Portland: Spring sports season brings positive early results

(Editor’s note: For the complete Portland-Biddeford and Portland-Falmouth baseball, Waynflete-NYA boys’ lacrosse and Waynflete-NYA girls’ lacrosse game stories, see theforecaster.net/sports.)

The early returns are in and the spring sports season is off to a promising start.

And the best is yet to come.

Here’s a glimpse at what’s transpired so far in the 2022 campaign.

Baseball

Portland’s Andrew Brewer makes a catch on a fly ball during last week’s loss to Falmouth. Derek Davis / Portland Press Herald

On the diamond, Portland opened with a dramatic 4-3, come-from-behind home victory over Biddeford, as Andrew Legere hit a two-run, walkoff single in the bottom of the seventh inning.

“It’s awesome, a great feeling,” Legere said. “Portland High kids are never out of a game.”

“Sophomore year, junior year and even a couple weeks ago, if you told me Andrew Legere was going to be in the starting lineup, I wouldn’t have believed it, but he’s hit like that all spring,” longtime Portland coach Mike Rutherford said. “I thought he’d be a pinch-hitter, but he had four hard-hit balls today. To play like that Opening Day as a senior, it shows you a kid who sticks with baseball. He’s had a hot bat.

“We showed a lot of fight. I’m happy with the way we played. We made a couple errors, but everyone makes errors early in the season. I really like how the guys fought. We have a deep bench with good kids. The veteran leadership showed.”

The Bulldogs then won at Marshwood, 7-4, as Legere had three hits and a couple RBI. After settling for a weather-shortened 6-6 tie at Westbrook, Portland was beaten by visiting Falmouth, 6-0, as five of the runs were unearned.

“I just told the guys we should still be playing,” Rutherford said. “It should be the top of the eighth inning. It should be 0-0. We had two errors and messed up communication in the outfield on a routine fly ball. That was a mental error, but it was an earned run. For us, without a strikeout pitcher on our staff, to beat one of the better teams, which Falmouth is, we had to be perfect defensively. We had three leadoff walks and they all scored.”

Portland then fell to 2-2-1 Saturday after a 6-3 home loss to unbeaten Noble. Colby Winship had two hits in defeat. The Bulldogs are at reigning Class A champion South Portland Tuesday (see theforecaster.net/sports for game story), visit Sanford Wednesday, then welcome Scarborough Tuesday of next week.

Cheverus opened with losses to visiting Massabesic (11-5), host Gorham (11-1, in five innings) and host South Portland (3-2). Kevin Connolly homered in the opener. After hosting Bonny Eagle Tuesday, the Stags welcome Noble Thursday, play at Kennebunk Saturday and visit Marshwood Tuesday of next week.

Deering started with an 11-7 setback at Marshwood, then fell at Noble (7-2), at home to South Portland (9-0), at home to Gorham (7-1) and at home to Sanford (8-2). Conner Coleman tripled versus the Rams. After visiting Falmouth Tuesday, the Rams play at Thornton Academy Thursday and travel to Windham Tuesday of next week.

The Waynflete/North Yarmouth Academy co-op squad started with a 9-4 setback at Maranacook, then defeated visiting Richmond (3-0) and swept a doubleheader Saturday at Mt. View (5-3 and 7-2). Waynflete/NYA was at Traip Academy Monday, go to St. Dom’s Friday and return home Monday of next week for a game versus Old Orchard Beach.

Softball

Portland’s softball team won its first four outings, 11-1 (in five innings) versus Bonny Eagle, 20-1 (in five innings) against Deering, 18-2 (in five innings) over Falmouth and 6-4 at home over Gorham Saturday. In the opener, Sadie Armstrong had three hits and earned the victory and Vanessa Connolly had a bases-clearing double. Against Deering, Armstrong and Jordan King hit home runs. In the victory over the Navigators, Hannah Hawkes homered and doubled twice. Against Gorham, Armstrong struck out nine and hit a three-run home run. The Bulldogs welcomed Marshwood Monday (see theforecaster.net/sports for game story), travel to Kennebunk Wednesday, host Noble Friday and visit Massabesic Monday of next week.

Cheverus started with an 8-6 loss at Noble, then got in the win column at South Portland (5-2) before falling to 1-2 with a 28-1 (five-inning) home loss to powerhouse Scarborough. The Stags looked to bounce back Monday at Westbrook. After hosting Thornton Academy Wednesday and playing at Biddeford Friday, Cheverus welcomes Windham Monday of next week.

Deering lost its first two games in five innings, 20-1 to Portland and 15-1 to Scarborough. Sophie Hill had the RBI versus the Red Storm. The Rams were at Thornton Academy Monday, host South Portland Wednesday, visit Windham Friday and play host to Westbrook Monday of next week.

