STANDISH – A year ago, Bucksport made a nearly three-hour trip down to St. Joseph’s College to play — and lose to — Fryeburg Academy in the Class B state championship game.

Saturday’s return trip left them feeling a little better.

Playing in Class C for the first time because of a drop in enrollment, Bucksport completed an undefeated season, beating Dirigo 2-0 for the state title at St. Joseph’s College.

Junior pitcher Cassidy Adams gave up just two singles while her teammates scored both runs in the fifth inning.

Bucksport, which won four state championships in Class B (and three other regional titles), finished 20-0. Dirigo, which was seeded fourth in the West, finished 13-7 and was playing in its first softball state title game.

“It feels a lot better this year,” said Cassidy, who struck out six and didn’t walk any (giving her 207 strikeouts against four walks on the season).

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Bucksport had eight hits but couldn’t come up with the timely hit in the first couple of innings.

“I really thought we would break it open at some point,” said Mike Carrier, coach of the Golden Bucks. “We hit the ball well but we hit it right at them, Then we started pressing.”

Dirigo stayed in the game with good pitching by Alyssa Wade and steady defense. But Bucksport broke through in the fifth. With one out, Shelby Redman singled to left, went to second on a groundout and third on a wild pitch. Sadie Wight walked and Kacie Hurd hit a slow roller to third.

She beat the throw to first as Redman broke for home to score the first run. The throw went wild, allowing Wight to come all the way around to score the second run.

Adams allowed two base runners in the bottom of the fifth with one out. But she stranded them both, then needed just 10 pitches over the final two innings. In fact, she set the side down in order on three pitches in the sixth and got the first two outs on two pitches in the seventh before Mariah Larsen singled on a 1-2 count. On the next pitch, Adams fielded a grounder for the game’s final out.

Bucksport had scored over 300 runs on the season, giving up only 13.

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“I thought it would be a good matchup,” said Sara Thurston, the coach at Dirigo. “I was ecstatic that we just gave them the closest game of the entire season.”

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:

mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH


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