Noble advances in A South baseball with extra-inning win

WATERBORO — The Noble High baseball team found itself in an unfamiliar position Tuesday afternoon: trailing late in a Class A South preliminary contest against Massabesic. The Knights had managed just three hits against Parker Soule-Parent through seven innings and trailed 1-0 heading into the eighth.

Then everything changed.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the eighth, Noble catcher Caiden Barnes worked a bases-loaded walk to drive in the go-ahead run. From there, the Knights exploded for four runs total, stunning the Mustangs 5-1 and punching their ticket to the quarterfinals.

"I felt like my teammates had my back instead of the weight on my back, so that made it real easy," Barnes said after the victory.

Noble, the No. 10 seed, will face No. 2 South Portland (15-1) in the quarterfinals on Thursday. South Portland defeated the Knights 5-0 earlier this season on April 28.

Massabesic, the No. 7 seed, finishes its season at 10-7. Despite the loss, the Mustangs can celebrate a historic year: it marked the school's first 10-win regular season in Class A history.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't take that next step that we know that we had," Massabesic coach Tom Crews said. "Yeah, a tough one."

The decisive eighth inning began when Massabesic brought in reliever Landen Richard to face the top of Noble's order. After a walk and a sacrifice, the bases became loaded for Barnes, who had struck out in each of his first three at-bats against Soule-Parent. Barnes worked the count full before taking a low pitch for the walk that scored Evan Ballard.

Barnes' patience immediately paid dividends. Junior pitcher Wesley Turnbull, who had thrown seven strong innings to keep Noble close, stepped to the plate with nowhere to put anyone and drove the first pitch he saw into the gap for a two-run single.

"I told myself I wanted it. I went and got it. First-pitch fastball right down the middle," Turnbull said.

Barnes later scored on a balk, providing Turnbull with a comfortable cushion as he returned to the mound for the bottom of the eighth.

The Massabesic sophomore responded with a two-out single, but Turnbull induced a grounder to shortstop Owen Orlando, who flipped to second baseman Sean Sullivan for the final out, setting off a celebration among the Noble players.

Turnbull finished with a complete game, allowing one unearned run on six hits while striking out three. He also went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs.

"I loved how (Turnbull) stayed in it today," Barnes said. "Every out, yelling, bringing up the whole team. Tough situations, battling through it."

Noble scored its only other run in the first inning, an unearned tally that came after Alec Hale reached second on a dropped fly ball in shallow right field. A sacrifice bunt by Dillon May moved Hale to third, and Travis Cole followed with a sacrifice fly.

Massabesic tied the game in the second inning, but failed to capitalize fully on the opportunity. A runner at third was caught tagging up too slowly on what would have been a sacrifice fly, and a miscommunication on a bunt play resulted in a double play that ended the inning.

The Mustangs also struggled defensively, committing three errors and having two runners picked off base, including one in the seventh inning.

"We put a lot of work in the past four, five, six days practicing defense because the last three, four games we have not been good defensively like we were earlier in the year," Noble coach Adam Hale said. "That's how we should be playing."

For Massabesic, Soule-Parent was dominant for most of the game. The Sacred Heart commit worked seven innings, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out 10. He threw 96 pitches.

"He was in command for much of the game," Crews said of Soule-Parent.

Henry Marcotte led Massabesic's offense with two hits in four at-bats and threw out two runners attempting to steal. Nolan Pomerleau also contributed two hits and scored a run.

Despite the tough ending, the Mustangs' season represents significant progress for a program that went 9-7 in the regular season a year ago and won a playoff game against these same Knights.

Turnbull, meanwhile, credited his defense for helping him work through difficult moments.

"Defense helped me a lot today," he said. "I was really happy with that."

With the win, Noble advances to face a South Portland team that has lost just once all season. The Knights will need another strong pitching performance and perhaps more late-inning magic if they hope to pull off an upset.