Baseball Wins State Championship

 

Saturday, June 17^th was a busy day for supporters of Yarmouth High sports, as three teams were playing in State Championship games. Some fans took in all three games.   The girls lacrosse played at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland at 10:00 am, followed by the boys lacrosse at 12:30 pm. Unfortunately, both those teams lost.

 

So the faithful headed to St. Joseph’s College in Windham to watch the baseball team take on Old Town in the Class B final. The team did not disappoint, defeating the defending champions 3-0 behind the pitching of Gibson Harnett, who needed only 75 pitches in the victory.

 

The team finished the regular season with an 11-5 record, making them the 9^th seed in the Class B South tournament. In the preliminary game, they travelled to Leavitt, winning 8-1. Next came a trip to Carrabec/Madison, where they knocked off the #1 seed 5-4. On Saturday , June 10^th they had a shorter trip to Cape Elizabeth, where they won 2-0. At last able to play on a neutral field, they won the Class B South regional at St. Joseph’s by beating York 5-3.

 

Quite a season for Coach Marc Halsted and his team, who play a very aggressive brand of baseball. They had just enough of everything: hitting, fielding, base-running, and pitching. Harnett pitched his best baseball in the play-offs, finishing his career with twenty-one scoreless innings. So the Gold Glove sits on the counter in the Main Office today, the first time for baseball since 1995.

 

Here at the results of the other teams:

 

SOFTBALL: 12-4 regular season record. Lost to Wells in the Class B South Semi-finals. Very young team which exceeded Coach Amy Ashley’s expectations.

 

BOYS LACROSSE: 6-6 regular season record, losing most of those games to the top teams in Class A and Class B South. Cruised through the Class B North play-offs, outscoring opponents 41-5 in three games. Lost to perennial champion Cape Elizabeth 16-7. Coach David Pearl was pleased with team’s improvement over the season.

 

GIRLS LACROSSE: 12-0 regular season record. Sailed through three rounds in the Class B North tournament, outscoring opponents by a 54-12 margin. But Kennebunk found a way to slow down our offense in the championship game, where YHS lost 5-4. A disappointing conclusion to a great season for Dorothy Holt’s team.

 

BOYS TENNIS: Coach Mark Marstaller’s team played under the radar all season, compiling a 7-5 regular season record. The team, led by six seniors, came alive to win the Class B South tournament, defeating York, Morse, and Cape Elizabeth to reach the State Championship. On June 10^th they travelled to Colby College to face Camden Hills. The dream run came to an end, as Camden Hills prevailed 5-0.

 

GIRLS TENNIS: 7-5 regular season record. Reached the Class B South semi-finals, where they lost to eventual state champion Greely.   Lana Mavor ’19 won the State Individual Championship.

 

TRACK: Both teams were competitive in the regular season. In the State Class B Meet, the boys finished 4^th, while the girls finished 9^th. There were some outstanding performances by individuals at the State Class B Meet.

 

Luke Laverdiere ’18 won three events: 800m, 1600m, and 3200m

Taj Garvey ’18 won the 400m

Eric Labrie ‘19 placed 5^th in the 200m

Michael Hagerty ‘17 placed 3^rd in the shot put

 

Abby Hamilton ’17 placed 2^nd in the 3200m

Paige Reinfelder ‘19 placed 4^th in the pole vault

 

After thirty years of teaching and leadership in the Yarmouth schools, Betsy Lane has announced that she will retire at the end of this school year. Betsy commenced her career in Yarmouth in 1987 as a third grade teacher at the Yarmouth Elementary School. In 1999 she become Assistant Principal of the Harrison Middle School. In 2009 she moved back to YES as principal.

In an interview carried in the January 19th Forecaster, Ms. Lane tells of how much she loved the job of working with young children, endeavoring to get to know them on an individual basis. She has loved the variety of the job, and has connected with students in the halls, the classroom, the play ground, and even invites them to her office for lunch.

Betsy’s son Matt ’96 and his wife have three children, whom she now will be able to see more often.

