When Mt. Blue basketball star Gabby Foy was looking at colleges, one of the coaches she talked to was Andrew Morong at Central Maine Community College. Morong knew he’d probably only get Foy for two seasons, but to him it was well worth it.
“That was one of our recruiting pitches to her,” Morong said. “We felt that she would have been an extremely talented Division III player, but we felt that she had the potential to earn a scholarship.
After two seasons at CMCC — during which she scored over 1,000 career points — Foy got that scholarship, and signed her National Letter of Intent last week with Rochester College of Rochester Hills, Mich.
Rochester is a member of both the NAIA and the United States Collegiate Athletic Association. While CMCC women’s basketball plays in the USCAA Division II, Rochester is USCAA Division I.
“Before the USCAA split into two divisions, we actually played them in the national tournament first round,” Morong said. “They were the one seed and we were the 16th seed.”
Laura Soohey, one of Foy’s teammates at CMCC, also signed her Letter of Intent last week to play at Rochester. Foy said Rochester coach Eric Sims found out about Soohey when Foy sent Sims some game footage.
“He noticed Laura, which is great, because she’s a great friend at CM,” Foy said.
Foy said she was originally looking to continue going to school someplace warm, or at least warmer than central Maine. But then, she said, she enjoyed the family atmosphere at Rochester and how is reminded her of CMCC.
As a freshman at CMCC, Foy made 83 3-pointers. That number dropped to 52 in her sophomore year, but when her scoring average went up nearly four points per game anyway, that was a sign to Morong that Foy’s work in the weight room had made her a more versatile player.
“That’s probably how she earned that scholarship,” Morong said. “If she had just been a shooter, there wouldn’t have been any, or as many, scholarship offers that came in — because she had multiple offers.”
Morong said Barton College in Wilson, N.C. and Kutztown (Pa.) University also offered Foy scholarships. Barton and Kutztown are NCAA Division II schools.
Rochester announced Foy’s arrival on its team’s website, under the headline, “Warriors Ink Fellow USCAA All-American.”
“Gabby will have a huge impact for us on the court,” Sims said in the article. “She is a dynamic offensive player who can knock down perimeter shots, get to the rim, and make pull-up jumpers.”
Rochester finished 7-23 last season, and Foy is looking forward to changing that.
“In high school, I was on a building team,” she said. “I like being a big part in the success of the program. When I go there and the program turns around, I’d like people to say, ‘Gabby Foy contributed to that.'”
• • •
The University of Southern Maine plays Suffolk at 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday in the NCAA Division III baseball regional. It’s a good time to look again at where Messalonskee grad Sam Dexter stands in the national statistical rankings.
Dexter is hitting .460, which is ninth in Division III, but he also has at least 30 more at bats than anyone in the top 13. He’s seventh in the nation in doubles with 21 and third in hits with 80 — just one hit behind two players who are tied at 81.
Dexter is also third in the country in total bases and 18th in slugging percentage. His on-base percentage of .517 is 28th in the nation. He’s fourth in Division III in runs scored, with 57.
So that’s seven different offensive categories where Dexter is among the top 30 players in the country in Division III — and in five of those, he’s in the top 10.
• • •
Nokomis grad Sara Packard, a St. Albans native, was recently named the UMaine-Presque Isle softball program’s Rookie of the Year. Packard was UMPI’s starting pitcher in 22 of the Owls’ 26 games this spring, and she pitched in both ends of 11 different doubleheaders.
Packard led the Association of Division III Independents in innings pitched, complete games and strikeouts. She is also a 4.0 grade point average student.
At the plate, Packard hit .250 and had the best on-base percentage (.378) among UMPI’s starters. She scored 19 runs, placing her third on the team in that category.
Packard also played basketball as a freshman at UMPI. She averaged 16.4 minutes in 19 games.
• • •
This weekend, Skowhegan grad Whitney Jones completed her softball career at Seton Hall. Jones and the Pirates lost 7-5 to regular season champion St. John’s in the BIG EAST championship game.
Jones was one of three Seton Hall players to start all 53 games this season. She batted second in the lineup, and hit .287 with four home runs and 28 RBIs. Jones walked 16 times against only 14 strikeouts in 164 at bats, and led the Pirates with nine sacrifice bunts. Defensively, she fielded .988, with four errors in 53 games.
Seton Hall finished 25-28 this season after going 15-34 last year. This weekend marked the first time since 2005 that the Pirates appeared in the BIG EAST final.
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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