The Bangor High School softball team struggled through a 7-9 regular season campaign a year ago, playing 11 games in 13 days at the end of the regular season.
But the Rams, who finished eighth in the Heal point standings, regrouped and won three Class A North playoff games that resulted in a berth in the regional final, where they lost to eventual state champion Skowhegan 9-4.
The Rams have had a better regular season this spring, but they have also had their share of ups and downs as they prepare for the playoffs.
Bangor finished fifth in the standings with a 10-6 record and will host No. 12 Mt. Blue High School of Farmington on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the first round of the playoffs.
Mt. Blue is 1-15 and has been outscored 210-38, but the Cougars nearly beat Bangor on May 27 before succumbing 8-6 in nine innings.
Bangor had to rally for two runs in the top of the seventh to force extra innings.
It has been that kind of roller coaster season for first-year head coach Maureen Barron and her Rams.
They rallied to deal Skowhegan one of its only two losses, 3-2, on May 5 but were thumped by the River Hawks 11-1 20 days later.
They scored 16 runs in their last two regular season games, wins over Mt. Blue and Brewer (8-1), but pushed across only 19 runs in their previous seven games, an average of just 2.7 runs per game.
They have outscored their opponents 81-63, but if you take out the 21-1 win over Class B Old Town, Bangor has been outscored 62-60.
Barron and her players are confident they can make another deep playoff run despite their inconsistency during the regular season.
“You need to be playing your best softball in the playoffs and, hopefully, we will,” Barron said. “We definitely have the potential to do it. The nice thing about the playoffs is everyone gets a clean slate.”
“I think we have a real good chance to make a run,” said workhorse junior catcher and lead-off hitter Emmie Streams. “We have depth and our mentality is really good. We’re going to have to be really disciplined at the plate. And if we make an error, we have to shake it off and make the next play.”
Bangor has scored four or fewer runs in nine of its 16 games and three or fewer in seven of them.
“We need to hit the ball consistently for all seven innings,” said first baseman Rae Barron, one of just two seniors on the team along with her twin sister Lane, the Rams’ No. 1 pitcher.
Lane Barron said her team has a solid offensive lineup and “we also have the fielding to back it up. I think we’ll do well in the playoffs.”
The Bangor players said last year’s playoff run will give them confidence.
If Bangor beats Mt. Blue, the team will travel to face neighbor and rival Hampden Academy, 13-3 and the fourth seed, in the quarterfinals.
Hampden Academy won both meetings with Bangor behind the pitching of senior Danielle Masterson, 6-1 and 2-0.
Brewer, meanwhile, wound up 3-13 but earned the seventh seed and will host No. 10 Mt. Ararat of Topsham 4-12, on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Mt. Ararat won the only regular season game between the two, 4-3, on May 23 in Topsham.