Falmouth pitcher Garrett Tracy shows his form during the Yachtsmen’s 7-4, eight-inning home loss to Portland Saturday.

Yarmouth senior Joe Truesdale goes one-on-one with NYA junior goalie Will Tatge during the Clippers’ 14-2 win last week.

Greely junior Sarah Traister races in for a shot during the Rangers’ 8-7 home win over Gorham Saturday.

Freeport’s Catriona Gould, left, and Tara Migliaccio compete in the girls’ 100 meter dash at last week’s meet in Yarmouth. Gould was first and Migliaccio second as the Falcons placed first as a team.

(Ed. Note: For the complete Falmouth-Portland and Freeport-Cape Elizabeth baseball, Falmouth-Cape Elizabeth, NYA-Yarmouth and Yarmouth-South Portland boys’ lacrosse and Greely-Gorham, NYA-Yarmouth and Yarmouth-Kennebunk girls’ lacrosse game stories, with box scores and photos, see theforecaster.net)

The days are getting longer, the weather is getting nicer and the spring sports action has been can’t-miss in recent days.

There have been some compelling contests and history made as well and here’s a look back at what you might have missed, as well as a glimpse at what’s to come:

Baseball

It’s been one step forward, one step back for local baseball teams so far.

Defending Class B champion Yarmouth was 3-2 at press time after sandwiching losses at Greely (13-2, in five-innings) and Wells (7-3) around a 13-2 (five-inning) home win over Poland. Jack Romano had two hits against the Rangers. Jackson Caruso had two hits and three RBI in the victory. Against the Warriors, Jason Lainey had two hits. The Clippers hosted Cape Elizabeth in a playoff rematch Wednesday (see theforecaster.net for game story), go to Lake Region Friday and welcome St. Dom’s Saturday and Greely Monday.

Freeport enjoyed a 6-2 win at Greely last Wednesday, then lost at home to Cape Elizabeth Friday (8-2) and at York Saturday (5-4) before winning at Cape Elizabeth Monday (3-0) to improve to 5-3 at the midway point. Heath Cockburn earned the victory against the Rangers, while Colby Wagner had a pair of hits. Finn Johnston hit an RBI double in the loss to the Capers. Wagner hit a home to forge a tie at the Wildcats, but the Falcons lost in the bottom of the seventh. Cockburn and Wagner each had two hits while Shea Wagner finished with two RBI. Cockburn then played the hero in the win at the Capers, throwing five perfect innings before settling for a one-hitter. Colby Wagner had an RBI double and Eriksen Shea hit a key sacrifice fly.

“I felt great all game,” Cockburn said. “My curveball wasn’t on 100 percent during warmups, but it got better in the game. It’s the best game I’ve ever pitched.”

“That was exceptional,” Freeport coach Bill Ridge said. “That’s two starts in a row he’s done that for us. As the moments get bigger, he gets into it a little bit more.”

The Falcons were home with Old Orchard Beach Wednesday, go to Lincoln Academy Friday and play host to Yarmouth Wednesday of next week.

Greely was also 5-3 at press time, following wins over visiting Yarmouth (13-2, in five-innings), visiting Lake Region (8-7) and host Fryeburg Academy (5-2) and a home loss to Freeport (6-2). In the win over the Clippers, Connor Sullivan earned the victory while Nick Butler had two hits and drove in two runs, A.J. Eisenhart had three RBI and Luke Miller added two hits, two RBI and scored twice. In the loss, Butler and Jack Libby each had two hits and an RBI. The Rangers erased a 7-1 deficit against the Lakers and prevailed behind Eben Kiesow’s game-winning RBI, his third hit of the game. Miller had four hits and Eisenhart added three. Monday, against the Raiders, Sullivan improved to 3-0 and Jacob Whiting hit a bases loaded double and drove in four. Greely was at Poland Wednesday, visits Oxford Hills Friday and plays at Yarmouth Monday.

