Both Edward Little and Oxford Hills hope to be in the mix in the Eastern A playoff field this spring.

The Red Eddies and Vikings each made the playoffs last year and should be tourney teams again.

EL went 10-7 last year and lost in the quarterfinals to Skowhegan, the eventual Eastern A champs. The Red Eddies return 11 players from that team and should be among the better clubs in the KVAC.

EL has a group of veteran seniors in Kory Norcross, Danny Rock, Kennedy Hubbard, Emily Schario and Hannah Farrington, as well as an experienced junior class including Brooke Reynolds, Hannah Smith, Calli Murray and Molly Murray. Sophomores Sarah Hammond and Karli Stubbs are also back.

EL was hoping to simply rebuild and set the table for the future when it won 10 games and earned the fifth seed last year. The Red Eddies hope to pick up where they left off and feed off a quarterfinal loss to Skowhegan.

Oxford Hills finished 11-5 last spring and earned the sixth seed. The Vikings eventually lost to Bangor in the regional semifinals.

The Vikings return some talent from that club. Seniors Crystal West, Taylor Johnson, Myriah Lausier and Bryanne Starbird join a strong group of juniors in Anna Winslow, Shannon Fillebrown, Annika Kahkonen, Kayleigh Knox and Savanna Morin.

Like EL, the Vikings return their pitching, catching and much of their infield and return some bats to the offense. That should keep Oxford Hills jockeying for position in the top spots in Eastern A.

Other teams likely to be tourney teams will include the defending regional champs from Skowhegan. Bangor and Brewer should be solid clubs as well. Brewer was the top-seeded team in Eastern A last spring but lost to Skowhegan in the semifinals. Cony was the second-seed last year but lost to Bangor in the quarterfinals. Cony should be one of the top clubs as usual. Messalonskee was the third seed but lost to Oxford Hills. The Eagles could be contenders once again, also.

Lewiston and Mt. Blue hope to improve upon last year.

The Blue Devils went 2-14 and return six players from that club. Seniors Maegan Mathon and Meghan Girouard are veteran seniors returning while juniors Sami Rioux and Courtney Marquis return along with sophomores Lauren Belleau and Maggie Phalen. Mathon, Girouard, Rioux and Belleau were all starters last year.

Lewiston also has nine new players that could contribute and have two young pitchers to develop.

Mt Blue went 1-15 last spring. The Cougars return no fewer than 15 players from a year ago, including seniors Kiana Thompson, Mandi Currier, Destiny Nelson and Krista McLatchy.

With so many players back and another year of seasoning, the Cougars hope for progress this season.

Copy the Story Link