The calendar is flipping from May to June and the means the most anticipated part of the spring sports season, the playoffs, is here.

Tennis and track have already kicked things off and at press time, the baseball, softball and boys’ and girls’ lacrosse campaigns were coming to an end as well.

There’s a lot happening and here’s an overview:

Tennis

Scarborough’s girls’ tennis team, ranked second in Class A South, passed its first playoff test Tuesday, beating No. 7 Sanford, 4-1, in the quarterfinals to improve to 12-1. The Red Storm welcomed No. 3 Kennebunk (12-1) in the semifinals Thursday.

In Class B South, Cape Elizabeth, seeded third, outlasted No. 6 York, 3-2, in its quarterfinal round match Tuesday to improve to 9-4. The Capers were at No. 2 Lincoln Academy (12-1) in the semifinals Thursday.

South Portland, the No. 11 seed in Class A, finished 6-7 after a 5-0 preliminary round loss to No. 6 Gorham.

On the boys’ side, Scarborough, seeded fifth, upset No. 4 Portland, 3-2, in the quarterfinals Tuesday. The Red Storm (9-4) were at top-ranked Falmouth (12-0) in the semifinals Thursday.

South Portland, ranked seventh in Class A South, defeated No. 10 Windham (5-0) in the preliminary round, then lost, 4-1, to Kennebunk in Tuesday’s quarterfinals to wind up 7-7.

In Class B South, Cape Elizabeth, the No. 4 seed, improved to 9-4 Tuesday after blanking No. 5 Erskine Academy, 5-0, in the quarterfinals. The Capers earned a semifinal round date at top-ranked, three-time reigning state champion Yarmouth (13-0) in Thursday’s semifinals.

Looking ahead, the regional final round is scheduled for Monday of next week at Bates College in Lewiston. The state matches will be held Wednesday, June 7, also, in Lewiston.

Track

The Southwestern Maine Activities Association and Western Maine Conference both held their league championship outdoor track meets last week.

At the SMAA meet in Gorham, Scarborough’s girls tallied 116 points and came in first. Emerson Flaker won the 100 (in 12.35 seconds), the 200 (26.02) and the 300 hurdles (45.58). The Red Storm also got first-place performances from Kyleigh Record in the 800 (2 minutes, 24.81 seconds), Laurel Driscoll in the mile (5:12.7), and their 4×100 relay team (49.27).

South Portland (21 points) finished 11th.

In the boys’ competition, won by Bonny Eagle with 98 points, South Portland (68) came in fourth. Josh Lamour was first in the pole vault (12-feet). Arnaud Sioho won the long jump (20-11.75).

Scarborough (58 points) was fifth. Adam Bendetson was first in the two-mile (9:34.88). Nate Murray took the shot put (48-1.25).

In the WMC Division I meet at Naples, Cape Elizabeth’s girls tallied 59 points and came in sixth. York was first with 141. Emma Young placed first in the 800 (2:25.24). Sloan Gardner won the shot put (31-11.5).

Cape Elizabeth’s boys had 19 points and placed seventh. Greely was first with 179.5

The Class A state meet is Saturday in Topsham. Class B will be contested in Freeport.

Baseball

Cape Elizabeth’s baseball team capped a memorable regular season with a 13-3 record (its best since 2010) after victories over visiting York (4-1), host Lake Region (4-1) and visiting Yarmouth (1-0). Against the Wildcats, Curtis Sullivan earned the win and Sam Lombardo had a two-run double. In the victory over the Lakers, Jimmy Hollowell had three hits and drove in the go-ahead run, Jameson Bryant earned the win and Gabe Harmon got the save. Against the Clippers, Bryant got the victory in relief of Sullivan and he squeezed home Andrew Libby to end the game in the bottom of the seventh.

“As soon as I saw the ball on the ground and I saw Andrew take off, I knew he was going to score,” said Bryant. “It’s always exciting to have a walk-off win.”

“We’re resilient,” said Cape Elizabeth first-year coach Donny Dutton. “It’s been that way since day one. Everyone is buying into what we’re trying to do. It felt like a playoff game, 100 percent. (Yarmouth’s) a really good team. We knew that coming in. We just executed a little bit better today.”