Two-time defending Class A South champion Falmouth began the week 3-3 after a 3-1 win at Cheverus and losses at Gorham (15-5, in five-innings) and at home to Portland (7-4, in eight-innings). In the win, Garrett Tracy went the distance to earn the victory and Griffin Aube had an RBI double. Aube had a pair of hits in the loss to the Rams. Against the Bulldogs, in a playoff rematch, the Yachtsmen erased an early 3-0 deficit, thanks in part to a home run from Garret Aube, but they lost in extra innings. 

“What we’re trying to do is learn from our mistakes,” said Falmouth coach Kevin Winship. “Right now doesn’t matter, what matters is June. I think we’ll be OK.”

The Yachtsmen were at Thornton Academy Tuesday, host Marshwood Thursday, go to Scarborough Saturday and welcome Kennebunk Tuesday of next week.

In Class D South, North Yarmouth Academy won its opener, then lost at Old Orchard Beach (16-6, in five-innings), at home to Waynflete (10-7) and at home to St. Dom’s (11-0) to fall to 1-3. Anders Jonsson had a pair of hits in the loss to the Seagulls. The Panthers were home against Richmond Wednesday, welcome Sacopee Valley Saturday and go to Traip Academy Tuesday of next week.

Softball

Freeport’s softball team got in the win column for the first time last week. The Falcons lost their first five games, capped by setbacks at Greely (12-0, in five-innings) and at home to Cape Elizabeth (6-1, in eight-innings), then eked out a 7-6 triumph at York Saturday to right the ship.

“We have played some tough teams and been with them,” said Freeport coach Jason Daniel. “The girls are motivated because it was a big win for us to make the girls feel good about themselves.”

Monday, the Falcons fell to 1-6 after an 11-0 loss at Cape Elizabeth. Freeport was home with Old Orchard Beach Wednesday, visits Lincoln Academy Friday and welcomes Traip Academy Monday and Yarmouth Wednesday of next week.

Yarmouth took a 1-3 record into Tuesday’s home game against York. Last week, the Clippers sandwiched losses at Poland (6-0) and Wells (7-6, in 11-innings) around a 7-3 home victory over Poland. In the win, Cate Ralph homered and drove in three runs, Tasha Powers hit a pair of doubles and Ceanne Lyon earned the victory. Against the Warriors, Yarmouth let leads of 4-2 in the seventh, 5-4 in the 10th and 6-5 in the 11th slip away. Sophie McGrath had a pair of hits in the setback. The Clippers were home with Cape Elizabeth Wednesday, go to Lake Region Friday, host St. Dom’s Saturday and Greely Monday, then go to Freeport Wednesday of next week.

Greely enjoyed home wins last week over Freeport (12-0, in five-innings) and Lake Region (8-5), then fell to 5-3 Monday with a 3-2, 10-inning setback at Fryeburg Academy. Against the Falcons, Kelsey Currier threw a one-hitter and had a pair of doubles, while Hannah Johnston had three hits. In the win over the Lakers, Madison Rawnsley hit two home runs. Delia Knox had two hits and two RBI and Currier added a pair of hits against the Raiders. Greely was at Poland Wednesday, goes to Oxford Hills Friday and Yarmouth Monday, then hosts Sacopee Valley Wednesday of next week. 

The Cheverus/North Yarmouth Academy co-op team snapped a three-year, 46-game losing streak last Friday, getting in the win column for the first time since May 11, 2015, 11-10 over visiting Bonny Eagle. Earlier in the week, Cheverus/NYA lost at home to Windham (17-4, in five-innings), at home to Thornton Academy (16-3, in five-innings) and at Biddeford (10-4). Monday, Cheverus/NYA beat visiting MGA/Falmouth, 7-5, to improve to 2-6. Cheverus/NYA visited Deering Wednesday, hosts Kennebunk Friday and goes to Gorham Monday of next week.

