Windham Senior Legion baseball battles in doubleheader against Gray

By Matt Pascarella

Windham Senior Legion South Paw Post 148 baseball played a doubleheader with Gray Legion Warriors Post 86 at Gray New-Gloucester on Thursday, July 10. Windham came out strong in the first game and scored immediately. When Gray pulled ahead Windham tied it up; unfortunately, Gray won with a narrow 12-10 score. In the second game, Windham dragged a bit, and Gray won 8-2.

Windham Senior Legion South Paw Post 148 junior Shane
Plummer slides into home plate beating the tag during the
first game of a Legion baseball doubleheader at
Gray-New Gloucester High School on July 10.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 

“Doubleheaders are tough,” said Windham Senior Legion South Paw Post 148 coach Chris Doughty. “In the past we haven’t had a Legion team ... the competition is really good; you see good pitchers (and) guys that are going to play college baseball every day. We’re young. I think playing the doubleheaders it’s hard to stay focused (and in the game). The first game was very competitive; we’ve got a bunch of really good baseball players on this team from Windham, Lake Region and Fryeburg. I think the second game some of them just kind of relaxed a little bit. I talked (with the team post-games) about not just reps physically, but mental reps. As a coach, I can deal with the physical errors, but the mental ones are the ones that burn the most. I thought in the first game we swung the bats really well, threw a lot of strikes; in the second game, we had some innings where we were hitting the ball really well, we just lacked that big hit. We need to clean up the fielding; we made a lot of errors on easy balls that just can’t happen. That (first) game was the first time this summer it looked like the guys were ready to compete and win.”

In the first game, Windham junior Cameron Chappell scored after junior Camden Gardiner doubled in the first inning.

In the second inning, Chappell singled and brought in two runs.

Gray was quick to answer in the second inning when they brought in two runs. In the third inning, a few hits and a three-run home run gave them a 7-2 lead.

The fifth inning had Windham put five runs on the scoreboard when junior Braydan Wilson singled, and junior Shane Plummer walked. Chappell singled and Wilson scored. Freshman Ryan Manning walked and senior Josh Plummer singled; Shane Plummer scored.

Freshman Joey Small walked and brought in Chappell. Sophomore Justin Saunders popped out and Manning and Josh Plummer scored. Windham led by one.

Windham held the lead for a full inning, but Gray tied it up and pulled ahead.

“The first game we competed a little more and wanted to win,” said Shane Plummer. “I thought we were aggressive hitting, and we were running the bases well. The second game I felt like we just ... let them win pretty much. I thought we did better in the field. We made some better plays but didn’t swing the bats as well.”

Game two did not have as much intensity from Windham as game one. Gray jumped to a 5-0 lead after two innings.

Chappell doubled in the third inning. After Windham senior Anthony Rinaldi grounded out, Chappell scored.

Wilson doubled in the fourth inning and Gardiner singled. A groundout and Wilson scored.

Windham was able to reduce the runs scored by Gray.

“We wanted to win, and we had the mentality of just keep going,” said Windham sophomore Justin Saunders. “Battle through and we swung the bats pretty well, that’s what made us play better. The first game was better than the second. What needs work is joking around, and ... I need to work on that too. Some of us are dipping when we hit, I think that could help. Fielding, talking is a big issue and knowing where to throw the ball is something we can work on.”

Wilson said they competed in the first game and there were some solid spots where they put the bat on the ball. In the second game their approach was different; players took huge swings, trying to hit a homer instead of aiming for the middle of the field. <