Penobscot Valley won their first regional baseball title on Wednesday by defeating Fort Fairfield, 3-2, in the Class D North final.
BANGOR, Maine – The Penobscot Valley High School Howlers had never won a regional baseball title entering this season.
The No. 1 Howlers changed that on Wednesday when they beat the No. 3 Fort Fairfield Tigers, 3-2, in the Class D North championship game at Mansfield Stadium.
“It feels pretty good,” said Penobscot Valley coach, Ernie Gerrish. “The first thing they said in the line was, ‘First one for the school,’ because they knew it and they wanted it.”
Fort Fairfield started the scoring in the second inning. Malcolm Langner singled with two outs before stealing second. Joshua Ricker singled to move Langner to third and a throwing error allowed him to score.
The Tiger’s lead lasted until the fourth, when Penobscot Valley shortstop Dakota Batchelder scored on an RBI single from Jarrett Priest. The single was one of only two hits for the Howlers in the game.
Langner scored his second run in the top of the fifth to put the Tigers up, 2-1, but Penobscot Valley found a way to score without hits, taking advantage of Fort Fairfield walks and errors in the sixth inning.
“We had one lucky bounce here, score a couple of runs, and that’s the game,” said Gerrish. “That’s what happens when you have two good defensive teams.”
Freshman catcher Brad McKechnie led off the inning for the Howlers, reaching second on an error and advancing to third on a ball hit to short by Grant Doane. Batchelder walked and stole second to put two runners in scoring position for Penobscot Valley. Fort Fairfield starter Jared Harvey walked the next batter, Thomas Spencer, and threw a wild pitch on ball four that allowed McKechnie to score. Priest hit a fly ball to left that was dropped, allowing Batchelder to score the winning run.
“I was just looking to get those two runs in,” said Priest. “Unfortunately, I only got one, but it’s all we needed I guess.”
Carter Bruce entered the game and recorded the final two outs of the inning. Harvey finished with seven strikeouts, while giving up two hits and three walks in five and a third innings.
Thomas Spencer kept the Howlers in the game, giving up two unearned runs, five hits, and no walks. Spencer recorded two strikeouts in six innings, but was replaced by Priest in the top of the seventh after giving up a leadoff single to Harvey. Priest struck out Bruce, and McKechnie caught Harvey trying to steal second on the same play. The double play ended the Fort Fairfield threat, and Priest got Langner to hit a ground ball to second to close out the victory.
Fort Fairfield finishes the season with a 14-3 overall record. They advanced to the regional final by beating No. 6 Bangor Christian, 6-3, in the quarterfinals, and No. 2 Hodgdon, 12-1, in the semifinals. The last state championship appearance for the Tigers came in 1994, when they beat Buckfield, 9-1.
With the win, Penobscot Valley advances to the Class D State championship game where they will face the No. 1 seed Searsport Vikings in their third meeting of the year. The Vikings handed the Howlers their only loss of the season, 5-4, on May 2 in Howland. Penobscot Valley won the second meeting in Searsport, 3-1, on May 28.
“We’re going to have to have good, quality at bats. We did not have those today – too much first pitch swinging, too much looking for an outside ball and taking a strike,” said Gerrish. “We have to be better at that. We do that and I think we’ll be okay.”
“We’re just going to have to hit the ball,” said Priest.
Searsport beat No. 2 Valley, 6-2, on Wednesday to advance to the state final. The Vikings beat No. 8 Buckfield, 10-1, in the quarterfinal, and No. 5 Rangeley, 10-0, in the semifinal after finishing the regular season 13-3.
The game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 18, and will be played at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.
