Earning your way into the postseason is seldom an easy path for high school baseball and softball teams.

It got a little harder for the Erskine softball team after the final Heal point standings were released in Eastern Maine Class B. The Eagles (7-9) finished ninth and will have to play at No. 8 Presque Isle in a prelim game Tuesday. A win would get them into Thursday’s quarterfinal round against top-seeded Gardiner, but first there’s that 215-mile bus trip.

“It’s just an adventure,” Erskine coach Holly Trip said. “We’ll be OK.”

The team leaves at 8 a.m. for the 3:15 p.m. start and the Eagles plan a stop for lunch.

In a couple of Western Maine Class C softball prelims, No. 7 Monmouth (10-6) hosts No. 10 Lisbon and No. 9 Maranacook (7-9) travels to No. 8 Carrabec. Monmouth and Lisbon split a pair of games in the regular season while Maranacook and Carrabec did not face one another.

The Maranacook softball team will have some company on the bus since the baseball team also finished ninth and will play No. 8 Carrabec. Maranacook played a Class B schedule this year so the Black Bears didn’t see any of the teams in the Mountain Valley Conference.

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“We played a lot of close games and we had some tough losses,” Maranacook coach Eric Brown said. “We got the experience we needed. We had to win a big game (against Belfast) at the end and got into the postseason.”

Brown plans to pitch freshman Logan McLaughlin, his No. 2 starter this season, and save senior ace Skylar Webb for a potential quarterfinal game against Monmouth.

“We’ve got to face the No. 1 seed,” he said.

In a pair of Western Maine Class C prelims, No. 6 Winthrop (10-6) hosts No. 11 Old Orchard and No. 7 Hall-Dale (9-7) hosts No. 10 Traip. The teams didn’t meet in the regular season.

Several teams gained a bye to the quarterfinals and five local teams finished first in their divisions. In softball, Gardiner (16-0) placed first in Eastern Maine Class A and awaits the winner of the Erskine-Presque game, while Richmond (14-0) finished first in Western Maine Class D and has a bye to the semifinals on Saturday. Cony (13-3) finished first in Eastern Maine Class A and will host the winner of Tuesday’s prelim between Hampden and Mt. Blue.

Also gaining byes to the quarterfinals in softball were Hall-Dale and Winthrop in Western Maine Class C. Hall-Dale (12-4) finished second and will host the winner of the Lisbon-Monmouth game while Winthrop (12-4) placed third and will host the winner of the Mountain Valley/Sacopee game.

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In baseball, Monmouth (15-1) finished first in Western Maine Class C and awaits the winner of the Maranacook/Carrabec game while Richmond (12-1) placed first in Western Maine Class D and has a bye to the semifinals. In Western Maine Class B, Oak Hill (12-4) finished fifth and will travel to No. 4 York for a quarterfinal game Thursday.

Gary Hawkins — 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @GaryHawkinsKJ


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