Gardiner’s Cam Lasselle, left, tries to stop Brunswick’s Max Rudgers during a game earlier this season in Gardiner. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Buy this Photo

The Brunswick outdoor track and field has lofty expectations this spring after competing with Morse in a handful of makeshift meets in the winter.

“It’s been a good start for us, we seem to be getting back into the swing of what official competitions are like,” said Brunswick coach Heather Hoisington, whose team has won both of its meets this spring. “We’ve seen some great progress over the course of our first two meets, and it can only go up from here.”

Hoisington noted that her athletes have somewhat forgotten the tight schedule that official meets run on.

“We’ve been working to remind them to check into each event, and go listen carefully for when events are called,” she said. “For some it’s a new experience, for others it’s something they haven’t done in quite some time.”

The Dragons came into the season with two standouts in Kaeden Green and Ophelia Ladner, both juniors, and came into the season as two of the stronger athletes in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference coming into the season in their respective events — Green in the 200-meters, and Ladner in the 100 hurdles.

Brunswick track athlete Kaeden Green poses prior to the 2020 Dartmouth Relays. Submitted photo

“Kaeden (Green) will improve when she faces more competition,” said Hoisington. “Ophelia (Ladner) improved her personal record at our last meet, and has continued to get better everyday.”

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Brunswick is next scheduled to host Leavitt, Mt. Ararat, and Gardiner on May 7 in Brunswick.

 

GOING STRONG: The Brunswick boys lacrosse team (2-1) fell to Yarmouth 11-9 on Tuesday, its first setback of the season. The Dragons came into the game with lopsided victories over Gardiner and Mt. Ararat, outscoring them a combined 37-13.

The Dragons, who play Lewiston (3-1) on Thursday, have a tough remaining schedule. Of their 10 remaining games, they will play Gorham (4-0) twice and Messalonskee (6-0).

 

BUSY SCHEDULE: The Morse baseball team has played just two games thanks to several postponements.

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However, things are about to get busy for the Shipbuilders, who will play four games this week.

“We’ve had three games postponed for one season or another, we’re missing a starter due to close contact, this will probably be the story all year,” said coach Niko Ruiz. “I know everyone has to deal with changes like this but it’s been tough. The guys have been great with adapting to the changes and are only worrying about what they can control.”

It’s also been tough for Ruiz to evaluate his team. The Shipbuilders are 1-1 with a win over Brunswick and a loss to Yarmouth.

“It’s hard to say where we are right now, we didn’t have any scrimmages before the season,” said Ruiz. “We were riding high after our win over Brunswick and were humbled against Yarmouth, that’s just how baseball goes.”

The Shipbuilders lost 5-0 to Yarmouth on Monday. They’re scheduled to face Freeport on Friday and Cape Elizabeth on Saturday.

“It’s going to be a tough week, I’m not going to base our season off this week,” he said. “If we play as a team and play our game, the rest of our season will take care of itself.”

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GAINING EXPERIENCE: After dropping its first two games, the Lisbon softball team won its first game of the season, a 16-2 thumping over Oak Hill. The Greyhounds exploded for 14 hits, including a home run and two triples, much to the delight of first-year head coach Nikki Austin.

“We started out slow but came back and worked really hard, we ensured we’d be more comfortable in the box,” said Austin. “It was great to see the culmination of the hard work in practice day off during a game.”

Seven of the nine starters are underclassmen.

“Finding camaraderie has been a barrier; a lot of them haven’t played since middle school and none of them have played together,” said Austin. “I’ve been really impressed with their progress, our confidence level has risen which is something you can’t teach, you can only help.”

Austin has been riding the pitching of junior Erica Hill, who has struck out 10 or more batters in each of her starts.

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“Erica (Hill) has been fantastic on and off the field, she has grown into her role as one of the leaders on our team,” said Austin. “She has been very coachable and eager to learn, as are the rest of the girls on the team.”

Austin is hoping the victory over Oak Hill will spark some momentum.

“Our motto is ‘any given day’,” said Austin, whose team has games against Mt. Abram and Telstar. “We know we can win a game on any given day, so we take that mentality with us wherever we go.”

 

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