (beating them) may help, but we’ll have to play well. We’ll have to make sure we’re on top of our game.”
Lewiston had a much less experienced lineup than it had when it beat the Knights in April. Between injury and ineligibility, the Blue Devils have a much younger lineup.
“It’s supposed to be a veteran team,” said Royer, “but we’ve got five sophomores and one freshman in the lineup.”
The other Western C quarterfinals feature a pair of MVC return matches. Top-ranked Telstar (12-2) hosts ninth-seeded Monmouth (9-7). Telstar beat the Mustangs 9-3 in the regular season when Meagan Lunney and Liz Rosenberg combined for five doubles.
Mt. Abram hopes to continue its late-season surge. The 11th-ranked Roadrunners (9-8), who toppled sixth-seeded Madison in the prelims Tuesday, now meets third-place Georges Valley. The Roadrunners lost to the Bucs 9-5 when they committed five errors during a 1-5 start. The Roadrunners have won eight of its last 10 games and received a one-hitter from pitcher Sara Martin Tuesday.
Winthrop (11-5) plays at Sacopee Valley (15-1). The Ramblers face touted freshman pitcher Michelle Libby. Winthrop pitcher Katie Wing is coming off a 1-0 shutout of Jay.
kmills@sunjournal.com
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