STANDISH – No two baseball games are alike. That’s the beauty of the game.
What happened in the Western Class B final Thursday night between No. 2 Falmouth and No. 9 Cape Elizabeth added another chapter to their rivalry and the vagaries of the game.
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Left-hander Sam Kozlowski of Cape Elizabeth threw a no-hitter, but his team won’t be going on to the state championship game. Falmouth scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the eighth inning to earn a 1-0 victory and capture its first regional title in 16 years.
Connor Murphy led off the bottom of the eighth by drawing a walk from Kozlowski. Addison Foltmer dropped down a sacrifice bunt, and a passed ball moved Murphy to third.
After a strikeout for the second out, another passed ball sent Murphy home with the winning run.
“I just saw the ball get by and I took off,” said Murphy.
Falmouth will play Foxcroft Academy for the state title at 11 a.m. Saturday in Bangor.
Kozlowski walked five and struck out seven.
“He had his curveball working and he was hitting his spots,” said Murphy. “You have to tip your hat to him.”
Nick Spencer of Falmouth was nearly as good. He spaced out four hits in pitching a shutout.
“It was a heck of a game by both pitchers,” said Falmouth Coach Kevin Winship. “We hit the ball hard. Cape made some great plays on defense. We couldn’t get the hit, but we got the win. We’ll take a win over a hit any day.”
Second baseman Matty Pierce preserved Kozlowski’s no-hitter with a diving catch for the first out in the seventh. Third baseman Chris Robicheaw stabbed a high-hop grounder that was headed for left field in the fifth and threw out the batter.
Kozlowski was magnanimous in defeat.
“I’m not too mad,” he said. “We played well. We had our chances. We just didn’t get it done.
“My two-seam fastball was working well and the umpire was giving me the strike. I was moving the ball around. I fed off the energy from our crowd.”
Asked to describe the pitch that resulted in the winning run, Kozlowski said: “It was a fastball inside that caught the inside of the mitt. It was a tough pitch to handle. It happens.
“We had a good run. No one expected us to go this far.”
Cape Elizabeth (11-9) won three road games to reach the regional final, beat No. 8 Freeport, No. 1 Greely and No. 4 Yarmouth.
Kozlowski nearly gave the Capers a 1-0 lead in the top of the seventh. With a runner on second, he hit a ball down the left-field line to the fence that was foul by a foot.
Kozlowski was stranded at third in the third inning.
The Yachtsmen (16-3) also got a runner to third in the third inning after Kozlowski walked the first two batters, but a 6-4-3 double play bailed him out.
“We played great defensively, making only one error,” said Winship. “Both teams had their chances to score.”
Falmouth beat Cape twice during the regular season, 10-5 and 4-2. The Yachtsmen got 10 hits off Kozlowski in the first game back in April.
“Baseball is a crazy game,” said Winship.
Staff Writer Tom Chard can be contacted at 791-6419 or at:
tchard@pressherald.com
Twitter: TomChardPPH
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