Cougars take second regional crown in three years

STANDISH -- Cody St. Germain lives for the moment and fully believes he is ready to handle pressure situations and that was quite evident by his performance in the Western Class C Regional championship game.

The recently graduate proved to be cool, calm and collective by pitching a three-hitter in going the distance as the Dirigo baseball team took advantage of the action en route to a 4-1 against Telstar at Mahaney Diamond on the Saint Joseph's campus. It was the Cougars' second regional crown in three years.

Dirigo took control as the top three batters, T.J. Frost, Caleb Turner and Chad Snowman, each put the ball in play to highlight a three-run sixth inning. It was obvious as the game wore that the Cougars big experience would pay off, while the Rebels shot themselves in the foot by committing two costly errors in the sixth, and four in the game.

Still, Dirigo knew it was in for a battle because of a meeting between the two teams last month in the regular-season finale.

"Going into the game, we knew that we had more experience in all those situations," said St. Germain. ''We've been here before. We just rode off that throughout the entire game."

Ben Holmes pitched a complete game one hitter in eight innings as the Cougars survived 1-0 against Telstar. Again, the rematch featured two quality pitchers -

the Rebels Dan Whitney and St. Germain - who matched each other and had the respective opposing batters completely baffled.

T.J. Frost had singled in the sixth and Turner reached when his bunted ball was thrown away. Snowman bunted also, but Whitney threw to third base (both

teams wore blue shirts) and the ball sailed into left field, with Frost and Turner both scoring. Snowman scored on a St. Germain RBI single. Holmes and St. Germain each had two singles.

Telstar's initial error led to the first run of the game, following Holmes reaching on an infield single. St. Germain then singled past the first baseman and after a moment of hesitation, Holmes motored to third base. St. Germain broke for second, as a third strike went by Spencer Trenoweth, but no one covered and the ball sailed away, allowing Holmes to score.

Telstar had cut down Snowman at the plate, to complete a rare 4-3-2 double play. The Rebels scored their lone run in the fifth, on a Drew Wilson RBI single.