NORTH ANSON — As eighth-seeded Carrabec prepared to host No. 9 Maranacook in a Western C baseball preliminary round game, both teams knew the winner would need to beat No. 1 Monmouth in the quarterfinals. When Carrabec coach Troy Dunphy told ace Levi Murray he’d be the starting pitcher Tuesday, Murray asked how long he’d be pitching.
“The whole damn game! What do you think?” Dunphy replied.
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“That’s what we did,” Dunphy said. “We didn’t even think about taking him out.”
Murray did indeed go the distance, and he pitched a five-hitter with five strikeouts as Carrabec rallied for a 4-2 victory.
“Levi has been our workhorse all year,” said Dunphy, whose Cobras play at Monmouth at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. “Before this game, he was 6-2 with one save, 40 strikeouts in 48 innings, and a 1.00 ERA — best numbers I’ve seen out of this squad, ever.”
Murray was in a pitcher’s duel with Maranacook’s Chris Florek for most of the afternoon. In the bottom of the first inning, Carrabec’s Will Crawford singled, stole second, took third on a passed ball, and scored on Tyler Reichert’s suicide squeeze. Maranacook came back with two runs without a hit in the top of the second. Luke Ruffing came home on a ground ball by Kent Mohler, and Max McQuillen scored on an error.
Florek struck out only two in six innings, but also had three 1-2-3 innings, so Maranacook (7-10) held its 2-1 lead until the bottom of the fifth. Hunter Fernald reached on an error and went to second on another error. After Murray walked, No. 9 hitter Paul Kaplan delivered an RBI single, and Carrabec (8-7) tied the game at 2-2.
After a walk to Boog Dunphy, Crawford’s sacrifice fly scored Murray with the go-ahead run. Reichert added an RBI groundout and the Cobras led 4-2.
“Baserunners are the key to it all,” Murray said. “If you get on base, you’re going to score runs.”
Murray allowed a leadoff single to Mohler in the seventh, but struck out two of the next three batters to end it. It may have been a prelim game, but it was also the biggest win for Carrabec in quite some time.
“There was a lot of fans here today — both for the softball game and for the baseball game,” coach Dunphy said. “It goes along with the culture that is now here at Carrabec: It’s a good place to be — for learning, for athletics, for socializing. This district has come a long way. Everybody used to go, ‘Oh, you’re from Carrabec.’ Yeah, I’m from Carrabec, and you know what? We just beat Maranacook. We’re proud to be from Carrabec now.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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