Staff Writer
The fields were abuzz with energy and bugs on Tuesday, June 2 as the Presque Isle Wildcats prepared to play the Caribou Vikings for their final regular season game. Presque Isle, seeded ninth, lost 12-4 to the fifth place Vikes earlier in the season and it seemed like things were headed that way again. Both teams kept silent during the first inning as pitchers Brennen Shaw and Chad McCarthy took the mound.
Staff photo/Abigail Hunt
Viking pitcher Chad McCarthy takes a moment to collect himself on the mound at Caribou’s last season game against Presque Isle. The Vikings took an early 3-0 lead, but a struggling offense and fluctuating strike zone kept Caribou silent after the third inning. Presque Isle came from behind to take the 8-3 win at home.
Caribou’s second inning at-bat put the Vikings on the scoreboard and in the lead as Ted Walker stepped up to the plate, cracking a two-run homer that even the wind couldn’t suppress. Cameron Anderson, who had tripled earlier, came home off of Walker’s hit, and the Viking sauntered back into the dugout with pats on the back and comments like “just another at bat for Ted Williams”. It was all the Wildcats could do to steady themselves in the second and third innings as they struggled to retaliate, but remained scoreless, leaving multiple runners in scoring positions each inning.
A third inning solo home run by Viking Matt Kinney widened the gap even further, but double play by third baseman Zac Campbell started a turn in the game that Caribou wouldn’t be able to recover from. “Our bats were hot for three innings and then they went silent,” explained Viking coach Jim Thibodeau. “The umpire’s strike zone was fluctuating and we allowed Presque Isle’s pitcher to control the game
The Vikings failed to score in their fourth at-bat as Presque Isle turned two again, with Campbell taking the second out. As the infielder stepped up to bat, he nailed a two-run homer to put the ‘Cats on the board, though still trailing 3-2. But Shaw remained controlled on the mound for the duration of the game and kept Caribou scoreless in the final three innings as Presque Isle’s offense exploded at the bottom of the fifth with a five-run rally with two additional RBIs from Campbell. By the end of the fifth inning, Presque Isle had taken a surprising 7-3 lead and added one more run in the sixth for good measure to finish out the game and take the turnaround win 8-3 with 15 hits.
The Vikings finished their season 8-8 and their most recent win, combined with upsets downstate, pushed them into eighth place. For their preliminary playoff game, Caribou took on Presque Isle June 9 for the second time this season, this time with the future of the 2009 playoffs on the line.
“It’s too bad two county teams have to face off so early in the playoffs,” Thibodeau said. “One would think Caribou, with a 12-4 record, would have finished a lot higher in the standings, but with the Heal Points we are almost penalized for having to play Class C schools in order to complete our schedule.” Still, Caribou has played consistently well at home, and Tuesday’s game, with home field advantage, might give the Vikings a chance to redeem themselves and head on to the quarterfinals June 11.
The preliminary results of Tuesday afternoon’s game will be in next week’s Aroostook Republican.
The Lady Vikings took an unfortunate and potentially early end to their season on June 3, as Caribou’s softball team fell to Presque Isle 6-5 in a game that leaned in favor of the Vikings until the bottom of the seventh.
Serena Grier, who came in to relieve Caribou’s Emily Staples, limited the Wildcats to one run in the first four innings, allowing Presque Isle to respond to Caribou’s only run in the bottom of the second. With the game tied 1-all, the Lady Vikings stepped up to the plate in the fifth and went on a four-run rally with hits off of pitcher Krista Coffin.
Kristen Espling singled and sent home three to give Caribou a 5-1 lead. Presque Isle’s at-bat saw three runs come in, but the Lady Wildcats still trailed 5-4 as the game went into the sixth inning. “The fifth inning was the turning point in the game,” remarked Viking coach Ryan Deprey. “We were able to have a four run inning and build up a five to one lead. If we could have held them or given up only one run, we could have kept that momentum going. Giving up three runs, two of them unearned, is huge against a team like Presque Isle. They are too good to give them any extra outs, and they capitalized on that.” Though neither team scored in the sixth, Caribou maintained a one-run lead keeping a live the chance to redeem itself from an earlier season loss to Presque Isle. As the game wound down to the final inning. Coffin held the Lady Vikings at six in the seventh inning and the Lady Wildcats took their last chance to push the game into extra innings with a tie, or to take the lead and win.
First at bat was Coffin, who flied out, putting the pressure on Caitlin Esancy who had batted in two runs on a single in the fifth. Esancy knocked a grounder between short and third and made it to first base in time. With the tying run on first, Alecia Palmer took advantage of the situation and sent Esancy home on a triple. Palmer advanced to second and rounded third for home to give the Lady Wildcats a literal last-minute victory.
Staff photo/Abigail Hunt
Reaching for the throw at first, Viking Emily Staples misses the pass from third as Presque Isle’s Chelsea Nickerson is called safe during the last regular season softball game in Presque Isle. The Lady Wildcats upset the Lady Vikings in a seventh inning comeback to win the game 6-5.
