WINDHAM — Brady Afthim and Cam Joyce combined on a no-hitter with 15 strikeouts and no walks, coming within one out of a perfect game as 16th-seeded Windham opened the Class A South baseball playoffs with a 3-0 win Saturday against No. 17 Westbrook.
Afthim struck out 14 in 5 2/3 innings before Joyce got the final four outs. Westbrook’s only two base runners were on back-to-back errors with two outs in the seventh inning. Center fielder Nate Plummer made a diving catch to end the game.
Westbrook pitchers Caden Dow and Seamus Dillon allowed just three hits, but Windham (4-12) got all its runs in the third inning without a hit. A hit batter and three walks resulted in the first run, and two more scored on passed balls.
Windham advances to face top-ranked Thornton Academy.
PORTLAND 11, DEERING 3: Nick Becker had three hits and two runs scored, Grant Crosby had three hits and three RBI, Bennett Berg drove in three runs and Danny Tocci went the distance as No. 15 Portland broke open a close game with a seven-run fifth inning and went on to beat No. 18 Deering in a Class A South play-in game at Hadlock Field.
Portland will visit second-ranked Scarborough on Tuesday.
The Bulldogs (5-11) grabbed a quick 2-0 lead on Crosby’s two-run triple off Rams starter Avery Lawrence in the bottom of the first, but Deering (2-13) roared back in the top of the fourth, getting an RBI double from Conner Coleman and a two-run single from Ethan Berkowitz.
Portland retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth, as Becker scored on a fielder’s choice, then Berg hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Colby Winship.
Portland added to the lead in the fifth. James Gignac hit an RBI single, another run scored on an error and Reegan Buck reached on a bunt to score another. Berg then launched a two-run triple, Andrew Brewer had an RBI single and Crosby added an RBI single.
Tocci allowed four hits, walked two and struck out six.
BOYS’ LACROSSE
NOBLE 18, SANFORD 7: Jake Costello tallied six goals and an assist, Eli Chilicki finished with five goals and four assists, and the seventh-seeded Knights (7-6) earned the program’s first-ever postseason victory by defeating the 10th-seeded Spartans (2-11) in the opening round of the Class A South tournament in North Berwick.
Jack Cesario added three goals and an assist for Noble, which advances to play No. 2 Cape Elizabeth on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.
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