A Gorham High School basketball standout was one of several Maine athletes on Wednesday who signed National Letters of Intent to attend Division I or Division II institutions on athletic scholarships.
Emily Esposito, a BDN First-Team All-Maine selection last season, signed on the dotted line to play basketball at Villanova University.
Esposito has been a versatile player for coach Laughn Berthiaume’s Rams during her three-year career at the school. She averaged 18 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists last winter in leading Gorham to a Class AA state championship.
Esposito earned third-team all-Maine honors as a freshman and was chosen to the first team as a sophomore.
In addition, the University of Maine women’s basketball team received a signing from Massachusetts guard Kelly Fogarty, and the hockey program earned a signing from goaltender Jeremy Swayman of Alaska.
Fogarty, who verbally committed to coach Richard Barron’s program in August, will join the Black Bears for the 2017-18 campaign.
Fogarty, who is 5 feet 9 inches, compiled 15.5 points and 4.5 rebounds for Walpole High School last season. She also shot 40 percent from 3-point range.
Swayman, a native of Anchorage, currently plays for the Sioux Falls Stampede of the United States Hockey League. He committed to UMaine last month.
UMaine also welcomed three Pine Tree State athletes into its baseball program in Peter Kemble of Bangor, Hampden Academy’s Alex McKenney, and Evan Balzano from Thornton Academy in Saco.
Kemble committed to the Black Bears in 2014 and is coming off a spring and summer in which he led Bangor to a Class A state championship and was American Legion Zone 1’s Pitcher of the Year for the Coffee News Comrades.
Kemble is the son of former UMaine pitcher Jay Kemble, a member of the school’s 1986 College World Series team and a former Black Bears coach. He compiled a 6-0 record and 1.13 earned run average while striking out 53 in Legion ball last summer.
McKenney posted a 3-3 record and 2.50 earned run average for Hampden Academy last spring.
A pair of Orono High School standouts, Jackson Coutts (baseball) and Jake Koffman (track and field), also signed on the dotted line Wednesday.
Coutts will head to the University of Rhode Island, and Koffman will head west to Stanford University.
Koffman, a state-record holder in the discus at 189 feet, 9 inches, also is a talented shot putter and javelin thrower for the Red Riots.
Coutts, the son of UMaine softball coach Mike Coutts, hit .578 for the Red Riots last spring while hitting two home runs and scoring 24 runs, driving 14 in and stealing 11 bases.
Other Maine athletes who signed on Wednesday included Scarborough softball standout Abbie Murrell (St. Anselm), Cheverus of Portland baseball player Jared Brooks (Stonehill), Portland baseball star Jake Knop (Manhattan) and Scarborough track standout Sam Rusak (Connecticut).
Follow Ryan McLaughlin on Twitter at @rmclaughlin23.
