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North Yarmouth Academy celebrates winning Saturday's Class D softball championship at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal
North Yarmouth Academy’s softball team burst on to the scene a year ago, as the program returned to varsity play in the biggest and best way possible, by winning an unexpected and first Class D state championship.
This spring, the Panthers did it again, perhaps even more impressively, as they had to scratch and claw for their lives in both the regional and state finals last week.
Box score
North Yarmouth Academy 2 Penobscot Valley 1
PV- 100 000 0- 1 9 0
NYA- 000 101 x- 2 7 1
Top 1st
Potter doubled to center, Veino scored.
Bottom 4th
Casserly singled to left, Rawnsley scored.
Bottom 6th
Casserly singled to center, Nash scored.
NYA, which went 18-1 a year ago, beating Machias, 7-1, in the state game, returned almost everyone from that team and was expected to dominate and didn’t disappoint.
The Panthers won 15 of 16 regular season games, losing only to Sacopee Valley by a run in the first game of a doubleheader before prevailing in the nightcap.
“The loss to Sacopee Valley needed to happen,” said NYA coach Ricky Doyon. “We didn’t like it, but I said to the girls, ‘What are you going to do about it?'”
NYA outscored the opposition, 172 runs to 33 and won by the 10-run mercy rule on eight occasions.
As the top seed in Class D South, the Panthers dispatched No. 8 Greenville (15-0, in three-innings) in the quarterfinals, then ousted No. 4 Carrabec (12-2, in six-innings) in the semifinals.
Last Tuesday, at St. Joseph’s College, NYA got pushed to the wire by No. 2 Buckfield in the regional final, but survived, 2-1, pushing across the winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Kailyn McIntyre, who scored the team’s first run in the first inning on a single from Jordan Nash, reached on a one-out single, stole second and came home on Hayden Wienckowski’s single to end it in walk-off fashion.
“To start, I was looking to get on base and go from there and see what happens,” McIntyre said. “I was hoping Hayden would smoke it, and once I am on base, I know I am going.”
That set up a state game showdown versus Penobscot Valley Saturday at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham.
While NYA had won its lone prior state game, the Howlers had split their previous six visits (see sidebar). On a sunny and comfortable afternoon, the Panthers did just enough to prevail and bring home the trophy.
NYA ace pitcher Lily Rawnsley surrendered a run in the top of the first, but limited the damage. The Howlers got a leadoff double to left off the bat of sophomore pitcher Lauren Veino. After Rawnsley got junior second baseman Allie LeBlanc to pop out to third, she fanned sophomore first baseman Lila Cummings, but senior catcher Emma Potter came up big, doubling to center, bringing home Veino for a 1-0 lead. When senior shortstop Julia Young reached on error, putting runners at the corners, Penobscot Valley had a chance to put up a crooked number, but sophomore third baseman Kamryn Miller grounded out to Wienckowski at second to end the inning.
In the bottom half, Veino fanned McIntyre, the centerfielder, walked Wienckowski on a full count pitch, then got Rawnsley to line out to short and Nash, the shortstop, to hit the ball hard, right at leftfielder Charlotte Dube.
The Howlers threatened again in the top of the second, as centerfielder Kaelyn Ireland led off with a single to right, but Rawnsley fanned Dube, got freshman rightfielder Abby Farley to pop out to first and after Veino singled to right to put runners at first and second, Rawnsley got LeBlanc to pop out to first to strand two more.
The Panthers went quietly in their half of the second, as Veino struck out sophomore catcher Cami Casserly, got junior first baseman Sadie Morgan to fly out to right and freshman Aurora Blier to pop out to first.
Rawnsley continued to successfully walk the high-wire in the top of the third.
Cummings hit the first pitch she saw to left for a double, but she couldn’t come around to score. After Potter grounded out to short, with the runner holding, Young bounced out to second and Potter moved to third, but Miller flew out to right to keep the score 1-0.
Veino shut NYA down in the bottom half, fanning junior rightfielder Brooklyn Goodman and junior leftfielder Toree St. Hilaire before getting McIntyre to pop out to third.
Rawnsley started the top of the fourth by fanning Ireland, then getting Dube top pop out back to the mound. Farley followed with a single to center, but Rawnsley was able to get Veino to pop out to short.
The Panthers then awakened in the bottom half and pulled even.
Wienckowski took strike three leading off, but Rawnsley singled to center and Nash dropped a single to center to move Rawnsley to second. The runners then pulled off a double steal with Casserly at the plate and Casserly followed with a single to left, scoring Rawnsley with the tying run.
“That team’s really good,” Doyon said. “As we got going, I was like ‘Oh, it’s going to be tough. I was waiting for the bats to come around, they’ve got to come around.’”
