ORONO — As a Sacopee Valley baseball player in 1992, Jamie Stacey experienced the thrill of winning a Class C state championship. Now the team’s head coach, he helped the current flock of Hawks go through a similar experience Saturday.
“I was always wondering what it would feel like to win one as a coach,” Stacey said after Sacopee held off Bucksport, 4-3, at Mahaney Diamond to win its first Class C title since 2016. “It’s probably just getting older and maturity and whatnot, but it means so much more (now). Being a player, it’s wonderful, of course. But leading this group of young men, it means more, so much more.”
Senior left-hander Dylan Capano allowed two hits and struck out 11 while walking three in a complete-game effort for Sacopee Valley, which defeated top-seeded Monmouth Academy on Tuesday to win the South title. Capano struck out at least one batter in every inning except the fifth. He also helped himself at the plate with two hits, including an RBI triple in the fifth, when the Hawks (16-4) scored all their runs.
With two out in the bottom of the seventh, Bucksport’s Bo Provencher reached on an error, but Capano struck out Ayden Maguire to end the game and start the celebration.
“I came out hot, I felt really good,” said Capano, who struck out the side in the first inning and had nine strikeouts through four innings. “I struggled a little bit (later), but I controlled it and I just trusted everyone, and I was able to let them hit the ball and get easy outs.”
The game came down to the fifth inning, when Sacopee rallied from a 2-0 deficit, then snuffed out a potential Bucksport rally in the bottom of the inning.
The Hawks scored their runs on four hits, a walk and an error against Bucks pitcher Gavyn Holyoke. After Sacopee knotted the score on RBI hits by Capano and Braiden Croteau, Caleb Vacchiano lined a bases-loaded, two-run single through a drawn-in infield that scored Capano and pinch-runner Cooper Berkowitz.
“I hadn’t seen the ball great today; I think I struck out more today (twice) than the entire season before today,” said the UMaine-bound Vacchiano, the Maine Gatorade Player of the Year. “They had a good pitcher on the mound, but I was just thinking, ‘This is a super-important situation. I gotta come through for my guys.’
“I was just battling until I got a pitch I could handle. I knew with the infield in, any good contact would get a run in.”
Bucksport appeared ready to respond in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases with one out on two walks and a single. An error on Gunther Cyr’s bunt allowed pinch-runner Eli Bennett to score. But with the bases still loaded, Sacopee pulled off the defensive play of the game.
Bucksport’s Trent Goss grounded to Sacopee third baseman Keegan Thibodeau, who fired to catcher Bradly Metcalf to force out Provencher. As Metcalf threw to first baseman Bryce Stacey in an attempt to nail Goss, Bucksport’s Ayden Maguire attempted to score from second, but was thrown out by an alert Stacey to end the rally.
“I want these guys to be aggressive at all times,” said Bucksport Coach Joshua Jackson, whose fifth-seeded Golden Bucks knocked off No. 1 Foxcroft Academy and No. 2 Washington Academy to win the North title. “We’re not looking to stay back and hope something happens. We’re trying to make something happen, and I’ll take that aggressiveness all day long.”
Stacey said he thought about pulling Capano, but opted to give him a pep talk instead.
“He just battles,” Stacey said. “I told him, ‘You don’t have to strike everybody out. We’ve got a solid defense, just throw strikes and attack the zone.’ ”
Bucksport (13-7) scratched across a run in the second inning when Holyoke singled, reached second on a wild pitch and scored when Capano threw away Jason Terrill’s bunt. The Golden Bucks made it 2-0 in the fourth without the benefit of a hit. Goss walked, scampered to third on a passed ball and scored on a throwing error.
Holyoke, a senior lefty, allowed six hits while striking out nine and walking two for Bucksport, which was playing in its third straight title game.
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