READFIELD — Jarred Schmidt walked to the plate with a chance to come through with a big hit for the Maranacook baseball team … and then missed that chance, striking out on three pitches.
Or so he thought.
“I was definitely bummed out,” he said.
The umpire reminded him he had another strike left, however. And Schmidt wasn’t going to let the second chance get away.
Schmidt hit an RBI single to kick-start a four-run fourth inning, and Hunter Glowa fought through a hip injury to get the victory on the mound as No. 2 Maranacook held off No. 10 Mt. Abram, 4-2, in the Class C South quarterfinals.
Maranacook (16-1) advances to the semifinals Saturday against either No. 6 Sacopee Valley or No. 3 Hall-Dale. Mt. Abram finished the season 9-9.
“It’s a credit all to them, they did a great job,” Maranacook coach Eric Brown said. “They took advantage when they could, (Mt. Abram) came out and played a great game against us.”
Even when the situation looked bleak, the Roadrunners kept threatening. Mt. Abram pushed across two runners in the seventh and had the tying run at the plate, but couldn’t complete the comeback.
“I’m proud of the boys,” Mt. Abram coach Jeff Pillsbury said. “This is a hell of a team, and we come down, and I think we were respectable. We were in a position to maybe win it.”
The teams worked their way through three scoreless innings before Duncan Rogers reached when his deep fly ball to center was misplayed for a two-base error and Mitch Root was intentionally walked to start the bottom of the fourth. Glen Guerrette hit into a fielder’s choice that retired Root, putting runners at the corners with one out and bringing up Schmidt, who had singled earlier.
“I was excited,” he said. “I’d been hitting well in the cage, and I wanted to put our team on the board.”
Schmidt figured those hopes were dashed when he swung and missed for what he thought was strike three, but was reminded there were only two strikes in the count. Given new life, the senior catcher made the most of it, grounding a single between shortstop and third base to score Rogers and make it 1-0.
“I was actually pretty ready to go,” Schmidt said. “As soon as I stepped back into the box, it was just like a new at-bat.”
The floodgates were open. Collin McGarr’s slow roller to third went for a single and scored Guerrette, Schmidt came in on a passed ball, and a Thomas Trafton single scored McGarr to make it 4-0.
“We’ve definitely done that a lot,” Schmidt said. “We try to get on them early, but sometimes that’s just not how it goes, it takes us a few at-bats to really see the ball.”
Given the way Glowa was pitching, the support was all he needed. The senior only struck out one but allowed only four hits, and deftly pitched around trouble set up by a defense that made six errors behind him.
It wasn’t a comfortable outing, however. Glowa displaced his hip during a baserunning drill Monday and had to see a chiropractor Wednesday to get into condition to pitch Thursday.
“I did not feel good,” he said. “I was pretty nervous when I was throwing my bullpen. … I usually have a pretty big leg kick, and I just had to tone that down a bit and know what my body was telling me.”
Glowa said the pain had him unsure he’d be available.
“It was bad. I think it was Wednesday’s practice, I couldn’t even walk,” he said. “(It took) Tylenol, ice, stretching. A lot of stretching, probably more than I did during the season.”
Glowa handled the Roadrunners until the seventh, when back-to-back errors put runners at the corners with no outs. The Black Bears got a break when a Mt. Abram miscommunication allowed Trafton to turn a double play on a pop-up to first, but Kenyon Pillsbury singled in Trevor Phelps and Nate Luce singled in Pillsbury, prompting Brown to bring in Jay Lauter for the one-out save.
It worked. Lauter got a flyout two pitches later to end the game, and afterward, coach Pillsbury took the blame for the double play.
“I changed my signs late and crossed up my hitter and my baserunner, and that hurt us in that inning,” he said. “I had a steal on and I had my (hitter) taking, and then I shook off everything. I said ‘Shake it off,’ but I was talking to my baserunner and the base coach didn’t catch it, the runner didn’t catch it. I should have called timeout.
“I’m proud of them. They had some timely hits, but with these teams you can’t (miss opportunities).”
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