FALMOUTH — Bryce Afthim showed he could dominate on the mound. Then the Windham High senior right-hander showed he could battle.
After facing the minimum nine hitters through three innings, striking out six, Afthim lost a bit of his fastball location. But the returning All-SMAA pitcher and University of Southern Maine commit mitigated damage by fielding his position well, and countering Falmouth’s in-game adjustments with some changes of his own to finish off Tuesday’s 9-4 complete-game Class A win.
“It seemed like they were adjusting to my fastball and the curveball so me and Brady talked about it and tried to throw in a few more changeups at the end and try to keep them more off balance,” said Afthim, referring to his sophomore brother who is Windham’s catcher.
Afthim allowed nine hits and finished with eight strikeouts and two walks. He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth without allowing a run, in part by bouncing off the mound on a sacrifice bunt attempt and throwing out the lead runner at third. In the sixth, with Windham ahead 9-2, Afthim didn’t get rattled after the Eagles’ lone error and three scratch singles produced a Falmouth run. Afthim got the next two hitters on grounders back to the mound.
Coming off Monday’s 9-3 win against Westbrook, Windham is now 2-2. Afthim’s complete game kept the pitching plan intact for the Eagles, who are scheduled to play four games in four days, with a game at Scarborough on Wednesday and at home against Gorham on Thursday.
Falmouth slipped to 0-2, playing its second game in two days. It was the first time this wet spring that Falmouth had been on its home field.
Brady Afthim did his part to help his big brother, going 4 for 4 with four RBI, driving in the Eagles’ first run in the second inning, another in the fifth and the final two insurance runs in the top of the sixth. Windham pounded out 12 hits and several ringing line-drive outs against Falmouth starter Jack Kidder (four innings, four runs, six hits) and reliever Ben Wilson (three innings, five runs, six hits). Ryan Sargent (2 for 4, double, two RBI) and Bryce Afthim (2 for 4, three runs) also had multiple hits for Windham.
In the first three innings, it looked like Bryce Afthim wouldn’t need much support.
“Our batters, we were off balance,” said Falmouth Coach Kevin Winship. “He had good velocity on that fastball and that breaking ball was breaking hard. I felt as the game went on we did makes some adjustments at the plate, squared it up a little better and put the ball in play. You know, we had some opportunities. We just didn’t take advantage.”
Falmouth found success going opposite field in the fourth with a sharp single by Connor Coffin, a long RBI double by Ike Kiely and another crisp single by Garrett Tracy to score Kiely.
“The fastball came up, the slider came up but he did an awesome job making the correction there and finishing strong,” said Windham first-year coach Cody Dube.
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