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| Contributed photo/jMavor Photography Emily Staples of Caribou recently completed an outstanding senior season and a brilliant career with the Vikings’ varsity softball team. |
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
CARIBOU – In about three weeks, Emily Staples of Caribou will be a college freshman. She has enrolled at Husson University in Bangor, and classes get under way Sept. 4.
Recently, she had the chance to reflect on what was a brilliant career with the Caribou High School varsity softball team, which ended this past spring with her being named Class B Pitcher of the Year in the Penobscot Valley Conference.
She received high praise from both the coach and pitcher of a rival team, the Old Town Coyotes, who eliminated the Vikings in the quarterfinals of the playoffs and went on to capture the state title in Class B in June.
“[Staples] deserved to be pitcher of the year,” said Coyotes’ coach Jenn Plourde. “She throws her pitches all around and you never know what she’s going to give you – outside, inside, straight down the middle. She makes everybody guess.”
Kendra Hayward, Old Town’s talented junior pitcher, also said she has plenty of respect for Staples.
“We both work really hard on the mound and are aggressive,” Hayward said. “You have to be ready to do whatever it takes to win, and that’s what she does.”
Even though Caribou’s season ended with that 1-0 loss to the Coyotes, Staples had a season to remember, going 15-3 and striking out 166 batters in 109 innings of work. She walked only 24 batters and allowed only 23 runs on 61 hits. She tossed a perfect game against Houlton and had complete-game shutouts in 11 of her 18 starts. She gave up three runs or less in 16 of the contests.
Staples, who also made the PVC first team and was an Aroostook League all-star for the third consecutive year, attributed the individual success to having a very strong team behind her.
“We got more players to practice in the off-season and did so more often,” she said. “After our junior season, everyone was really pumped about softball and we became more united as a team.”
Staples established herself as arguably the best pitcher in the history of the Caribou program. She became the only Viking ever to strike out 500 batters, accomplishing the mark in the team’s regular-season finale against Presque Isle, and finished with a total of 522 strikeouts.
“Taylor Trask [of Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln] reached 500 strikeouts during her junior year and I remember thinking that would be cool if I could get there,” Staples said. “I saw where I was at the beginning of last season and thought I could do it.”
Her career statistics reveal improvement every year. As a freshman, she accumulated a 5-8 win-loss record, and the following year improved her mark to 8-6 while increasing her strikeout total and cutting down on her walks and runs allowed.
Staples began to really dominate during her junior season and was rewarded by being named a PVC second team all-star. She went 12-5, threw a career-high 114-2/3 innings and more than doubled her strikeout total from the previous year to 191. She walked 40 batters, gave up 39 runs and recorded four shutouts as Caribou went from barely claiming a spot in the playoffs to making it all the way to the Eastern Maine Class B title game. It was the Vikings’ first trip to a regional championship as a Class B team and only the second in school history, the other time being in 1987.
“Each year I learned some new pitches, got more speed on my pitches and was able to hit my spots better,” she said of her steady rise. “My junior year was the one when I started using all the junk pitches that I had. As a sophomore, I knew how to throw them, but coach [Ryan Deprey} didn’t want me throwing them in a game because they weren’t that good yet.”
Staples said she was thankful to have a talented catcher to work with the past three seasons in Kristin Plante, who is a year behind Staples in school.
“She has a great personality and is easy to work with,” Staples said. “She’s one of those people who loves the game as much as I do and wanted to work in the off-season with me.”
Staples said that since neither she or Plante played a winter sport, they would meet for workouts “at least once a week” during those months to prepare for the season. Staples marvels at Plante’s ability to call a game from behind the plate.
“She knows how to read batters – she has an amazing gift for that. I don’t know how she does it,” Staples said.
Staples said she first started pitching when she was 9 or 10 years old as a member of the junior girls softball team through the recreation department.
“I threw slingshot and it was slow and just really bad,” she said with a laugh. “When I got to seventh grade, I started getting coached and really felt I could be more than a slow-pitch pitcher.”
Staples said a family friend had recommended a coach in Canada, so beginning in January of 2007, Staples and her father would make regular trips to St. Leonard, New Brunswick to meet with Pat Thibault for pitching lessons.
The connection with Thibault eventually got her involved in tournament play in Canada. She estimates playing in approximately 80 games north of the border during her high school career.
Staples also attended camps at the University of Maine at Orono and said she also benefitted from a couple clinics held in Caribou with former University of Maine coach Deb Smith.
“That’s when I learned my junk pitches,” she said.
Staples didn’t hesitate when calling her father, Craig, the biggest influence on her career.
“He catches for me whenever I need someone to pitch to, it doesn’t matter the season,” she said. “He’s always looking stuff up online on how to get better, finding out about tournaments going on and asking questions about anything softball related.
“And my mom [Annette] too. She’s been to every one of my softball games. They’ve been big supporters.”
Staples is hoping to be able to continue with her playing career at the collegiate level and is looking forward to competing for a spot on coach Amanda Bourgoin’s Husson team.
“There are a lot of pitchers down there, and they are all good, so I’ll just have to wait and see how it goes when I get down there,” Staples said. “I’m not ready to give it up yet.”
