STANDISH — When you’ve celebrated just about every available athletic victory in your high school career, motivation comes from the darnedest places.

Coaches get creative. Players tuck the respect card in their sleeve.

Between newspaper clippings, scouting reports, hearsay and anecdotal evidence, the Dirigo High School baseball team developed the impression that somebody out there just might believe Class C championship opponent Calais was quicker or more athletic.

“We heard that they had four guys who stole 20 bases or more,” said Dirigo catcher Eric Bolduc. “I knew I’d have to buckle down and probably throw some guys out.”

Or not.

Bolduc did allow two steals and nail one Saturday at Saint Joseph’s College. As a factor in Dirigo’s 4-2 victory over Calais, however, the one he threw out wasn’t nearly important as the ones Calais didn’t.

Every Dirigo run scored as a result of stolen bases or heads-up baserunning.

Spencer Ross, who repeatedly flashed his breakaway speed during Dirigo’s dash to a Class C football championship in the fall, swiped three bases and scored twice.

The first steal put Ross in position to score on Tyler Chiasson’s two-out single in the third and give Dirigo a 1-0 lead. Two innings later, Ross took second and third before racing home on a wild pitch.

“We knew their catcher (Jeremy Carr) didn’t have the strongest arm and that their pitcher (Josh Gillespie) had a high leg kick,” Ross said. “I was definitely looking to run. It was huge for us today to get runners in the right position.”

Ross, by the way, was Dirigo’s only player with more than 20 thefts this year.

He was impressive burning up the basepaths, but even Ross’ achievements might take a backseat to a football offensive lineman scoring from second on an infield single.

That was Arik Fenstermacher’s contribution to the next volume of “Crazy Things That Can Happen When You Show Up At the Ballpark.”

Fenstermacher’s unlikely highlight film sequence began as a botched sacrifice bunt attempt, one that resulted in a fielder’s choice and the first out of the fourth inning.

As if to help the Cougars break even, Fenstermache — yes, you guessed it — stole second. After Bolduc struck out, Cliff Turner slapped one up the middle that either grazed the mound, or Gillespie’s leg, or both.

“I didn’t know if Cliff was going to be safe or not,” Fenstermacher said. “I figured all I could do was hustle, and I always round third, anyway. Once I looked up and saw the umpire signal safe, I figured just go for it.”

He was safe. Dirigo led 2-0.

“Arik really trimmed down this year and made big contributions for us,” said Dirigo coach Dave Lafleur. “He was a 5-0 as a pitcher, and he only lost the MVC championship game to St. Dom’s because of our shoddy defense. He had a spectacular season.”

Even when the Cougars ran into trouble, as Fenstermacher did in the sixth, quickness and presence of mind provided a happy ending.

Fenstermacher’s leadoff double was erased when he got caught in a rundown after Calais reliever Adam Geel dropped Bolduc’s pop-up.

Bolduc’s hustle left him at second when that play ended. He moved to third in painful fashion when Geel’s pickoff throw clocked him in the right arm, then scored on a Turner groundout.

“It felt like an electric shock going through my arm,” Bolduc said.

Perhaps Calais knows the feeling. Although after the Cougars’ fabulous fall in football, Bolduc’s explosive autumn of soccer, back-to-back regional championships in basketball and a dream season on the diamond, Dirigo’s speed should surprise nobody.

And scare everybody.

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