Before the largest crowd in years, colleagues, family, and friends attended the annual Yarmouth Education Association banquet last Thursday evening at the Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport to honor four retiring teachers: Bruce Brann, Elaine Fletcher, Alan Hall, and Diane Reynolds. Collectively they spent about 120 years teaching in the Yarmouth schools.

Bruce Brann After serving as Assistant Principal at Bath Junior High School, Bruce Brann first came to Yarmouth in 1988 to serve as Assistant Principal under Ken Nye. He had a wonderful touch with the students who were most likely to end up in his office for misbehavior of one sort or another. He became great pals with his secretary, Nora Perry, who could not resist the temptation to roast him at the banquet. Bruce left Yarmouth in 1992 to become principal of Wiscasset High School. Lured back to Yarmouth in 1994 by Superintendent Ken Murphy, he became the Principal of Harrison Middle School. Very popular with students, faculty, and staff, he will be missed by all.

Bruce received his undergraduate degree from the University of Maine at Presque Isle, and did graduate work at USM. He and his wife Gail live in Brunswick.

Elaine Fletcher moved around a lot in her career as an art teacher in Yarmouth. She started as a long-term substitute teacher in 1982 at the Yarmoth Intermediate School and Rowe before being hired on a permanent basis. After taking a few years off to be with her young family, she returned to Rowe School in 1992 as the half-time art teacher. In 2005 she moved over to Harrison Middle School as a half-time teacher, then became full-time in 2007, introducing art to the hundreds of students who flocked to the art room.

Elaine is the mother of three hockey-playing YHS alumni: Cory ’99, Jay ’02, and Ross ’04. An accomplished artist in her own right, she now will have the time to paint in a more leisurely fashion.

Alan Hall started his legendary career at Yarmouth in 1971, teaching at both the Junior High and YHS. The next year he commenced teaching both social studies and English at YHS. Proof of his immediate impact is the fact that the Class of 1973 dedicated their yearbook to him. After a few years he dropped English, teaching a variety of social studies courses for the remainder of his career and serving as Department Head for many years. His two daughters – Gabrielle ’95 and Daniella ’96 – are YHS alumnae.

Alan became an innovator in the social studies curriculum at YHS. He and Nancy Shaw team-taught a Humanities course for 9th and 10th graders. He started the AP HIstory course for 11th graders, and later the AP Modern European History course. His Human Behavior course attracted so many seniors that at least three sections were required to meet the demand.

Alan is a true Renaissance man. Before coming to YHS, he taught wood-working and industrial arts at Windham High School for a short period. The podium used in the YPAC was built by him, gift of the Class of 1995. He developed his life long love of sailing growing up in Falmouth near Town Landing, and working at Handy Boat during the summers. After his graduation from Harvard, this led to a job as crew member on a luxurious Dutch yacht. He and his wife Katie cruise the coast of Maine each summer in their sloop “Firefly”. A top-flight basketball player at Falmouth High School, he coached 8th grade boys basketball and the varsity girls basketball for a number of years early in his career.

Now Alan will have time to devote to his true passion – history. Regarded as unofficial Yarmouth’s historian, Alan writes an occasional column for The Notes on a topic of local interest, and has published a book on Yarmouth history. He has many ideas in mind, and is anxious to pursue them.

Diane Reynolds came to Yarmouth in 1982. She started as the Home Economics teacher at Yarmouth Junior High School. When Harrison Middle School opened in 1992, Diane moved down to the new school, where her teaching has been respected by students and colleagues alike. Her Home Economics course gradually evolved into the Health course at HMS. Diane and her husband have two daughters, both YHS alumnae: Jessica Reynolds Walton ’00, and Amy Reynolds Mullen ’03.

Janice Ayer, who, along with Jack Stroud, started the physical education program at YHS, passed away in early September, 2008.

Janice attended UMO and received a B.S. degree from Springfield College. She came to YHS in the fall of 1961 and remained on the faculty until 1979. In addition to teaching physical education, she coached girls’ basketball and swimming.