STANDISH — The coach and his three seniors lingered at Larry Mahaney Diamond a little longer than everyone else.
They exchanged handshakes, accepted hugs and posed for pictures together. Coach Joe McLaughlin and captains Owen Bennett, Keenan Stockdale and Jonah Williams didn’t seem to want to leave.
When they finally did drive off the St. Joseph’s College campus, it was the first time in three years they left without the Class D West championship plaque.
But first, McLaughlin and his leaders wanted to savor one last moment together on the field where they had won back-to-back regional crowns, and recall how it all began.
“I remember seeing these kids as freshmen, about yay big,” said McLaughlin, who had just started his tenure as Buckfield coach at that point. “I didn’t know the kids at all, and then I see these two lefties (Bennett and Williams) crushing the ball in the batting cage. I was, like, ‘Well, we might have to get them in the lineup.'”
“Jonah was seventh in the lineup and Owen was eighth in the lineup when we went to our first scrimmage. Then I saw them hit (live pitching) and said ‘That’s going to change,'” he said. “From the first game, we’ve had that three and four hitter thing happening.”
In addition to forming the heart of the lineup, they became the foundation of the team for the next four years.
Williams, a tall, tough lefthander, served as the workhorse anchor of the pitching staff who wanted the ball in the Bucks’ big games over the next four years.
“It’s a gift when you have a kid that loves baseball like he does, McLaughlin said.
“Coach McLaughlin’s taught us a lot of great things, a lot of things I can move forward with,” said Williams, who had at least one college coach watching him closely on Wednesday, and already has drawn interest from the University of Maine at Farmington.
Bennett protected Williams in the lineup from the cleanup spot, and on the mound from the hot corner and the bullpen. The unassuming righthander usually played in his classmate’s shadow but was also usually in the middle of a key rally or defensive play that put the Bucks in the win column. As sophomores, he and Bennett led the Bucks to their first state championship game since 1997.
Stockdale, the center fielder, was the late bloomer. A role player his freshman year, he came back to Buckfield a new man after missing his sophomore season and joined Wiliams and Bennett in the middle of the order.
“He was living with his dad in San Diego in his sophomore year and then he came back,” McLaughlin said. “He gave us a big boost last year. I didn’t know what to expect but he’d made a lot of gains from his freshman year. So he was a really big help for us the last couple of years.”
This season ended as the previous two had, with a loss to a more talented opponent that spent the regular season sharpening its tools with a tougher schedule in a deeper conference.
Bangor Christian, which won its third consecutive Eastern D title on Wednesday, ended the Bucks’ hopes for their first state title the last two years.
“It’s like running into a buzzsaw,” McLaughlin said. “We’ve competed with each team. It’s just that we couldn’t get over that edge.”
Wiscasset, which stood toe-to-toe with Class B and C teams in the Mountain Valley Conference despite having only nine players on its roster for much of the season, showed it wasn’t intimidated even though it was playing in its first regional final.
“Facing the likes of St. Dom’s and Monmouth day-in and day-out gets you prepared for what we just went through in this tournament,” said Wiscasset coach Mike Bowles, who initially became acquainted with the MVC as a former St. Dom’s assistant coach.
“I think when you play competition that’s a level up like that, you tend to bring yourself up to that level of competition,” Stockdale said. “There are good ballplayers in Class C and Class B. You play with those guys and you’re going to get better.”
Williams noticed the difference almost immediately on Wednesday. He’d dominated Searsport in Saturday’s semifinal, striking out 16 in a two-hit shutout.
He didn’t have his best stuff Wednesday (8 H, 5 K, 4 BB), but Wiscasset hitters also had the patience and confidence to wait for their pitch. Grant Hefler started the game with a single. Brycson Grover turned up the pressure with a bunt to the first base side that Williams bobbled. The next batter, Daren Wood, singled to load the bases, and the Wolverines had matched Searsport’s offensive output three batters into the game.
“It’s tough (facing Wiscasset’s lineup),” Williams said. “You’ve really got to mix up your pitches. You leave a ball over the plate against a team like that and they’re going to make you pay for it. Today, I left a couple of balls up in the zone. They hit ’em and hit ’em hard.”
Chandler Longfellow’s sacrifice fly scored Hefler with the only run Wiscasset would need. But the Wolverines didn’t relent, putting at least one runner on base in every inning, eventually building a lead that starter Tyler Bailey made insurmountable.
“Facing Jonah today, I would put him up with some of the best in the Mountain Valley Conference,” Bowles said. “We came in knowing we had faced the likes of (Dirigo’s Kaine) Hutchins and (St. Dom’s Mike) Bryant and (Nate) Gagne and those guys from Monmouth. So it wasn’t anything that shocked us.”
Fans shouldn’t be shocked to see the Bucks back for a fourth consecutive Western Maine final, even though losing the three seniors will leave a big void. Six starters are returning next year, and Bennett, Stockdale and Williams did what they could to make sure they were ready to take the torch.
“I think we’ve helped the freshmen we’ve had on the team. They started off the year pretty timid, but they’re solid baseball players now,” Stockdale said.
If they’re as solid as the decorated trio that preceded them, it won’t be long before the next group of seniors is accepting handshakes and hugs at Mahaney Diamond.
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