Morgan then hit the ball hard, but lined out to first, and after the runners moved up to second and third on a wild pitch, Veino walked Blier to load the bases. Goodman couldn’t deliver the big hit, however, striking out swinging, keeping the score, 1-1.
Penobscot Valley looked to take the lead right back in the top of the fifth, as LeBlanc led off with a single to center, but Rawnsley got Cummings to ground into a short-to-second fielder’s choice, Potter to do the same, then Young grounded to short and Nash flicked to Wienckowski for yet another force out to retire the side.
St. Hilaire tried to reach on a bunt leading off the bottom half, but she was out at first. McIntyre then singled to center and stole second. When Wienckowski popped out to the catcher, McIntyre tagged up and raced to third, but she’d be stranded there, as Rawnsley popped out to second.
The Howlers left two more runners on in the top of the sixth.
Miller grounded out to second leading off, but Ireland singled to right and Dube watched strike three, Farley singled to center, moving Ireland to second. Veino then hit the ball hard, but right back at Rawnsley, for the third out.
The Panthers then took the lead in the bottom half.
Nash led off with a double to center on a 2-0 pitch.
“My mindset was just ‘Get on base,’” Nash said. “I knew it was an important inning and it was an important time to get on base.”
“We got a challenge but we didn’t panic,” said Doyon. “I told the girls the hits would come.”
Casserly then took a ball and a strike before coming through with the biggest hit of the season, a single to center, scoring Nash for a 2-1 lead.
“I just wanted to move (the runner), and then (Coach) wouldn’t give (the bunt sign) to me, So I was kind of like ‘Well, here we go. Got to get on base’ and it worked,” said Casserly. “Sometimes I get a little stressed out, but honestly, I just try not to overthink it. I’ve done that hundreds of times. I take it as an everyday thing, it’s nothing special, when you think about it. So that’s how I think, so I don’t overthink anything.”
“Cami makes contact, so there was no way I was bunting her there,” Doyon said. “She played the hero.”
With Morgan at the plate, Casserly took second on a wild pitch, but struck out on a 3-2 pitch. Blier then singled to center, but Casserly was held up at third. Goodman struck out swinging and St. Hilaire grounded out to short and Penobscot Valley was still within a run heading to the seventh inning.
But Rawnsley wasn’t about to let the Howlers score it.
LeBlanc hit the first pitch she saw back to Rawnsley, who fielded the ball and threw to first. Cummings then struck out swinging. That left it up to Potter, who grounded back to Rawnsley and she threw to first to give NYA a 2-1 victory and its second straight Class D crown.
“It’s crazy,” said Rawnsley. “We’re all competitors, we’re all athletes, so I knew we had the potential to do it, but it just feels great again. It’s a seven-inning game, so I knew if we didn’t have luck in the beginning, we could get it in the end.”
“We’ve gone 37-2 with two state championships two years after not even having a team,” said Doyon. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams. Other schools know who we are now. It’s just a great team. We played really well all year. It’s just a great bunch of young ladies. We were better technically this year. We made good plays on defense. That was the difference the last two games.”
NYA got two hits apiece from Casserly and Nash. Nash and Rawnsley scored the runs and Casserly had two huge RBI.
The Panthers stole five bases and left seven runners on.
Rawnsley capped her impactful, triumphant tenure as NYA’s ace by earning one final victory, giving up one run on nine hits. She didn’t walk a batter and struck out five. Rawnsley successfully worked out of trouble and kept NYA in the game.
“I’ve played softball all my life and I’ve been a pitcher, so I’ve been in those situations before,” Rawnsley said. “I just knew that I had to focus on each batter. Don’t focus on anything around me.”
“Lily’s shoulder was really bothering her, so she wasn’t quite as fast as normal, but she mixed up her pitches well,” said Doyon.
For the Howlers, Farley, Ireland and Veino all had two hits. Veino scored the run and Potter had an RBI. Ultimately, stranding eight runners proved fatal.
“They just found a couple of gaps and made a run happen, and we just hit it to where they were, unfortunately,” Penobscot Valley coach Jessica McKechnie said. “Sometimes, that’s how it turns out.”
Veino was the hard-luck loser, giving up two runs on seven hits in six innings. She had two walks and eight strikeouts.
“That pitcher is good,” Doyon said, of Veino. “She had great ball movement. A good curve and rise.”
McKechnie took comfort in knowing seven starters, including Veino, will be back for Penobscot Valley.
“We’re going to be strong,” McKechnie said. “We’ll be back.”
A three-peat in 2025?
Speaking of getting back, NYA will miss the departed Rawnsley, McIntyre, Wienkowski and Haley Hegarty, but an abundance of veteran talent returns next season and the Panthers will hope to keep the good times rolling.
“We lose some good players, but we’ll be OK,” Doyon said. “We’ll make adjustments and we’ll give it another run. We’ll see what we can do.”
Press Herald staff writer Drew Bonifant contributed to this story.
