CUMBERLAND — Once Ryan Twitchell of Greely struck out three straight Yarmouth batters to start Thursday’s Class B South quarterfinal baseball game, he knew he was ready for his part in an expected pitchers’ duel.

“If I can stay strong through the whole first inning, then I feel like I can get through the whole game staying strong,” Twitchell said.

Twitchell had strong stuff indeed, throwing hard, mixing in just enough off-speed pitches to keep Yarmouth unsettled and hitting his spots, striking out 10 and allowing only three hits in a 2-0 victory.

“That’s some of the best stuff that any pitcher has had in any game in my 17 years (at Greely),” Coach Derek Soule said.

Which is saying something, especially since the two-time defending Class B champs have dominated with power playoff pitching the last two seasons – including Twitchell’s five-inning no-hitter in last year’s 10-0 title-game victory.

“There’s been a lot of good ones but he had great velocity and he was hitting corners, inside and outside,” Soule said.

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Third-seeded Greely (12-4-1) will be home for Saturday’s regional final against seventh-ranked Freeport, which upset No. 2 York. Freeport beat Greely 3-1 earlier this season but Greely has won five straight since then.

Yarmouth (11-6-1) and Greely met in the same round with the same seeds in 2015, with Greely winning in nine innings. Earlier this season they played to a 4-4 tie in nine innings, when the game was called due to darkness after Yarmouth scored three runs in the top of the 10th.

In both of those games, Luke Klenda pitched well for Yarmouth, and he did again Thursday. Klenda allowed four hits – three by leadoff batter Justin Leeman – and walked one.

“It’s just tough,” Klenda said. “I pitched as well as I could and … I mean, it sure would have been nice to beat them but Twitchell pitched a great game. He had good stuff, kept us off balance, and it’s always a great rivalry playing them.”

Greely scored once in the third. Luke Miller dumped a one-out single to right, went to third on a ringing single to the gap by Leeman, then scored on a grounder by Caleb Normandeau that first baseman Conor O’Donnell bobbled once, negating the chance for a play at the plate.

Leeman scored the second run in the sixth. He led off with a single and went to second on a throwing error by catcher Jack Snyder. Klenda struck out Normandeau. Cal Soule hit an 0-2 grounder that went through shortstop Chris Romano’s legs. Running on contact, Leeman scored easily.

“We knew going into this game it was going to be a pitcher’s duel and one or two plays could make or break the game, and everybody had to be sharp,” Leeman said.

Several minutes after the game, Yarmouth Coach Marc Halsted shared the last of many hugs with his players, including 10 seniors.

“These 10 seniors have the potential to be great human beings and that’s the number one reason why we’re involved in high school sports,” Halsted said. “I’d love to have won. Winning would be great. But if we win and don’t make an impact, we fail, so I love this.”


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