The Searsport High School softball team won its first state championship in 23 years last spring, beating Ashland 8-3 for the Class D title.
And the Vikings are poised to defend their title.
Despite having just 11 players, Searsport is off to a 4-0 start in Class D South and two of those wins have come over previously undefeated Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln, a Class C team, and perennial Class D contender Stearns High School from Millinocket.
Stearns lost to Ashland in the D North final last year.
Searsport had previously won state titles in 1998, when the Vikings were in Class C, which came 20 years after its first C title.
One of those 11 returning players is junior pitcher Ana Lang, who struck out 63 hitters in the Vikings’ four playoff wins a year ago, including a 20-strikeout game and a 19-strikeout outing.
She allowed only five hits in those four games and tossed a two-hitter in the 8-3 win over Ashland in the state title game, in which she also struck out 11.
Lang also aided her own cause with a two-run double and a single.
There are seven other returnees off last year’s 15-player roster.
Junior Mykenzie Tripp was forced into action as the catcher in the state game after All-Penobscot Valley Conference second team Class D catcher Sarah Gent took a ball in the eye during pre-game warmups and couldn’t play.
Tripp, who had caught for Lang in middle school, didn’t miss a beat and is now the starting catcher.
“She really stepped up,” Searsport coach Christin (Chase) Obrey said.
Obrey said the duo “really communicate well.”
Lang goes to local pitching guru Rick Roberts, the Husson University pitching coach, and Obrey said Tripp has also been attending the sessions to catch for Lang.
Senior first baseman Jordan Greeley, sophomore second baseman Lily Nadeau, senior shortstop Hunter Kronholm, senior center fielder Abby Astbury, senior third baseman Kyla Perkins and junior utility player Laura Warman are the other returnees.
Kronholm was a utility player last season and Nadeau played primarily in the outfield. Astbury was on the team but missed the season due to knee surgery.
Nadeau is also the No. 2 pitcher and earned the win in a 15-5 triumph over Bangor Christian.
Freshmen Ellie Cahill and Kiara Krumbholz are sharing the right field job and Warman also plays there.
Another freshman, Baleigh Bagley, starts in left field.
“Baleigh’s bat has come alive. She has gotten some key hits for us,” said Obrey, who feels her team will be able to score runs.
“We have good bats in the lineup,” Obrey said.
Lang and Kronholm hit in the middle of the order and are two of the primary run-producers.
The Vikings also have some speed in the lineup and are very aggressive on the basepaths.
Obrey, who is in her seventh year with the Vikings, firmly believes in putting pressure on opponents by stealing bases and taking the extra base.
Defensively, she said she expects her team to improve but points out that with an overpowering pitcher in the circle like Lang, her team isn’t required to make many plays during the course of a game.
Searsport, like Greenville, plays in Class D South despite being in the North, geographically, due to a lack of Class D schools in the southern part of the state.
But Searsport only has to play one Class D South opponent during the regular season, Valley High of Bingham.
The rest of its schedule comprises games against Class D and C North schools, several of which are perennial title contenders.
“That’s a good thing. We like to be challenged,” said Obrey, who noted that it makes her team better.
Among those teams on her schedule, Class C teams Mattanawcook Academy and Bucksport are both 5-1; Class C team Sumner of East Sullivan is 4-1; Stearns is 3-2 and even though they are 2-3, the Dexter Tigers are the defending two-time Class C North titlists.