ORONO, Maine — Buckfield High School senior pitcher and Miss Maine Softball finalist Carmen Crockett put an exclamation point on her high school softball career at the Pierre and Catherine Labat Softball Complex on the University of Maine campus in Orono on Saturday afternoon.
Crockett threw a one-hit masterpiece, striking out 16 and allowing just one baserunner en route to a 5-0 victory over Penobscot Valley of Howland in the state Class D championship game.
It was Buckfield’s 10th state title but first since 2008. PVHS was seeking its first state championship since 2019. Buckfield concluded a 19-2 campaign while PVHS finished at 17-1.
The righthanded Crockett allowed a single to Ellie Austin off the glove of lunging first baseman Cori Merrill with two outs in the first inning and then retired the next 19 hitters.
Austin’s hit was the only ball hit out of the infield against Crockett.
She threw 86 pitches and 60 of them were strikes. She only went to one three-ball count.
“Everything was working for me. It was a great day,” said Crockett, who has a five-pitch arsenal that includes a fastball, changeup, curve, screwball and riseball. “I had confidence in myself.”
She said she was “really nervous” before the game and didn’t know how it would go.
“But when I was doing my warmups, it felt really good,” noted Crockett, who will pitch for Emmanuel College in Boston next season.
“She was pretty quick and she definitely knows what she’s doing. She’s seasoned,” said Penobscot Valley junior pitcher Lauren Veino, who pitched well in defeat.
“She was a lot faster than anyone else we faced this year,” said PVHS junior first baseman Lila Cummings. “She was really good. We weren’t quite ready for that yet.”
“She has been dominant all year,” said Buckfield coach Shawn Prokey. “To pitch that well in a big-game situation is amazing.”
The Bucks scored the only runs they were to need in the fourth inning when they pushed across three runs.
Cora Brewster grounded a single up the middle with one out and stole second.
Brewster stole third and Amelia Hill drew a two-out walk.
Merrill drove in Brewster with an infield single on a soft liner to the left of shortstop Allie LeBlanc. LeBlanc made a nifty short-hop scoop but had no play at first.
“I was really excited,” Merrill said. “I had two strikes and there were two outs. I was really nervous but I knew I could do it. It was just the momentum that we needed.”
Merrill stole second and rode home when freshman Taylor Harvey grounded a two-run single to right center just beyond the reach of second baseman Nicole Solomon.
“I was stressed,” Harvey said. “I had two strikes on me and I knew I needed to make contact to get the baserunners in.”
Harvey collected her second base hit of the game in the seventh inning, a bloop single to right to lead off the frame, and she scored on Brittany Carrier’s two-out inside-the-park two-run homer to right center.
Prokey said Harvey’s two-hit game is “huge for a freshman.”
Harvey was the game’s only repeat hitter.
Veino tossed a six-hitter with 12 strikeouts and two walks.
“[Veino] definitely pitched well. Penobscot Valley is a very good team,” Prokey said.
