Oak Hill’s sophomore pitcher Makayla Nadeau made her debut at the varsity level a good one this week. Just called up from the JV team, Nadeau was forced into action against Winthrop in a key MVC game Tuesday.

“She came up big for us,” Oak Hill coach Allyson Collins said. “We lost our pitcher (Lauren Beganny) during warm-ups. I had Makayla up anyway because I wanted her to pitch the last couple of innings. She’s been cranking. She’s done a really nice job. She’s come a long way since last year. We wanted to see how she’d do on JV this year. She had done so well. I wanted to give her a chance up here.”

Collins wasn’t expecting to have to toss Nadeau into the fire as she did, but Nadeau hurled a two-hitter to shutout Winthrop 2-0. Then Nadeau followed that up with a solid outing in a loss against Telstar. Nadeau dueled with Rebel pitcher Jessica Dirago and held Telstar to just one hit through the first four innings. Errors in the field opened the door in a 5-1 win for the Rebels.

Nadeau showed good velocity and equally impressive poise in the pitcher’s circle. Nadeau combined with Sadie Goulet Friday to one-hit Wiscasset.

“That’s the key, she doesn’t get rattled,” said Collins, who can utilize Goulet at third and Kelsey Collins at first when Nadeau is pitching. “When things got tough, she stayed with it.”

Raiders keeping eyes to West

Oak Hill coach Matthew Bray was asked if his team keeps an eye on the rest of the playoff contenders in Class B West, even though only one other Mountain Valley Conference team is in the region, Spruce Mountain.

“I could lie to you and say that we don’t,” Bray said. “I like to keep track of them (the teams outside the MVC). It’s hard for us because of the conference that we play in.”

At 10-3, the Raiders are virtually assured of a playoff spot. Spruce Mountain has a good shot at getting in, too. But it’s likely a Western Maine Conference or Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference team will greet them when the tournament starts.

Teams from those two conferences have the advantage of playing Class B regular season schedules. Some WMC teams even have Class A competition. The Raiders and Phoenix only have each other in the MVC. Every other team is either Class C or, in Wiscasset’s case, Class D.

“If it ended today, we’re playing at the defending state champs, at York,” Bray said on Friday. “That’s  a tough go for a small school like Oak Hill. We’re the smallest Class B school, so we just have to play our baseball and beat the teams they put in front of us.”

If the Raiders can run the table with Mt. Abram, Monmouth and Madison remaining on the schedule, they could move up from their current No. 6 spot in the Heals and possibly even get a home game.

Ups and downs for No. 1 Knights

Not many teams have seen the extremes the Poland Knights have this season.

Back on May 5th, the Knights were no-hit by Kennebunk’s Eric Aiken. Last Friday, they scored 20 runs at Freeport, a team that beat them, 5-3, four days after they were no-hit.

“It’s been a weird season,” senior infielder/pitcher Jake Simard said. “We’ve played our best ball against the best teams. We lost to Freeport and I think that it might just have because we were looking too far ahead. You’ve always got to respect your opponent.”

Perhaps the one constant for Poland has been on the mound, where Lukas Johnson has emerged as the ace. The senior is 4-0 and has yet to allow an earned run this season.

“And he’s not doing it against the nobodies,” Poland coach Mike Connor said. “He beat Greely. He beat York. He beat Yarmouth. We’re in the spot we are because he’s knocked out the big teams on the hill.”

Johnson has also become a force at the plate, hitting .500 behind Kaleb Bridgham. He went 3-for-5 with a home run, six batted in and three runs scored in the win over Freeport.

Niles bidding farewell

After a successful six-year run at Lewiston, including three as head coach of the track and field program, T.J. Niles has announced that this will be his final season with the Blue Devils.

“I want us to go out on top because this is my last season at Lewiston. I’m moving on. I’m going somewhere else,” Niles said. “I’m still in the area and looking to coach somewhere else next year.”

Lewiston is in the middle of a boys’ outdoor season that has been both promising and frustrating.

Led by junior sprinter and middle-distance runner Isaiah Harris, a threat to win four events in the upcoming KVAC and Class A championships, the Blue Devils have a shot to win top team honors at both season-ending meets.

But the lead on paper isn’t as big as it was on paper at the start of the season, for a variety of reasons. Niles said one athlete who was expected to score in several events left the team after he was not named a captain. He has been frustrated by a lack of commitment in other areas, as well.

“Guys are seeded to win KVACs by a lot, but if a few guys don’t make the bus, we could be screwed and everything we did didn’t matter,” Niles said. “You do your best to coach them in there, and then you have kids who don’t make grades or just disappear.”

In Saturday’s River City Rivals meet on Lewiston’s home track, Niles was forced to scratch multiple athletes from events because they didn’t show up at the meet on time. Another threat to win an individual race left early because of a family emergency.

Lewiston lost to Brewer by 3.5 points.

Niles guided the Devils’ cross country team to the Class A title this past October.

He also coached the boys’ and girls’ indoor teams over the winter, starting the season with more than 80 athletes and no full-time assistant coach.

Rookie coach Dani Paul, a recent competitor at Edward Little and Division I High Point University in North Carolina, took on the girls’ outdoor duties this spring.

“The girls are only 12 points out of first right now, seeded third for KVACs before (Saturday’s) meet,” Niles said. “The girls have never done better than fifth or sixth at KVACs until this indoor season, when they were third, and now we’re looking at maybe they have a shot to win if we can put everything in the right spot.”

Morse High School hosts the KVAC meet Saturday in Bath.

Greyhounds sharpen teeth

Lisbon track and field appears primed to sweep the Mountain Valley Conference meet for the ninth consecutive year Thursday at Cony High School.

The boys tuned up this past week by dominating the annual “Under the Lights” meet at the same Alumni Field track in Augusta. Lisbon defeated runner-up Maranacook by 68.5 points — more than the team total of third-place Boothbay.

Charles Adams won both the 110 and 300-meter hurdles and shared in the 4×400 relay victory. Lisbon’s 4×100 relay also picked up a win along with Jordan Glover (long jump), Andrew Golino (shot put) and Tyler Bard (race walk).

Lisbon’s girls (87 points) were a close third to Class A Cony (108) and Maranacook (91). Sophomores Bree Sautter and Adrianna White went one-two in the 400 and were part of a 4×800 triumph. White also won the 800.