Windham freshman Brooke Gerry has been a dominant pitcher for the Eagles, who have won 10 straight. She’s also batting .542. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer Buy this Photo
The road to the Class A South softball championship always seems to go through Scarborough High.
The Red Storm have appeared in every regional championship game since 2007, winning eight of the 13 regional titles – and seven state crowns – along the way.
But this year? Good luck figuring out a favorite.
Sure, Scarborough could win the crown again. Entering Friday’s games, the Red Storm were 10-3 and ranked second in Class A South behind Marshwood, which is 12-2. But Biddeford (11-3), Sanford (10-4), Thornton Academy (10-4) and Windham (12-2, riding a 10-game winning streak that included an 8-2 thumping of Scarborough on Wednesday) could also end up on top.
“I mean, it’s not basic one, two, three, four teams that are thinking they’re going to win it,” said Biddeford Coach Mike Fecteau. “I think there could be eight to 10 teams with a chance is somebody gets hot. You never know with high school softball. You ride a good pitcher and play good defense and you’re in most games.”
“There are just a lot of good teams out there,” said Scarborough Coach Tom Griffin. “You’ve got teams that are hovering over .500 who have all had their moments, have all beaten good teams. There’s a lot of dangerous teams out there.”
And maybe leading the way right now is Windham. The Eagles stood at 2-2 after a 10-9 defeat against Thornton Academy on April 28 but haven’t lost since. Freshman pitcher Brooke Gerry has been dominant, and the Eagles are hitting the ball and playing much better defense than early in the year.
“Our defense has been better,” said Coach Fred Wilcox, noting that the Eagles committed several errors in their two losses. “And I think our bats are starting to come alive a little more. That gives us a little more confidence going into each game.”
Four Windham players are batting at least .400 – Gerry (.542), freshman catcher Jaydn Kimball (.489), junior second baseman Ellie Wilson (.444) and sophomore first baseman Ella Wilcox (.400).
“Honestly, it’s about taking one pitch at a time, making the adjustment on every pitch, taking one play at a time and not getting too far ahead of ourselves,” said Wilcox.
Biddeford is another team that can hit the ball. The Tigers have 20 home runs.
“I think it’s going to be a fun tournament,” said Fecteau.
Adding to the intrigue this year is the schedule. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the schools have played in regional pods. That means Marshwood, Sanford and Kennebunk (8-6 in the No. 8 spot) haven’t faced Biddeford, Scarborough or Windham.
While the coaches are familiar with most of the players through summer ball, the York County teams still are a great unknown.
“They got to see each other, we didn’t,” said Peter Eastman, Marshwood’s coach. “We’ll start seeing those teams in the playoffs. It could be good or bad. But as long as we keep focused and don’t get caught up on being the No. 1 seed and keep coming to practice and working hard, we’ll be all right.”
Eastman thinks the team’s two losses, to Kennebunk and Sanford (both in the second game of doubleheaders), taught the Hawks a valuable lesson. “I think we started getting a little too cocky,” he said. “Then bad things happened.”
The regular season is scheduled to end Wednesday. Regional play-in games will be on June 5 and opening-round playoff games are on June 8.
IN CLASS A NORTH, Brunswick is looking to make a statement. Entering Friday’s games, the Dragons were 8-4 and in fourth place. They finish up with games against Edward Little, Morse and Mt. Ararat.
“We want to use these three as a measuring stick to see how we’ll fare in playoffs,” said Coach Hugh Dwyer. “We’re still quite young, and really still learning. We’re trying to emphasize controlling what we control.”
FRYEBURG ACADEMY is sitting atop Class B South, as expected. But Coach Fred Apt knows the playoffs will be difficult, mainly because of the regional scheduling.
The Raiders, for example, did not face two of their top rivals – Cape Elizabeth (14-0) and York (8-6, with all the losses to Class A schools). “It’s been a weird year,” said Apt.
Fryeburg’s two losses were against Lake Region (7-5 and 3-2), which is 7-7. “I think we learned a lot from those games,” said Apt. “I think we learned we need to be more focused and not take anything for granted. Hey, they beat us. But I was really happy with the way we came back.”
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