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Marshwood’s Brady Isabelle, center, celebrates with teammates Charlie Hudson, left, and Silas Reimels after the Hawks beat Scarborough, 2-0, on Monday in Scarborough to earn the No. 1 seed in Class A South. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

The regular-season games are done, and the Heal point standings are final. From now until four state champions are crowned on June 21, every Maine high school baseball game is an elimination game.

There’s a lot to unpack ahead of the first preliminary round games Tuesday. Here are five takeaways from the final Heal point standings as we look ahead to the postseason.

A SOUTH SET FOR POSTSEASON TO REMEMBER

There’s no two ways about it: Class A South is the best region in Maine high school baseball. The region includes six of the 10 teams in this week’s Varsity Maine poll, including the top three — Scarborough, Marshwood and Thornton Academy.

You can’t beat the pitching in this class, not with Maine Gatorade Player of the Year Erik Swenson of Scarborough (5-1, 0.85 ERA, 61 strikeouts, five walks) and Vanderbilt-bound Wyatt Nadeau of Gorham. The No. 2 Red Storm (15-1) and No. 6 Rams are threats to beat anybody with those players on the mound.

“I’ve said since the beginning that every team has that one pitcher that can beat pretty much everybody on a given night, and I think the Heal points have shown that,” said Gorham coach Ed Smith. “There are a lot of tough arms out there that you’re going to have to go through.”

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It’s Marshwood (15-1), though, that has the No. 1 seed. The Hawks snapped Scarborough’s 25-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory in their regular-season finale Monday and have won 13 straight. By virtue of being on the other side of the bracket, they’ll also get the luxury of avoiding a possible matchup against Swenson or Nadeau until the regional final, if they advance that far.

There are also three 12-4 teams — Thornton Academy, Biddeford and Falmouth. No. 3 Thornton has wins against Gorham and Biddeford in the last 10 days. Biddeford and Falmouth, which could meet in the quarterfinals, have staff ERAs of 1.93 and 1.05, respectively.

PVC-KVAC SHOWDOWNS DEFINE B NORTH RACE

An interesting dichotomy in Class B North every year is the mixture of Penobscot Valley Conference and Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference teams. That’s more true than ever this year, with all four quarterfinals featuring a PVC team against a KVAC opponent.

“It really is like having a North and South within the North,” said Lawrence coach Corey Pelletier. “You don’t get a lot of crossover in the regular season with those teams, and it’s an interesting matchup whenever you get somebody you’re playing for the first time that season.”

At 14-2, top-ranked Cony is guaranteed a PVC opponent — either No. 8 Mt. Desert Island (6-10), which ended the Rams’ season in the prelims last year, or No. 9 Caribou (8-8), the defending regional champ. Second-seeded Ellsworth (11-5) from the PVC gets No. 7 Lawrence (8-8) or No. 10 Oceanside (7-9) out of the KVAC.

Two other PVC-KVAC quarterfinals are already set. Sixth-seeded Belfast (11-5) will face No. 3 Old Town (9-7), and No. 4 Nokomis (10-6) will host fifth-seeded Hermon (9-7).

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C SOUTH LOADED WITH RED-HOT TEAMS

With an eight-game winning streak, Maranacook is where it wants to be in early June. Unfortunately for the Black Bears, they’re not alone.

Five of the 10 Class C South playoff teams enter with winning streaks of three games or more. In addition to No. 2 Maranacook (12-4), No. 3 Monmouth Academy (12-4, four-game streak), No. 4 Old Orchard Beach (11-5, five games), No. 5 Madison (11-5, three games) and No. 7 Winthrop (9-7, three games) boast such streaks.

“It’s all tough, competitive teams,” Maranacook coach Eric Brown said. “I don’t think there’s a clear-cut favorite because you have a lot of teams playing well, and there’s a lot of good, quality pitching. It was a challenge every single game (in the regular season), and that’s not going to change now.”

Maranacook could get an appetizing quarterfinal against Winthrop, should the Ramblers defeat No. 10 Dirigo (7-9) in the preliminary round. A quarterfinal battle between No. 1 Mt. Abram (12-4) and reigning state champ Sacopee Valley (8-8), the No. 8 seed, also could also be in the cards.

CLASS D(RIVE)

For much of the state, a high school baseball postseason game usually isn’t a daylong affair. But it is for many of the state’s smallest schools.

In Class D North, Central Aroostook, Southern Aroostook, Wisdom and Schenck will drive a total of 982 miles round-trip for their respective prelim games at Madawaska, Hodgdon, Woodland and Machias. That’s 18 hours and 26 minutes worth of travel time, combined.

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It’s a little better in the Class D South quarterfinals, but not by a lot (716 miles, 15:40). Of the four games, Carrabec has the shortest distance — 132 miles round trip from North Anson to St. Dominic Academy in Auburn. Forest Hills of Jackman, meanwhile, has a 6-hour, 280-mile round trip to face Telstar in Bethel.

Richmond is the No. 1 seed in Class D South at 16-0, and defending state champ St. Dom’s is No. 2 at 10-6. Katahdin owns the top seed in the North at 13-1, while Fort Fairfield and Bangor Christian are close behind at 12-2 and 15-1, respectively.

OTHER MATCHUPS

Class A North, No. 7 Messalonskee at No. 2 Mt. Blue: The Eagles (9-7) are the reigning A North champions and have rebounded from a midseason slide to win three of their last four games. The Cougars (11-5), meanwhile, are seeking their first playoff win since 2015.

Class B South, No. 6 Lake Region at No. 3 York: Should Lake Region (12-4) beat No. 11 Wells (7-9) in the prelims, the Lakers would get this appetizing clash with the Wildcats (12-4). The two teams had a tough battle in their lone regular-season meeting, when York prevailed 6-5 last Tuesday in York.

Class C North, No. 5 Bucksport at No. 4 Narraguagus: The Golden Bucks (10-6) have won three straight C North titles under coach Josh Jackson. To win a fourth, they’ll first have to go through the Knights (13-2), who have posted their winningest season since 1998.

Mike Mandell came to the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel in April 2022 after spending five and a half years with The Ellsworth American in Hancock County, Maine. He came to Maine out of college after...

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