The last time St. Dominic Academy didn’t appear in a Western Class C baseball championship game, current seniors Alex Parker, Kurt Johnson and Kyle Hargreaves were in third grade.
Lewiston High School’s last Class A baseball title might as well have been won in the stone age, or however the current Blue Devils view 1950.
Their recent histories may rest at different ends of the spectrum, but the two Twin Cities clubs will start this year’s playoffs next week in the same place. Both teams are the top seed in their region by virtue of the final Heal Point standings.
St. Dom’s clinched top billing in Western Class C, leapfrogging Dirigo with an 8-2 home win Monday over the Cougars.
“The goal every year is not to have to go to anyone else’s field to play a game,” St. Dom’s coach Bob Blackman said. “If you go in No. 1 or No. 2, you play your first two games at home, and if you’re fortunate enough to move on to the final, then you get to play in Standish (at Saint Joseph’s College). That’s what you want.”
Speaking of history, it might bode well for St. Dom’s. Not only have the Saints appeared in the regional final every June since 2003, they’ve won the state title in each of the last three odd-numbered years.
Generations have passed since Lewiston baseball last flaunted championship form. But the Devils have been on a slow, progressive climb to the Class A summit, underscored by Gayton Post’s American Legion and Junior Legion state championships in 2010.
Lewiston clinched the top seed with wins over Erskine and Brewer earlier this week.
“It’s a nice accomplishment for the kids. It’s one of the things you can accomplish to this point. Our league had so many good teams from Bangor to EL to Cony that the kids should be proud of that,” Lewiston coach Todd Cifelli said. “You try to put yourselves in the best possible position to be successful come playoff time and do what you can to help yourself advance in a one-and-done tournament.”
Quarterfinal games are Thursday, June 9, with semifinals played Saturday, June 11. Regional championship games are June 14 and 15.
St. Dom’s will host the winner of Tuesday’s Traip at Monmouth preliminary game. The quarterfinal victor will meet No. 4 Telstar or No. 5 North Yarmouth Academy in the next round.
“You look at us with Dirigo, Telstar and (No. 3) Wiscasset and that’s four pretty quality teams,” Blackman said. “We lost 2-1 to Telstar and gave up a 2-0 lead to Wiscasset on a windblown, three-run homer in the sixth inning. We needed to finish the job against a good team as much as anything.”
Dirigo draws Winthrop in the quarterfinals, with Wiscasset or Waynflete awaiting the winner.
Three tri-county teams are in the Eastern A field. Lewiston hosts Hampden and could draw Mt. Blue in the second round. The No. 4 Cougars open at home with Brunswick.
“Hampden’s a good team. We haven’t seen them this year, and there’s only so much to go on from box scores and your notes from the past. That’s always scary,” Cifelli said. “In the playoffs, the pitching is matched up. It’s everybody’s No. 1, and defense and throwing strikes and preventing those extra outs that extend innings are just huge.”
No. 6 Edward Little travels to No. 3 Cony for a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal game, won by the Rams. No. 2 Bangor and No. 7 Erskine meet in the other half of that bracket.
The Eastern A final will be played at Morton Field in Augusta.
A coin flip was needed to settle a deadlock for the top seed in Western B, where Greely and Yarmouth both finished 13-3 with equal preliminary and tournament index points and split their regular-season series.
Yarmouth won the game of chance and will host the survivor of the York at Gray-New Gloucester prelim. G-NG earned the right to host that game by rallying for a 7-4 win over York in Thursday’s regular-season finale.
The other two local teams in the baseball playoffs are familiar foes who will square off in the Western Class D semifinals. No. 3 Buckfield travels to No. 2 Rangeley.
Lewiston and St. Dom’s won’t have to wait a seemingly endless week for their next live tests. Each will get a dress rehearsal against the No. 2 team in its region in a conference championship game.
St. Dom’s meets Dirigo for the MVC crown at 7 p.m. Monday on Farmington‘s Hippach Field. Bangor comes to Lewiston for the KVAC final at 3 p.m. Saturday.
“It’s an honor to play in that game. We’ve been a stone’s throw it under my watch,“ Cifelli said.
And the tournament?
“It’s a chance to win something for Lewiston High School in baseball,” the coach added. “It’s a chance to finally get something on a banner. If we don’t, it doesn’t mean the season was a failure.”
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