The Capers will be the top seed for the Class B South playoffs for the first time in seven years and will begin their postseason run next week.

“Expectations were always high and we set the bar high from the beginning,” Dutton said. “We wanted to be a competitive team from start to finish and now we’re sitting in the number one spot. Homefield goes through us and we’re excited to host whoever wants to come play us. I feel like we’ve worn a bulls-eye all year, so it won’t be new to us. We’ll embrace every challenge.”

In Class A South, South Portland wound up 13-3 and second in the standings following a 2-1 (eight-inning) home loss to Gorham, a 5-3 come-from-behind home win over Scarborough and a 1-0 (10-inning) home victory over Sanford. In the setback, Andrew Heffernan tripled and scored, but was also the hard-luck loser after striking out nine batters in 7.1 innings. Against the Red Storm, the Red Riots scored three times after two were out in the bottom of the sixth. Freshman Hudson Iacuessa had a two-run, tiebreaking single and Nick Swain earned the win in relief.

“I was seeing the fastball and sitting on the curveball,” Iacuessa said, of his decisive hit. “I went the other way. It felt really good to come through in the clutch. It’s been really fun for me this year. The seniors have brought us together and taught me how to be a leader for next year.”

“I think it says a lot about our team,” Swain said. “We trust each other. It’s one big family. We’re one strong brotherhood. We’re all in it together. We’re all fighting. It’s part of the culture here. We fight. Whatever gets the job done.”

“It says a lot about us to pull this out,” added Red Riots coach Mike Owens. “A lot of it came from our senior leadership. Sometimes, (us coaches) get drowned out and they brought each other up in the dugout and I let them do their thing. I heard the confidence. They didn’t stop believing. It’s a group that’s been in a lot of close games and won a lot of big games. I’m proud of our resilience.”

In the win over the Spartans, Iacuessa played the hero again, singling home Nolan Hobbs, who had doubled. Heffernan struck out 13 in 8.1 innings of work and Swain got the victory in relief.

“The top four teams get a bye and that’s always one of our goals,” Owens said. “We always want to play (at home) and any time we don’t have to get on a bus is a good thing. We just need to lengthen our lineup a little bit and get contributions from guys other than our top four. We have experience. We just have to get the bats going against good pitching.”

Scarborough will be the No. 3 seed in Class A South after finishing 11-5. Last week, the Red Storm lost at home to Thornton Academy (3-1), then fell at South Portland (5-3) before bouncing back in Tuesday’s finale, a 15-0 (five-inning) victory at Deering. Against the Golden Trojans, Ashton Blanchette and Zak Sanders both had two hits. In the loss to the Red Riots, Blanchette doubled and singled and Harrison Griffiths had a strong outing, but Scarborough couldn’t hold a sixth inning lead.

“We gave (South Portland) extra outs and when you give extra outs to good teams, they’ll make you pay,” lamented Red Storm coach Wes Ridlon. “We battled well and were in position to win it, but we just couldn’t get it done. We had opportunities and that’s all we can ask for.”

Against Deering, Erik Swenson, Cooper Dean, Sanders and Matt Fallona combined on a no-hitter. Patrick McCue had the big hit on offense, a three-run double.

“I think any team can beat anybody,” said Ridlon. “We’re happy with how our pitching is coming along. We have two or three guys throwing their best all year. We just have to continue to keep the pressure on and come up with big hits.”

The baseball playoffs begin Tuesday of next week with the preliminary round. The quarterfinals are next Thursday. Those games will be contested on the fields of the higher seeds.

Softball

Turning to softball, South Portland/Westbrook projects to be the No. 5 seed in Class A South after a 12-4 campaign. The squad closed last week with a 4-3 home win over Marshwood and an 11-10 loss at Gorham. In the victory, Delaney Whitten drove in two runs and Ella Nickerson’s second hit, a single in the seventh inning, produced the winning run. Against the Rams, Nickerson had three hits and Whitten doubled and tripled, but South Portland/Westbrook couldn’t hold leads of 6-0 in the fourth inning and 10-7 going to the bottom of the seventh.

