AUGUSTA – Shane Slicer’s game plan for Monday’s Eastern Class A championship was for his team to jump out to an early lead. And Oxford Hills made their coach look like a genius while building a seemingly comfortable margin after just one inning.
But with the wind blowing out at Morton Field, plus a nine-day wait rendering pitchers a little rusty and leaving the hitters chomping at the bit, Slicer and the Vikings couldn’t get too comfortable, even with an 11-1 lead. Edward Little made sure of that before all was said and done.
“We got to 13 (runs) and I was thinking We can’t score 13 and lose a game,'” Slicer said. “But I was still nervous.”
Russell Estes, Kelvin Decato and Corey Saunders calmed those nerves with a grand slam, four RBIs and 2 2/3 innings of solid relief, respectively, as second-seeded Oxford Hills grabbed its second Eastern Maine title in four years by pulling out a 13-8 slugfest with fifth-seeded Edward Little.
The Vikings meet Western Maine champion Westbrook for the state title at 5 p.m. today at Morton Field.
Decato went 4-for-4 to pace the Viking offense, while Matt McDonnell added a pair of hits. Led by Derek Doucette (3-for-3) and Justin Ciszewski (three hits), the Eddies outhit Oxford Hills 11-8, but the Vikings took advantage of some uncharacteristic wildness (seven walks, one hit-batsman) by EL pitching.
Estes, who had been battling through a slump late in the season, executed Slicer’s early-scoring strategy with a first-inning grand slam over the “Gray Monster” in right that staked starter McDonnell a 6-1 lead.
“It was inside and I was just trying to drive some runs in, trying to get it in play,” said Estes. “I just got ahold of it.”
The Vikings (16-3) scored two more in the second on RBI singles by Decato and McDonnell, then added three in the third on run-scoring singles by Chris Jennings and Decato to give themselves the 10-run cushion.
“We’re hitting the ball right now,” said Decato, whose team scored 10 runs in the semifinals against Bangor. “We knew we were going to come out and get a lot of runs right at the beginning, so we didn’t have to worry about anything.”
EL gave them something to worry about, though, by batting around in the fourth and fifth innings and actually getting the tying run to the plate in the fifth.
“Really, we felt confident that we could hit McDonnell,” EL coach Scott Annear said. “He’s a good pitcher, and we focused hard on trying to make solid contact on him and stay away from big swings, and we scored runs. I can’t remember the last time that we scored eight runs and came up short.”
Kyle Giguere (two hits), who got racked around as the Eddies’ starting pitcher (six earned runs), sparked the rally with a leadoff homer to left in the fourth. RBI singles by John Alexander and Brian Erickson made it an 11-4 game.
“They hit the ball against us at Hebron (when EL beat Oxford Hills in their only regular season meeting), so we knew that they could come back if they needed to, and they definitely showed that they’ve got a lot of fight in them,” Decato said.
EL (14-6) showed how much fight in the fifth, scoring two runs on an overthrow resulting from runner’s interference, then plating two more on Kevin Pontbriand’s home run over the “Monster” that made it 11-8. Erickson walked and Ciszewski doubled to chase McDonnell and bring the tying run to the plate, but Saunders came on and got David Lutz to pop out and fanned Matt Nadeau looking to end the threat.
The Eddies left runners on in every inning, stranding 12 overall.
“We needed a few more hits,” said Annear. “We struggled at getting all of the hits at all of the right times. You’ve got to give them credit for getting the pitching and the plays when they needed to have them the most.”
The Vikings really needed a run or two to stem the Eddies’ momentum, and they got a pair in the fifth on another RBI single by Decato and a dropped throw on a play at the plate.
Saunders took it from there, shutting out the Eddies in the final two innings and allowing the Vikings to come back and try to win their first state championship today.
“(Tuesday), we’ll be nice and loose and see what we do,” Slicer said. “We’ve got to come right back, but it does beat waiting nine days.”
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