The Maine Girls’ Academy/Falmouth co-op team fell to 1-7 after losing at home to Thornton Academy (11-0), at Westbrook (7-1) and Biddeford (7-6) and at home to Cheverus/NYA (7-5). Liberty Ladd had two hits against the Blue Blazes. The Sea Lions let a 6-3 lead slip away against the Tigers, but Ladd had three hits. MGA/Falmouth hosted Bonny Eagle Wednesday, welcomes Windham Thursday and plays host to Deering Monday of next week.

Boys’ lacrosse

Falmouth and Yarmouth’s boys’ lacrosse teams were both unbeaten at press time.

The Yachtsmen improved to 5-0 after winning at Cheverus (16-6) and at home over Cape Elizabeth in a playoff rematch (14-8) last week. Lou Mainella scored four goals, while Henry Farnham, Reilly Tucker and Kristian Valle had two apiece against the Stags. Falmouth then fell behind, 4-0, early against the Capers and were down, 5-3, at halftime, but the Yachtsmen scored seven straight goals in one stretch and pulled away to prevail behind five goals from Farnham and three from Tommy Fitzgerald. 

“This was good for us,” Farnham said. “It’s a great feeling to beat them. We came out flying after halftime.”

“We’ve preached that this was the game where we’d find out how mentally tough we are,” said Yachtsmen coach Dave Barton. “We hadn’t faced a lot of adversity. We buckled down when we had to.” 

Falmouth had another key home test Wednesday versus South Portland. The Yachtsmen are at Yarmouth Friday and visit Deering Wednesday of next week.

Yarmouth, meanwhile, enjoyed home victories over NYA (14-2) and undefeated South Portland (8-7) last week to improve to 5-0. Against the Panthers, Anders Corey scored seven goals.

“We were forcing it at the beginning, then we slowed it down and got in our offense and did our rotation like we practice,” Corey said.

“We got off to a little bit of a slow start, but the boys sensed how important a rivalry this was and they dug in,” said Yarmouth coach David Pearl. 

In the win over the Red Riots, Gavin Hamm and Joe Truesdale had two goals apiece and Eric Loomis put the punctuation mark on a great defensive effort by forcing a clinching turnover.

“It was a stroke of luck there,” Loomis said. “I tracked the ball and was able to pick it off. It felt good to run out the clock.”

“They gave us a battle, a close game all the way to the end, but our defense is good.,” Truesdale said. “They helped us win.”

“We have big games ahead of us and we’ll get back to work,” Pearl added. “I think the sky is the limit for this team.”

Yarmouth went to York Tuesday, hosts Falmouth Friday, visits Kennebunk in a makeup game Monday and welcomes Lake Region Tuesday of next week.

Greely improved to 3-1 after downing visiting York (17-6) and host Cony (15-2). Andrew Lawrence scored five goals, Ben Kennedy added four and and Tim Coyle wound up with three against the Wildcats. The Rangers were at Cape Elizabeth Tuesday, visit defending Class A champion Brunswick Friday and welcomes Messalonskee Monday and NYA Wednesday of next week.

NYA lost for the first time, 14-2, at Yarmouth, then improved to 4-1 after an 8-2 victory at Camden Hills. Ryan Baker and Connor Clock scored against the Clippers.

We just couldn’t get anything going early,” lamented NYA coach Glenn Gorden. “ They finished their looks and we didn’t.”

The Panthers hosted Waynflete Wednesday, welcome Mt. Ararat Friday and go to Greely Wednesday of next week.

Freeport fell to 0-6 after losses last week at Cape Elizabeth (13-1) and at home to Waynflete (15-7) and Morse (15-12). Nate Thomas had three goals against the Flyers. Kaleb Barrett scored four times and Thomas added three in the loss to the Shipbuilders. The Falcons were at Wells Wednesday and go to Camden Hills Friday.

Girls’ lacrosse

On the girls’ side, Greely is surging. The Rangers improved to 4-1 last week after beating visiting Waynflete (7-5) and Gorham (8-7). Greely beat Waynflete for the second straight time, something which last happened in 2004, thanks to three goals from Brooke Clement. In a back-and-forth battle with the Rams, the Rangers went 22 minutes without a goal, but took the lead on a goal from Courtney Sullivan, then ran out the clock to prevail. Elsa Dean-Muncie had three goals. 

