SALEM –- It is pretty rare in the western mountains of Maine to be able to use Mt. Abram’s field this early in the spring. But that’s what happened when MTA’s baseball and softball teams hosted scrimmages against the Lakers of Rangeley last Wednesday, April 7. In fact neither team is typically capable of hosting an early season scrimmage on either field since the areas can expect an average of 100 inches of snow annually.

The Mt. Abram baseball team assembled after a practice held on their field in early April. This occurrence of outside baseball practices and home scrimmages is rare in early April for the Mt. Abram clubs. (David Hart photo) Coaches from all four teams didn’t have winning in mind; rather it was a great opportunity to play a little ball with their North Franklin neighbors.

For softball, the girls played a five-inning game followed by a four-inning contest. A combination of hits from Molly McCafferty, Kylie Rolbiecki and Jill Howard moved Mt. Abram ahead to end the first game. McCafferty held the Lakers to one run in the first contest. The second game featured the début of freshman pitcher Taylor Jordan who tossed three innings on a new regulation rubber-to-plate distance of three additional feet. The Lady Roadrunners also had a scoring advantage over the Lady Lakers in the second match-up.

“It’s still very early,” MTA Coach Jeff Pillsbury said, “but I like what I saw.”

In baseball, Roadrunner pitching gave up two hits over seven innings. Coach Ryan Palmer sent out Tim Smith and Aaron McGinness to the hill —his two hard-throwing lefties— for two innings a piece. Both southpaws struck out four batters. Sophomore Josh Beedy also tossed two innings which Palmer commended. And classmate Parker Kennedy came in to toss the seventh and final frame.

Offensively, MTA scored seven runs in the first inning in a 10-2 final. In the lead off role, Smith, a transfer from Mt. Blue and senior captain had two triples which were matched by fellow captain Dylan Tisor who smacked a pair of base hits.

MTA defense gave up no errors on a warm spring-like day.

“The defense for us was solid and the pitchers threw well,” Ryan said.

Both MTA squads headed to Richmond for more scrimmages last Saturday.