RUMFORD – It’s been three years, but Mountain Valley coach Steve LaPointe remembers the brief period when Richie Ross wasn’t his team’s most dependable starter.

“He came up as a catcher.” LaPointe said. “He’s a darn good catcher.”

Ross made the Falcon varsity as a freshman backstop, but it wasn’t long before he cast the tools of ignorance aside to compete on the other side of the battery.

In fact, before the end of that season, Ross was LaPointe’s go-to-guy when the Falcons needed a win. He started, and won, his very first playoff game, against York, then narrowly lost to Yarmouth in the next round.

The pitching staff has added more talent since then, but Ross is still ensconced as the Falcons’ main man.

“He’s the guy we go to in the big games,” LaPointe said. “I’m not afraid to give him the ball at any time.”

“He’s told me that, and I try to not let it get to me. I just play like I’ve played since I was a freshman,” said Ross, now a senior a 2-0 record, a 1.71 ERA with 32 Ks in 19 innings. “That’s what got me here and that’s how I play – keep a square head and make sure I don’t let any of the pressure get to me.”

If the pressure has ever gotten to Ross, he hasn’t shown it while going 12-1 since his sophomore year.

Though Ross has been one of the MVC’s elite starters over the last three years, his name was rarely brought up among the best until recently. Last year, he pitched in the shadows of conference contemporaries such as Jay’s Josh Armandi, Will Carroll of Boothbay, Monmouth’s Josh Stroup and Wade Osgood of Telstar.

That may have been because, compared to the aforementioned quartet, Ross didn’t possess dominating stuff. His pitching repertoire, a two-seam fastball, curve and circle change, certainly baffled a lot of hitters, but it wasn’t the eye-popping, overpowering array of pitches and/or velocity others possessed.

This year, though, after several off-seasons of hard work at camps at UMass-Lowell, University of Maine and University of Southern Maine, Ross has acquired the mechanics and command of all of his pitches to become a dominant starter. Just ask the nine Livermore Falls batter that he fanned in a row earlier this week.

“It’s gotten to the point where (being on the mound) is second-nature,” said Ross, who plays shortstop when he’s not on the hill. “I just go out there and do what I do.”

“I saw my role (this year) as I was going to have to step up, and if anyone was down, I’d have to be the guy to come through and just pick everyone up,” he added. “I’m more than happy with that job. I love being there for these guys, because I know they’d do the same for me in a heartbeat.”

Ross and the rest of the Mountain Valley pitching staff have had to be there a lot for their teammates the last couple of years while the offense has struggled. That may add a little more pressure, but Ross isn’t worried.

“We play scrappy ball,” he said. “We do what it takes to win.”

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