Staff Writer
As the Wildcat boys were upsetting the Viking baseball team on June 2, the Presque Isle softball team was doing a little upsetting of their own, but not without a fight from the Lady Vikings.
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. Neither team scored and it seemed Caribou had a 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 single.
Palmer advanced to second and rounded third for home on a single to give the Lady Wildcats a literal last-minute victory for win 11.
“It was, as expected, a good game,” remarked Wildcat coach Alan Curtis. “We came from behind to beat them in Caribou earlier in the season and we were fortunate to be able to do it again.”
The Lady Wildcats prepared for their preliminary round home game against Gardiner June 9. Though Gardiner won only six games during the regular season, most of the games were close and, most recently, Gardiner beat the previously only undefeated team in Class B, Maranacook, 6-2.
“We have been working on defending against their slap hitters,” said Curtis. “They have a lot of speed and some very good hitters. Everyone in the tournament is good, so we’ll need to minimize errors, string some hits together and catch a break here and there.
Results of Tuesday afternoon’s preliminary game will be in next week’s Star-Herald.
Staff photo/Abigail Hunt
IN PERFECT FORM, Lady Wildcat Caitlyn Esancy slides under the tag of Lady Viking Katie Ouellette during Presque Isle’s home game against Caribou on June 2. Esancy scored this run at the bottom of the seventh to tie the game 5-5 off a triple by teammate Alecia Palmer. Palmer went on to score the winning run as Presque Isle ended their season with 11 wins.