“We were having a tough time possessing the ball and it was hard to have a consistent lead when we couldn’t control it,” said Sullivan. “We had to settle down.”

“It was very close the whole time, back-and-forth,” said Rangers coach Becca Koelker. “It’s an incredible group of girls. They’re very close on and off the field.”

Greely was home with York Tuesday, then is off until next Wednesday when it goes to Freeport.

Yarmouth dominated visiting NYA, 13-1, last Tuesday, then lost at home to Kennebunk Thursday, 12-5, in a state final rematch. In the victory, Greta Elder scored four first half goals and Eva Then added three as the Clippers had a 12-1 lead after 25 minutes.

“We know we have a lot of skill as a team,” Elder said. “It was nice to get so many girls on the field.”

“We tend sometimes to start off slow and today we wanted to start off strong,” said Clippers coach Dorothy Holt.

Yarmouth hoped to avenge last year’s agonizing state final loss when the Rams paid a visit, but the Clippers fell behind, 9-1, at halftime and couldn’t catch up. Ehryn Groothoff paced the offense with two goals.

“The girls were so excited for this game and I think it backfired,” said Clippers coach Dorothy Holt. “Anticipation and nerves can get the best of you and you saw that in the first half.”

Yarmouth (3-2) went to Cape Elizabeth Wednesday and visits St. Dom’s Wednesday of next week.

Falmouth won at Marshwood (10-6) and at home over Windham (13-3) last week, then fell to 4-2 Monday after a 11-9 loss at defending Class A champion Massabesic. Caitlyn Camelio scored three times in the win over the Hawks and Kayla Sarazin added two goals. Camelio scored four goals and Christina Oakes finished with three against the Eagles. Camelio scored five more times in the loss to the Mustangs. The Yachtsmen went to Scarborough Wednesday (see theforecaster.net for game story), play at Lewiston Friday and host Cheverus Wednesday of next week.

Freeport dropped to 2-2 on the year after an 11-7 loss at York last Wednesday. Taylor Rinaldi had three goals. The Falcons were at NYA Tuesday, host Oceanside Friday and welcome Greely Wednesday of next week.

NYA dropped a 13-1 decision at Yarmouth last Tuesday, then improved to 2-3 Saturday after a 19-8 home win over Camden Hills. Maggie Larson scored the lone goal in the loss.

“We’ll learn from this and figure out more things to work on in practice,” Panthers coach Molly Climo said. “We’re learning together. We want to make the playoffs.”

Lincoln Hamblett and Bella MacMahon both scored six times in the win over the Windjammers. NYA was home with Freeport Tuesday, goes to Maine Girls’ Academy Friday and is at York Tuesday of next week.

Outdoor track

Yarmouth hosted a six-team outdoor track meet Friday, which included Freeport and NYA.

The Falcons girls placed first, while the Panthers came in third and the Clippers finished fifth. Freeport got wins from Catriona Gould in the 100 (13.60 seconds) and 200 (28.34), Johanna Bogue-Marlow in the 400 (1 minute, 6.31 seconds), Lily Horne in the mile (5:25.82) and two-mile (11:45.14) and Shaina Curry in the high jump (4 feet-6 inches), NYA winners included Olivia Skillings in the 800 (2:31.01) and Ellie Hilscher in the racewalk (10:50.10). Yarmouth’s Kelcie McGonagle was first in the pole vault (8-6). Caitlen Hewitt took the javelin (86-11.25). 

In the boys’ meet, won by Cape Elizabeth, Freeport was runner-up, Yarmouth third and NYA fourth. The Falcons got first-place finishes from Joe Ashby in the 800 (2:10.19), Martin Horne in the two-mile (10:08.85), Griffin Agnese in the 300 hurdles (44.8) and their 4×400 relay team (3:50.17). The Clippers got wins from Tahj Garvey in the 400 (51.73), Luke Laverdiere in the mile (4:23.27), Wyatt Bates in the long jump (18-2.5), Noah Eckersley-Ray in the javelin (132-7) and Chris Koskinen in the pole vault (11-0). NYA’s Jack Lent won the 110 hurdles (19.31).

