Mt. Abram coach Ryan Palmer was so excited his team knocked off defending champion Livermore Falls Wednesday, he had to spread the news. So he sent text messages to some Mountain Valley players who were playing in Monmouth.

Palmer played at Mountain Valley and was a JV coach there before taking over at Mt. Abram last season. Wednesday’s 7-1 win over the previously unbeaten Andies was a milestone of sorts for the Roadrunners.

“This team has matured this year,” Palmer said. “The Livermore game was big for us not just for the win but because that was the kind of game that got away from us in the past. We took a 4-0 lead in the first inning and didn’t look back. It was like the kids got the monkey off their back with that one.”

Quick starts aren’t anything unusual for the 3-3 Roadrunners, who have also beaten Jay and Boothbay. The top three hitters in the batting order, Mike Bonney, Greg Dexter and Dylan Tisor, are hitting a collective .380, with Bonney hovering around the .400 mark in the leadoff spot.

Junior southpaw Aaron McGuiness dominated the powerful Livermore Falls lineup, tossing a two-hit complete game by pounding the outside corner of the plate. The outing was vindication of sorts for McGuiness, who was lost for the season after a freak accident during a game last year at Livermore Falls in which he broke his jaw in four places.

“He’s been lights out for us,” Palmer said. “He’s a lefty that has that left tail (on his pitches). He’s in the low 80s with his fastball and his change up is really coming along.”

Helmet head

Last year, coaches at the Major League, Minor League, and American Legion levels began wearing helmets in the first and third base coaching boxes. The move was made in response to the death of Mike Coolbaugh, a Minor League base coach who was struck by a line drive foul ball during a 2007 game.

In the past, players have been required to wear helmets when coaching the bases or when chasing foul balls in play or spotting pitchers warming up on the sideline. While the National Federation of State High School Associations has yet to make helmets for coaches mandatory, the Maine Principals’ Association adopted a rule requiring them for this season.

Mountain Valley coach Steve LaPointe said he thinks the rule is good for safety reasons, although he isn’t particularly pleased with how the helmet he’s been issued looks.

“I want to get one of those nice ones with a single ear flap, so I look like a pro hitter,” a smiling LaPointe said. “I think it’s all right. For me, my reactions are slowing down a little bit. I just wish I had a nicer helmet.”

Armed and ready

LaPointe’s Falcons got a lift when Matt Laubauskas returned to the mound on May 1 against Hall-Dale.

The Falcons went into the spring unsure they would have the services of their ace. The big right-hander’s ability to pitch this season had been in doubt due to a torn labrum. But after an MRI and a talk with his father, Bob, and LaPointe, Laubauskas was back on the mound last week, throwing three scoreless innings and striking out four relief in the Falcons? 9-2 win over the previously unbeaten Bulldogs. He followed that with his first start of the season Monday, fanning eight Ks and walking none for five innings in a 7-0 triumph over Madison.

Out in left field

Edward Little coach Darren Hartley had a minor health scare a couple of weeks ago. The first-year coach contracted viral conjunctivitis the day of the Red Eddies? April 24 win over Lewiston and ended up having to take unusual measures to coach their April 27 game against Leavitt.

“I thought I had something in my eye as the game was starting,” he said. “The trainer washed my eye out. That was a Friday 1 o’clock game. By 2 a.m. Saturday morning, the entire side of my head was blown up. It was so bad, Hartley went to the emergency room twice that weekend. All doctors could give him was pain medication because viral conjunctivitis isn’t treatable by antibiotics.”

Hartley wasn’t allowed to report to work at Lewiston High School, where he is a teacher. His doctor told him he could be around his team, but could have no contact.

“Rather than take a chance, because it was still very inflamed that day, I stayed right out in left field and called the game from there,” he said.

The game was played at Auburn Suburban Little League, so Hartley could stand near the Eddies’ bullpen and talk with players and coaches that way.

He also used his cell phone, talking with assistant coach Don Morency.

“Every inning, Don and I talked two or three times,” he said. “It’s awful hard to call a pitch out from a cell phone, though.”

The Eddies won the game, 7-6, in eight innings. Viral conjunctivitis takes about two weeks to clear up, but Hartley was well enough to return to the dugout for their May 1 loss to Brunswick.