OLD TOWN — Old Town High School junior righthander McKenna Smith wanted to turn in a strong performance in her last regular season game against Mount Desert Island on Friday in preparation for the Class B North playoffs.
She certainly accomplished that.
The hard-throwing Smith overpowered the youthful Trojans, pitching a five-inning no-hitter, striking out 14 of the 16 hitters she faced, to lead Old Town to a 12-0 triumph. The game was called after 4 1/2 innings due to the 12-run mercy rule.
It was Old Town’s 12th straight win.
“She is the best pitcher in this league [Penobscot Valley Conference], hands down,” said MDI coach Jamey Lewis.
Sophomore Hannah Chamberlain was the only Trojan to reach base as she walked on a 3-1 pitch with one out in the first inning. Junior Maddie Thornton was the only MDI hitter to put the ball in play as she flied to center field with one out in the fourth.
Smith threw 66 pitches, 47 for strikes, as Old Town concluded a 14-2 regular season and earned the second seed and a first-round bye for the upcoming playoffs.
MDI finished at 5-11 and the 11th-seeded Trojans will travel to Dover-Foxcroft for a preliminary round game with sixth seed Foxcroft Academy (12-4) next week.
Old Town senior catcher Natalie St. Louis said Smith pitched her best game of the season.
“She was really good. She had a lot of speed and a lot of movement on the ball and she hit all of her spots,” said St. Louis.
“I really tried to focus in today and throw what they told me to throw and try to place it exactly [where they wanted it]. It’s right before playoffs so I needed to make sure I was focused and that I did the best I could for the team and everyone else,” said Smith, who had pitched a seven-inning no-hitter against Orono this season. “It was really nice to have another [no-hitter] to end the regular season.”
Junior right fielder Morgan Love and freshman left fielder Jannessa Brown paced Old Town’s 13-hit attack with three hits apiece. Love tripled and singled twice, drove in a run and scored three times and Brown contributed a double and two singles, an RBI and a run.
“We played very well overall,” said Love. “We hit real well, our pitching was amazing and we fielded really well.”
Old Town jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. All of the runs were unearned.
St. Louis reached on an infield error and eventually scored on Love’s base hit.
Two strikeout victims reached first on passed balls. There were two wild pitches before Lauren Gasaway’s groundout to third delivered a run and Brown’s double produced another one.
Old Town tacked on two more in the second on Love’s single, Smith’s double and Olivia Albert’s base hit.
The Coyotes added another in the third on Brown’s single, a fielder’s choice, Hannah Sibley’s single and Jayden Cain’s run-scoring groundout. They scored five more in the fourth.
Love triggered the fourth-inning rally with a triple to right center and Smith singled her home.
One out later, Gasaway doubled over the center fielder’s head and Brown reached on an infield single. Jasmine Smith’s fly ball dropped for a two-run double in right center and Sibley singled her in.
McKenna Smith helped her own cause with a double and a single and two RBIs and Sibley chipped in with a pair of singles.