Foxcroft hopes to take next step in building softball tradition

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Foxcroft Academy boasts a rich athletic history in some sports, football, wrestling and field hockey chief among them.

Achieving softball success has been more of a challenge over the years with no regional championships and relatively few postseason appearances, but the current generation of Ponies is looking to change that.

A youthful Foxcroft team earned its second straight playoff berth last spring, only to earn a tough draw against a John Bapst of Bangor team that had edged it twice during the regular season.

The motivation derived from the ensuing 13-11 Class B preliminary-round defeat — in which John Bapst scored three runs to tie the game in the top of the seventh and five runs in the top of the eighth to upend the fifth-ranked Ponies — and an experienced lineup featuring eight returning starters has third-year coach Scott Anderson and his club thinking big this spring.

“Everyone’s pretty well focused,” said Anderson, who has coached the juniors on this team since their third-grade year, including a stint at SeDoMoCha High School before he took the varsity job. “We all know we came up a little short of what we wanted last year.”

Still, there looks to be plenty on which to build.

Anderson compares his team’s athleticism and defense favorably with their Penobscot Valley Conference competition, and the Ponies’ offense features the likes of junior shortstop Grace Bickford (.473 batting average with two home runs, five doubles, 14 RBIs and 19 runs scored during the 2015 regular season), junior third baseman Alli Bourget (.397, 16 runs and team-best 16 stolen bases), and sophomore pitcher Jenna Clukey (.405 batting average, 13 runs).

Clukey also was the team’s singular pitching ace as a first-year varsity player last spring, compiling an 8-5 record with a 4.05 earned run average in 95 innings. She’ll get help this year from promising freshman Mackenzie Beaudry, with both hurlers devoting time throughout the year to refining their arsenals.

“We’re going to try to split the innings this year to have two live arms going into the playoffs,” said Anderson, who is assisted in the Foxcroft dugout by Jack Clukey and Mike Cabral. “Jenna’s throwing some different pitches and really hits her spots, and Mackenzie has a lot of movement on her fastball, she’s got a live arm.”

The Foxcroft pitchers will work to talented senior catcher Avery Carroll, while Bickford and Bourget will team up on the left side of the infield with senior Desirae Brawn a returning starter at first base and junior Abbi Bourget — Alli’s twin sister — a first-year starter at second base.

Sophomore Kiara Prescott will play left field with senior Gabie Johnson in center, while juniors Makayla McCorrison, Kylee Hutchinson and Maci Poulin all are contending for time in right field.

“We’re as good as you can get as far as experience,” said Anderson. “I’ve been with these girls all the way up through, they’ve played a lot of games with me and they had to get some experience at the high school level but they’re ready to roll now.”

One key to Foxcroft’s fate this spring may be its offensive depth, and the Ponies hope to advance that cause by capitalizing on their team speed, particularly the Bourget twins, as well as the softball fundamentals prevalent among the state’s elite programs.

”We’ve been working and working and working,” said Anderson. “We have girls hitting from both sides of the plate and bunting from both sides of the plate, and it makes a difference.

“Some of the top pitchers are very hard to hit so if we can get on base and put the pressure on, that’s how you can manufacture some runs.”

Foxcroft welcomed 25 players to preseason practices, enabling the Ponies to field a full junior varsity squad.

Anderson also cited significant depth at the middle-school and youth levels as the local softball community has worked on program development through a collective commitment that also includes a youth softball camp and high school league play during the summer.

“Everyone can be good for one year,” he said, “but if you start down when they’re younger and have it be good all the way through and the kids are excited to play, that’s what it really takes.”

Foxcroft’s bid to improve on last spring’s 10-6 regular-season record will face several formidable challenges, among them two-time defending Eastern Maine Class B champion Hermon — a team the Ponies split two games with last year — and fellow PVC “B” contenders Old Town and Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor.

Foxcroft’s preseason schedule includes games against Class A Portland and Deering High of Portland in preparation for its season opener April 19 at Dexter. That’s followed two days later by the home opener against Piscataquis of Guilford, with the Ponies’ Class B season debut at MDI on April 23.

“The girls all know what we’re facing,” said Anderson. “We’re just going to zip our lips and go to work.”