LIVERMORE FALLS — With a bare-bones roster of nine players, Wiscasset has already shown resilience this season.
Coming back from three runs down in the seventh against a Spruce Mountain team two classes above it, then snuffing out Spruce’s own comeback bid on a bang-bang play at the plate, Wiscasset showed it isn’t just fighting for its survival.
The Wolverines sent 11 men to the plate in a five-run seventh, then fended off a fierce Phoenix counter-punch in the bottom of the inning to win a thrilling and bizarre MVC Memorial Day matinee, 8-7, at Griffin Field.
“We’ve all been together since we were eight or nine-years-old. It’s just been another season,” said sophomore catcher/pitcher Darren Wood, who moved from behind the plate to the mound to get the white-knuckle save. “We’ve always had, maybe, 10 or 11 kids all the way through. So, it’s no different having nine kids.”
All nine Wolverines (6-9) contributed to the win, especially in the seventh.
Sensing that Spruce Mountain starter Lucas Preble was tiring, Wiscasset got aggressive and started jumping on the first pitch. Trailing 5-2, it loaded the bases on a walk and two singles.
Brycson Grover singled on the first pitch he saw to make it 5-3. Wood, also first-pitch swinging, singled to center to tie the game.
After an error loaded the bases again, Tyler Bailey hit a low line drive right back to Preble, who caught it and tried to double-up Grover at third. His throw went wild and Grover trotted home with the go-ahead run. Nate Howard’s single plated two insurance runs.
“I didn’t know how they were going to react, but they surprised me today. Everyone in that last inning came through,” said Wiscasset coach Mike Bowles, whose team sits in the No. 2 spot in the Western D Heal Point standings despite losing several players for academic and disciplinary reasons “They hit the ball with authority, put the ball in play and made things happen.”
“(Preble) said he was fine, but I think he was tiring. We didn’t make the plays we had to today to really be successful,” said Spruce Mountain coach Brian Dube, whose team committed all five of its errors in the last two innings.
Bailey, Wiscasset’s starter, was similarly fatigued when he took the mound in the bottom of the inning. The Phoenix (5-9) jumped on him for three singles in a row, the last by Ian O’Donnell making it 8-6.
After Wood relieved Bailey, Sebastian Lombardi hit a line drive that the second baseman dropped, then made an errant throw to first that allowed John McKenna to score and make it a one-run game. It also put the tying and winning runs in scoring position.
A strikeout brought up Noah Preble, who hit a comebacker to the mound. Wood looked O’Donnell back to third and threw Preble out at first.
But since the runner at second had inexplicably gone to third, O’Donnell had no choice but to break for home. Cass Carr fired home to Grant Hefler, who grabbed it on a hop and applied the tag on a close play to end the game.
“(The runner at second) ran up his back so he had to go,” Dube said. “But the catcher had to dig it out of the dirt to make the play, too.”
Everyone in Spruce Mountain’s lineup had at least one hit, led by three from O’Donnell and two apiece from McKenna Noah Preble and Bradley Hodges.
Hefler went 3-for-4 with three runs scored to lead the Wolverines. Wood added a single, double and three RBIs and Tyler Flavin chipped in with two hits.
“You have to stay together to be a team that’s going win, because we definitely have a state championship team right here,” Hefler said. “Down the road, I’m not sure how it’s going to look. But this year, we’re definitely putting all of our effort in because this is the best chance we have to win a state championship.”
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