Boys’ team

Marc Halsted, Yarmouth baseball

There was something special about the Yarmouth baseball team this spring. The Clippers didn’t always resemble a juggernaut on the field, losing five times, but when the games mattered most, this group of accomplished athletes came up huge time and again.

Pushing all the right buttons, again, was a coach who has enjoyed a lot of success over the years and this season was one of his finest.

As a result, The Forecaster is naming Marc Halsted our Northern edition Spring Coach of the Year of a boys’ team.

Halsted was also selected Spring Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2017 and Winter Coach of the Year (he was formerly Yarmouth’s boys’ hockey coach) in 2010.

Halsted grew up in Orono, playing hockey and baseball, then was an infielder at the University of Maine. He started his coaching career at Hampden Academy, then, after coming to Yarmouth, he took over the hockey job in 2005, then became the baseball coach in 2007. Halsted won 170 games in his first 15 seasons and led the Clippers to a surprise Class B championship in 2017.

This spring, Yarmouth lost two of its first three games, then, behind the strong pitching of Liam Hickey and a collection of bats that got red-hot, won nine straight. The Clippers dropped three of their final four games, however, before catching fire again in the playoffs.

When it mattered most.

After surviving Leavitt in the quarterfinals, Yarmouth beat Greely for the third time (something which almost never happens) in the semifinals, then upset top-ranked Cape Elizabeth in the regional final. The Clippers gave Old Town a battle in the Class B state final, but ultimately an unearned run proved to be the difference in a 1-0 defeat.

A defeat that did little to take away from what was a magical run and a memorable season.

“We wanted a championship 100 percent, but we have great human beings and it’s a special group,” said Halsted. “I always say if you win a championship you walk together forever, but I was a little wrong, because 10 years from now, we’ll see each other and have that look in our eyes and a big smile for each other. We won the Southern Maine championship and we beat one of the best teams in the state to get that. We’re proud. We’ll stay tight with each other. This is a great group of young men.”

Halsted, who also teaches history at Yarmouth High School and is involved with multiple baseball teams from the youth to high school levels, will mold another championship-caliber Clippers team next season.

Marc Halsted, our Northern edition boys’ team Spring Coach of the Year, made his players believe they could accomplish anything this season and they almost brought home the biggest prize of all.

Previous winners:

• 2022 Peter Gerrity (NYA lacrosse)
* 2021 Bill Shardlow (Yarmouth tennis)
• 2020 No season
• 2019 Kyle Goodrich (Freeport baseball)
• 2018 Jay Harper (Freeport tennis)
• 2017 Marc Halsted (Yarmouth baseball)
• 2016 Bill Ridge (Freeport baseball)
• 2015 Derek Soule (Greely baseball)
• 2014 Geoff Arris (Freeport lacrosse)
• 2013 David Pearl (Yarmouth lacrosse)
• 2012 Kevin Winship (Falmouth baseball)
• 2011 Bob McCully (Falmouth tennis)
• 2010 Marc Halsted (Yarmouth baseball)
• 2009 Mike LeBel (Falmouth lacrosse)
• 2008 Casey Abbott (Greely lacrosse)
• 2007 Derek Soule (Greely baseball)
• 2006 Chris Carpentier (Freeport lacrosse)
• 2005 Chris Mazzurco (NYA track)
• 2004 Craig Curry (Yarmouth lacrosse)
• 2003 Bruce Poliquin (NYA baseball)
• 2002 Hank Ogilby (Freeport baseball)

Girls’ team

Ricky Doyon, NYA softball

This spring, the Panthers returned to varsity play in the most dreamlike way possible.

By capturing the Class D state championship.

NYA was a powerhouse from the season’s first pitch, steamrolled nearly every foe, then saved its best for last, surging to the first regional and state titles in program annals.

When you consider that the Panthers were led by Ricky Doyon, who has established the girls’ soccer program as one without peer, the softball team’s success makes plenty of sense and in light of NYA’s stunning rise to the top, Doyon is The Forecaster’s choice as our Northern edition Spring Coach of the Year, of a girls’ team.

Doyon was also named our Fall Coach of the Year in 2021.

Doyon’s roots are in Biddeford, but he has made quite a name for himself at NYA, leading the girls’ soccer team to three straight state titles. He revived the softball program in 2021 and led the Panthers to a nine-win season and a trip to the Class D South semifinals, but the following year, NYA didn’t have enough players to field a varsity team.

That changed this spring, as Doyon brought over several of his soccer players and in no time, the Panthers weren’t only competitive, they were without peer.

NYA won its first 10 games, scoring in double figures on seven occasions and beating six foes by the 10-run mercy rule. After finally falling from the unbeaten ranks with a 7-5 loss to Maine Central Institute in the first game of a doubleheader, the Panthers avenged the loss in the nightcap, then won their final four games by a composite score of 76-5.

As the top seed in Class D South, NYA earned a bye into the semifinals, then handled Richmond, 14-3 (in five-innings). The regional final versus Searsport proved to be the Panthers’ toughest test of all and they erased a late deficit and eked out a 2-1 victory, thanks to stellar pitching from Lily Rawnsley and some daring baserunning from Hayden Wienckowski. In the state game versus Machias, in Brewer, NYA returned to its powerful hitting ways and prevailed, 7-1, to cap a storybook season.

“This is sweet,” said Doyon. “I knew we had athletes, but athletes only take you so far. This is what these kids are about. They know what it takes to win, maybe not in softball, but they get up for the big games. I’m just lucky. It’s a great bunch of young ladies. True athletes. When they want it, they go get it.”

Pulling off an encore won’t be easy, but Ricky Doyon, our Northern edition girls’ team Spring Coach of the Year, always knows which buttons to push. The victories (and hardware) speak for themselves.

Previous winners:

• 2022 Jason Daniel (Freeport softball)
* 2021 Becca Koelker (Greely lacrosse)
• 2020 No season
• 2019 Dorothy Holt (Yarmouth lacrosse)
• 2018 Ashley Pullen (Falmouth lacrosse)
• 2017 Bill Goodspeed (Falmouth tennis)
• 2016 Rob Hale (Greely softball)
• 2015 Amy Ashley (Yarmouth softball)
• 2014 Ben Caswell (Greely tennis)
• 2013 Sandra Stone (Falmouth tennis)
• 2012 Karin Kurry (Freeport lacrosse)
• 2011 Sara Dimick (Greely lacrosse)
• 2010 Julia Sterling (NYA lacrosse)
• 2009 Sandra Stone (Falmouth tennis)
• 2008 Julia Littlefield (NYA lacrosse)
• 2007 Robin Haley (Falmouth lacrosse)
• 2006 Dorothy Holt (Yarmouth lacrosse)
• 2005 Sandra Stone (Falmouth tennis)
• 2004 Ann Harradon (Yarmouth tennis)
• 2003 Julia Seely (NYA tennis)
• 2002 Julia Littlefield (Yarmouth lacrosse)

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. 

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