Falmouth hosted Biddeford, Massabesic, Portland and South Portland last Tuesday. The boys and girls were both first.

The girls got wins from Sophie Marcotte in the 100 (12.96) and 200 (27.02), Malaika Pasch in the 800 (2:19.84), Karley Piers in the two-mile (11:42.95), Emma Harrington in the discus (112-3) and their 4×100 (52.62) and 4×800 (11:48.34) relay teams.

The boys’ team got first-place showings from John Auer in the mile (4:25.54), Douglas Cooke in the 400 (53.46), Alvaro Fuentes in the 200 (23.37), Connor Piers in the two-mile (10:18.10), and their 4×100 (46.20) and 4×400 (3:34.14) relay teams.

Falmouth’s girls were then third at a four-team meet at Scarborough Monday. Winners included Pasch in the 800 (2:31.20) and mile (5:19.07), Piers in the two-mile (11:55.37), Harrington in the discus (99-5) and 4×100 relay team (53.88).

Results from Greely’s meet at Sacopee Valley Monday weren’t available at press time.

Tennis

Freeport’s boys’ tennis team made history Friday, beating Cape Elizabeth for the first time, 5-0.

“They’ve been the best in Class B for so many years, so obviously beating them shows our team that we have a chance to compete at the highest level,” said Freeport coach Jay Harper. “Having never beat them in tennis for all these years adds to the excitement and gives us a lot of confidence moving forward.”

Freeport’s only loss to date was a 3-2 decision to 10-time defending Class C champion Waynflete. Monday, the Falcons improved to 5-1 after downing Yarmouth, 4-1. Freeport got another shot at Waynflete Wednesday at home.

The Freeport girls lost last week to defending Class C champion Waynflete (4-1) and Cape Elizabeth (5-0) and Monday, lost to Yarmouth (5-0) to drop to 1-5. The Falcons host Yarmouth Friday.

Falmouth’s girls’ squad, the 10-time defending state champion, improved to 6-0 and extended its match win streak to 163 by downing Biddeford (5-0), Thornton Academy (4-1) and Maine Girls’ Academy (5-0). The Yachtsmen went to Windham Wednesday and host Gorham Monday.

Falmouth’s boys beat Scarborough, Biddeford and Thornton Academy by 5-0 scores last week to improve to 5-0. After playing at Bonny Eagle Tuesday and hosting Windham Wednesday, the Yachtsmen go to Sanford Friday and Gorham Monday.

Greely’s girls’ team, the defending Class B champion, improved to 6-0 after wins over Yarmouth (4-1), Waynflete (5-0), St. Dom’s (5-0) and York (4-1). The Rangers went to Cape Elizabeth Wednesday in their biggest test to date. Monday brings a visit from Waynflete.

Greely’s boys fell to 1-5 after losses to Yarmouth (5-0), St. Dom’s (3-2) and York (5-0). The Rangers hosted Cape Elizabeth Wednesday and play at Waynflete Monday.

NYA’s boys dropped to 0-5 after setbacks to St. Dom’s (4-1), Freeport (5-0) and St. Dom’s (4-1). The Panthers are at Waynflete Thursday.

NYA’s girls dropped to 1-3 after losing to Lake Region (5-0) and St. Dom’s (4-1). The Panthers hosted Yarmouth Tuesday and welcome Waynflete Thursday.

Yarmouth’s boys beat Greely (5-0), lost to Waynflete (5-0), then Monday lost to Freeport (4-1) to drop to 2-3. 

Yarmouth’s girls lost to Greely (4-1) and Waynflete (3-2), then improved to 1-3 Monday with a 5-0 win over Freeport.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports