Penobscot Valley softball team rallies past Woodland in Class D North final

BREWER, Maine — Penobscot Valley senior third baseman Julia Young said she was a “little nervous” when she stepped to the plate with runners on second and third and nobody out in the bottom of the fifth inning.

“I don’t usually bunt,” said Young, who fouled off two bunt attempts before drilling the two-strike pitch deep down the right field line for a two-run double that gave the Howlers a 4-3 victory at Coffin Field in Brewer.

Top seed PVHS is now 15-2 and will play in its first state title game since 2019 on Saturday at 4 p.m at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham against defending state champ North Yarmouth Academy.

Sixth seed Woodland wound up 14-5 including three losses to PVHS by a total of five runs.

“With two strikes on me I knew I had to hit the ball. I was looking for a pitch high so I could get it in the air and, hopefully, it would go over the outfielders’ head,” she said. It felt really good. It hit the bat real well.”

“That’s the first time I had asked her to bunt all season,” said PVHS coach Jessica McKechnie. “I wanted to force them to make a play,”

Woodland had broken a 1-1 tie with two runs in the top of the fifth but the Howlers wasted little time responding,

Allie LeBlanc opened the fifth with a sharp single to left and she wound up coming all the way around to score on two throwing errors.

Lila Cummings followed with a little infield roller that she beat out for a single.

Miss Maine Softball finalist Emma Potter then lined an opposite field single to left and Cummings raced to third and Potter wound up on second.

“I always love it when the outfielders shift on me and I send it the other way,” said Potter, whose single was her third hit of the game.

Potter said the team started to get down on itself when it fell behind 3-1 and “I told the girls we have to remember how we played the last two playoff games when we (10-run)-ruled both those teams.

“We had to get that mentality and energy back and when we did, I knew we would be fine,” said Potter.

“The girls never gave up,” said McKechnie.

It was the first time all season that Woodland standout senior lefthander Brooke Smith had given up four hits in an inning.

“She is one of the better pitchers we’ve faced this year,” said PVHS sophomore pitcher Lauren Veino, who pitched a complete-game five-hitter to earn the win. She struck out 10 and walked one.

Potter gave PVHS a 1-0 lead with a run-scoring single in the first to deliver Veino, who had opened the inning with a base hit, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch.

Woodland tied it in the second when Lydia Cropley doubled and scored on a throwing error.

Woodland took the lead in the top of the third when Violet Dineen walked and scored on Smith’s triple over the first base bag. Smith scored on a dropped fly ball.

In addition to Potter’s three hits, Young was also a repeat hitter with a single to go with her double.

Smith had two triples and pitched a complete-game nine-hitter with eight strikeouts and no walks.

The Thomas College-bound Smith struck out over 200 hitters this season.

“We were two evenly-matched teams,” said Woodland coach Sophia McDonald. “We didn’t have the bats going as much as we wanted to.”