Boys’ lacrosse

Waynflete’s Jacob Woodman fires a shot during a season-opening loss at rival NYA. Derek Davis / Portland Press Herald

Waynflete’s boys’ lacrosse team, the reigning Class C champion, opened with a 7-4 loss at NYA, despite two goals from Nils Burton-Johanson, then defeated host Greely, 7-4, behind two goals apiece from Burton-Johanson, Seth Cloutier and Jacob Woodman. After a 9-5 setback at York, the Flyers doubled up visiting Freeport Saturday, 10-5, as Burton-Johanson and Roan Hopkins each scored three times, to improve to 2-2. Waynflete goes to Lake Region Wednesday, visits South Portland Saturday, then hosts Lake Region Tuesday of next week.

In Class A North, Portland started by downing visiting Sanford (15-7) and Cheverus (7-4), then fell to 2-1 with a 17-3 setback at Thornton Academy. Ben Littel scored five goals in the opener and scored twice, as did Harry Rubin, in the victory over the Stags. The Bulldogs are home versus Gorham Wednesday, go to Oak Hill Saturday and visit Bangor Monday.

Cheverus split its first four outings, opening with a 20-0 blanking of visiting Westbrook and, after falling at Portland (7-4) and beating host Massabesic (12-5), losing at home to Camden Hills (12-3). Nico Nason scored twice against the Bulldogs. The Stags host Biddeford Wednesday and welcome Cony Monday.

Deering dropped its first three games, 15-1 at Sanford, 22-1 to visiting Scarborough and 5-4 to visiting Maranacook. The Rams host South Portland Wednesday, go to Mt. Ararat Saturday and visit Biddeford Tuesday of next week.

Girls’ lacrosse

Waynflete’s defending Class C champion girls’ lacrosse teams has had its share of drama in the early going.

The Flyers began with a 10-9 overtime loss at NYA. Jesse Connors scored six goals, goalie Emily Girard made nine saves and Waynflete never trailed until the extra session.

“We learned a lot today,” said longtime Flyers coach Cathie Connors. “We just couldn’t hold on at the end. I’m super proud of how the defense played. Emily was amazing. We struggled in our transition, but there’s a lot of time to work on that. I’m OK with where we are.”

Waynflete then beat host Lake Region, 7-5, behind four goals from Jesse Connors and three from Lolie Millspaugh, then eked out an 11-10 home victory over Wells Saturday, as Connors scored her fifth goal, on a free position shot in the waning seconds, and Tilsley Kelly added four goals. The Flyers (2-1) go to Traip Academy Wednesday and host Portland Saturday (see theforecaster.net/sports for game story).

In Class A North, Cheverus is off to a 3-1 start. The Stags started with a 13-8 loss at Marshwood, despite four goals from Riley O’Mara, then beat visiting Lake Region (14-6), host Deering (17-2), visiting South Portland (18-9) and visiting Sanford (14-3). Cheverus hosts reigning Class A North champion Falmouth Tuesday and welcomes Gorham Friday.

Deering started with a 17-2 home loss to Cheverus, then handled host Westbrook, 13-1, before dropping a 9-8 home decision to Bangor. The Rams go to Windham Wednesday, visit Cony Friday and host Biddeford Tuesday of next week.

Portland started with home losses to Thornton Academy (15-2) and Massabesic (15-3), then downed visiting Bonny Eagle, 10-7. Saturday, the Eagles fell to 1-3 with a 7-3 loss at Windham. In the victory, Chelsea Dana, Lilah Green, Phoebe Knoll, Emily Seavey and Eliza Stein all scored two goals. Portland was at South Portland Tuesday and visits Waynflete Saturday.

Outdoor track

Outdoor track’s season began with the Portland boys defeating Noble and Windham and the Bulldogs girls coming in second to Windham.

Deering’s boys and girls were both third in a four-team meet that also included Gorham, Massabesic and Thornton Academy.

Cheverus boys placed third and the girls were fourth in a four-team meet that also included Biddeford, Marshwood and Sanford.

Boys’ tennis

Waynflete’s 13-time Class C state champion has faced some challenges early, but won two of its first three matches, 3-2 over Cape Elizabeth and 4-1 over NYA, while dropping a 3-2 decision to Greely. The Flyers were at reigning Class B champion Yarmouth Monday.

In Class A South, Portland began 3-1, defeating Sanford and Marshwood by 5-0 scores and edging Falmouth, 3-2, while losing to reigning champion Kennebunk, 5-0.

Cheverus started with 4-1 victories over Biddeford and Marshwood, then lost, 3-2, to Thornton Academy.

Deering has bounced back this season and won its first two matches by 5-0 scores against Biddeford and Bonny Eagle.