HERMON, Maine — Hermon eliminated Old Town in the regional semifinals the past two years and outscored Old Town 18-1 in their two regular-season triumphs last month.
But freshman righthander Olivia Albert turned those losses into distant memories on Saturday as she silenced the Hawks’ potent bats, allowing just four singles, and she also drove in the game’s only run with a bunt single in the first inning as fourth seed Old Town advanced to the Class B North finals by beating the previously undefeated and top-seeded Hawks 1-0.
Fourth seed Old Town, now 15-3, will take on No. 2 Winslow, 17-1, in Wednesday’s 3 p.m. regional championship game at Coffin Field in Brewer.
Defending two-time Class B North champ Hermon, which had averaged 14.4 runs per game, wound up 17-1.
Albert never allowed a Hermon baserunner past second base during her masterful outing. She struck out five and walked two while throwing 99 pitches, 65 for strikes.
She considered it the best game she had pitched this season.
“My curve worked well today. I also threw quite a few changeups but it was mostly my curve,” said Albert who added that she mixed in a few fastballs, too.
“I really had the help of my defense,” she added.
Neither team made an error.
“She did awesome,” said Hermon catcher and RBI leader Hailey Perry. “Her curve was working. It was hard to get our hands out there and on top of the ball.”
“She had us popping up her curve,” said Hermon right fielder Laura Zenk.
Old Town junior catcher Natalie St. Louis said Albert had a “lot of movement” on her pitches.
Hermon senior lefty Karli Theberge capped her brilliant career by throwing a four-hit gem, striking out nine and not walking anyone despite pitching with a tender back. She threw 66 strikes among her 94 pitches.
Sophomore McKenna Smith got game’s only extra-base hit with one out in the first inning and she scored the lone run.
Smith belted Theberge’s first pitch over Zenk’s head for a triple.
“It was a low outside pitch,” said Smith. “She had thrown me a bunch of those before and I didn’t do well so I practiced them. Once I saw one, I needed to get a bat on it. It felt very good.”
Smith hesitated rounding second before sprinting for third.
The accurate relay throw from shortstop Chloe Raymond to third baseman Katie Windsor appeared to be in time to nail Smith but it evaded Windsor.
Smith said Zenk has a great arm “so I hesitated a little bit.
“I shouldn’t have done that. But I needed to do whatever I could to get to third,” added Smith.
Albert then put her bunt down the first-base line to score Smith.
“The plan was to bunt it to shortstop but the pitch was outside. I knew I had to get it down,” said Albert.
Old Town had a couple of great chances to extend the lead but Theberge pitched out of a one-out jam with a runner on third and another jam with a runner on second and no outs.
Hermon had a runner on second in the first and third innings and had its best scoring chance in the sixth when leading hitter Theberge (.623 during the regular season with a team-high 17 extra-base hits) came up in a pinch-hitting role with runners on first and second and one out.
But shortstop Mikayla Richards used a full extension to nicely backhand Theberge’s soft slicing liner and Albert then induced an inning-ending pop-up.
“We definitely battled but the better team won today,” said Theberge, who was limited to just that one at-bat due to her back.
Lauren Gasaway and Caitlyn King also had singles for Old Town while Perry, Sydney Addessi, Deanna Phipps and Lexey MacManus singled for Hermon.