Ritchie, of Greenville, was a slugging outfielder for the Guilford Advertisers, one of Maine’s storied semi-pro teams during the heyday of town team baseball.

Maine has not had a spring bear hunt for many years. Although a re-institution of a spring bear hunt in the Pine Tree State has been talked about on and off as a way of dealing with our ever-increasing population of bears, many stakeholders – including bear guides and outfitters – have opposed the spring hunt for a host of reasons.

Again in 2019 runners and walkers will be able to honor the service and sacrifice of veterans with Dover-Foxcroft American Legion Post 29’s second annual five kilometer (3.1 miles) Warrior Race & Fun Run at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 25.

Want to frustrate anyone involved in reclassifying Maine’s high school sports teams every two years? Mention “enrollment differential.”

The 47th annual Piscataquis River Race, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Dover-Foxcroft, is scheduled for Saturday, April 27. Canoeists and kayakers will start from King Cummings Park in Guilford and paddle approximately 10 miles down river to the shore across West Main Street from Foxcroft Academy campus.

The Foxcroft Academy and Dexter Regional High School outdoor track and field teams opened the 2019 season at an April 18 Penobscot Valley Conference meet at the Brewer Community School. The Ponies scored 46 points to place fourth among seven schools and Dexter picked up 14 points to place seventh.

Two runners with ties to the region were among the more than 30,000 entrants in the 123rd Boston Marathon on April 15.

Construction of the new $5.5 million Piscataquis County Ice Arena (PCIA) in is taking shape on the interior of the building. Work started last summer and has continued through the snow and cold of the winter months, pouring concrete, adding walls, and now, leveling the area that will be the playing surface.

High school football classification may look different in many parts of the state next fall with various programs moving up and down classes and the addition of a pair of eight-man divisions. The schedule for Foxcroft Academy and Dexter Regional High School (which has been a cooperative with Piscataquis Community High School in recent seasons) should not vary too much under a proposal given unanimous support April 8 by two Maine Principals’ Association committees.

The State Award of Merit, awarded by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, was presented to Archer by his oldest son Cameron, who is an athletic administrator at SeDoMoCha Middle School in Dover-Foxcroft.

More than a half dozen runners with ties to the region took part in the Bridge the Gap 3-Miler and 10-Miler on April 6 in Prospect and Bucksport.

Nothing conjures up visions of the Maine wilderness experience like mentioning Allagash Lake. It’s a special place for many of us. I made my first trek to this remote lake with my uncle while I was in high school.

The Foxcroft Youth SeDoMoCha Middle School wrestling teams competed at the Marshwood Youth New England Classic on Saturday, March 30 at the Cross Insurance Arena. Over 1,000 wrestlers from all six New England states attended this very competitive event. The local teams had 16 wrestlers attend this event and eight of them placed in their weight classes.

Todd Mackey of Rockport isn’t among those who’ve entered the BDN’s “Win a Drift Boat Trip” contest for years and years. In fact, he’s new to the fly fishing game, and entered for the first time this year. That didn’t matter to lady luck: Mackey was randomly selected from a field of about 600 applicants to go on a full-day fly fishing trip.

Penquis Valley High School senior Cymeria Robshaw has been named to the MTCCA Indoor Track & Field 2019 All-State Team. Robshaw is one of 14 team members from Classes A and B from across the state.

The pictures on Paul Lancisi’s cellphone are a testimony to his love of baseball and his continuing connection to the game. Newly signed Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper, 2016 National League MVP Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox infielder Yoan Moncada, and rising prospects Pete Alonzo and Jeff McNeil -- opening-day starters at first base and third base for the New York Mets -- all are on display.

Chosen for the East team -- made up of high school senior football players from Classes A, B, C and D -- is Foxcroft Academy’s Eli Bickford and Hyatt Smith and David Kirshkaln of Dexter. Lobster Bowl positions are to be determined but Bickford and Kirshkaln were linemen for the Ponies and Tigers respectively and Smith played receiver and defensive back for the Ponies.

Last year, I wrote about the project to restore the wild brook trout population at Thissell Pond after an illegal introduction of smelt. We chemically reclaimed the pond in August of 2013 to permanently remove the smelt. We had documented a serious decline in brook trout abundance after the introduction, and the only way to restore the pond was to hit the reset button.