Inclement weather extended the spring high school sports regular season by a day or two for most teams. With the preliminary round of the playoffs not scheduled to start until Tuesday, everyone has a chance to regroup and prepare for what lies ahead.
Teams with byes to the quarterfinals, scheduled for Wednesday (lacrosse) and Thursday (baseball and softball), have a little more time to get ready. That includes local top seeds, which are Messalonskee girls lacrosse, Maranacook/Winthrop boys lacrosse, Messalonskee, Gardiner, Madison and Richmond softball and Richmond baseball. Richmond is off until the Western D semifinals on June 13.
Perhaps no team is more eager to get the postseason started than Gardiner, which completed its second undefeated regular season in a row by beating Winslow, 12-2, on Thursday.
The Tigers (16-0) held the top seed last year and rolled through the first two rounds of the tournament before they lost to third-seeded Hermon in the regional final, 6-1.
“Hopefully they’re still hungry from last year’s defeat,” Gardiner coach Don Brochu said.
If the Tigers needed any extra motivation, the rest of the bracket includes a potential quarterfinal matchup with Nokomis, which scored the most runs of any opponent this season in an 11-7 Gardiner win on May 22, as well as two strong contenders from the Penobscot Valley Conference, Old Town and Hermon. Old Town is the No. 2 seed and is 15-1. Hermon (14-2), the defending Class B champion, is the third seed and handed Old Town its only loss on Tuesday.
“Hermon is still going to be tough,” Brochu said. “Those girls (who beat Gardiner last year) are still there. They won a lot last year as sophomores. Anybody can be beat on any given day in the playoffs. You’ve got to win them all and keep moving.”
Like Gardiner, Maranacook/Winthrop entered its Eastern B lacrosse tournament unbeaten and as the top seed last season. Yarmouth brought that run to a halt in the semifinals with a 10-7 win in Readfield en route to the regional title.
Hawks coach Zach Stewart makes no bones about being willing to put off a possible revenge match as long as possible.
“I don’t care who we play; I don’t want to face Yarmouth until the final game. They’re a very, very good team,” Stewart said.
Stewart got his wish in the final Heals, as Yarmouth (9-3) is the second seed and wouldn’t face Maranacook/Winthrop (10-2) until the regional final.
First, the Hawks will have to take care of the winner of Monday’s prelim between No. 8 Morse and No. 9 St. Dominic in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Much has changed for the Messalonskee girls lacrosse team (11-1) since it reached the Eastern A final last year, so coach Ashley Pullen is pleased that the Eagles were able to improve upon their record and clinch home-field advantage.
“It’s a huge accomplishment for us,” Pullen said. “I think given everything that happened in the offseason and having lost so many players and having so many freshmen filling huge roles for us, it’s a huge accomplishment.”
The Eagles host No. 8 McAuley (5-7) in Wednesday’s quarterfinal.
Winthrop baseball heads into the Western C tournament seeded second with the knowledge that it beat top-seeded Dirigo in the Mountain Valley Conference , but also well aware that the Cougars, Sacopee Valley and Lisbon join them in a formidable lineup of top four seeds.
“We love it,” Winthrop coach Marc Fortin said of being ranked second. “Those top four teams are all good. Lisbon and Sacopee Valley, obviously, they’re legit. But we’d rather have them come to our place.”
The Western Maine baseball and softball championships are scheduled for June 16-17 at St. Joseph’s College. Eastern A baseball and softball will play on June 17 in Augusta. The state championships are slated for June 20.
Lacrosse regional finals will be played June 17 at the higher seed. State championships are June 20 at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638
rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @RAWmaterial33
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