Scarborough finished 10-6 following a 16-3 (five-inning) victory at Massabesic and a pair of home losses to Kennebunk/Sanford, 4-0 and 6-2. In the win, Jamie Kemper and Angelina Pizzella each homered, Pizzella had five RBI and Kemper scored four runs and had four hits. In the first loss to Kennebunk/Sanford, the Red Storm had nine hits, as Kemper led the way with three, but they left 12 runners on base.

“I’m happy with the way we played,” said Scarborough first-year coach Liz Winslow. “We knocked on the door and we knocked on it loud. We walk out of here a confident team. They just got key hits early and we couldn’t get runs across.”

In the teams’ second meeting, Meghan Robinson had two hits, but it wasn’t enough. The Red Storm will likely be the No. 6 seed for the Class A South playoffs.

“We’re young and we have kids playing in positions they’ve never played before, so getting 10 wins in a league like this is a heck of a season for a really young team,” Winslow said. “I’m proud of these guys no matter where we end up. No one will want to see us down the line.”

In Class B South, Cape Elizabeth was hoping to make the tournament after finishing 7-9 with losses at home to York (18-0, in five-innings), at Lake Region (14-1, in six-innings) and at home to Yarmouth (12-4) to cap the campaign. The Capers were no-hit by the Wildcats. In the loss to the Clippers, Elsie Maxwell had three hits and Phoebe Caton had two hits and two RBI. The Capers were ranked 12th at press time, but only 11 teams make the postseason.

The softball playoffs begin Tuesday of next week with the preliminary round. The quarterfinals are next Thursday. Those games will be contested on the fields of the higher seeds.

Boys’ lacrosse

Cape Elizabeth’s boys’ lacrosse team, the two-time reigning Class A champions, improved to 13-0 last week after an 8-4 win at South Portland. The Capers, playing without standout Keegan Lathrop, managed to lead most of the way, getting three goals from Connor Goss and two apiece from Nick Laughlin and Bobby Offit.

“The last couple days in practice, we had to come up with some stuff to get looks without Keegan,” said Goss.

“We came into the season and we realized we’d only win if we played as a team,” senior Andrew Trachimowicz said. “We’ve been working hard every single day. We know we’ve got each other’s backs and it’s been smooth sailing. We’ve had a blast all season.”

“This is definitely the toughest schedule that anybody has had in years,” added longtime Capers coach Ben Raymond. “We might have 300 Heal Points and that says a lot. Every game has been a good game. That will be beneficial for us going into playoffs.”

Cape Elizabeth, riding a 19-game win streak, closed at home versus Greely Wednesday, then will be the top seed in Class A for the playoffs yet again.

“We still have some things we haven’t shown in games,” said Raymond. “Our offense is still developing and improving. I imagine we’ll be better when the playoffs come around. We’d rather play at home. We enjoy playing at home.”

South Portland will be the No. 3 seed in Class A. The Red Riots fell to 9-3 with an 8-4 home loss to Cape Elizabeth last Friday. Beckett Mehlhorn and Lucas Mehlhorn both scored twice and goalie Ben Kieu made 11 saves, but 22 turnovers were too much to overcome.

“Cape did a really good job of pressuring us in transition,” South Portland coach Dan Hanley said. “They’re a good team and that’s what good teams do. Right when we came over the midfield line, they swarmed and we didn’t handle the pressure well today. We lost our composure and we’ll learn from it.”

The Red Riots were at Kennebunk Wednesday and close at Bonny Eagle Friday.

“I think the standings will probably stay where they are,” said Hanley. “Having an open tournament for the state will create some great matchups.”

Scarborough was 5-8 after a 20-8 home win over Massabesic Saturday. The Red Storm got goals from 16 different players in the victory. Olin Pedersen had two goals and two assists and Andrew Arpin, Nick Gondolfo and Richard McLeod also scored twice. Scarborough (11th in Class A, where 12 teams qualify) closed at Falmouth Wednesday.

The boys’ lacrosse playoffs begin next week on the fields of the higher seeds.

Girls’ lacrosse

On the girls’ side, Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough were still in the hunt for playoff spots at press time.

The Red Storm were 3-10 and 13th in Class A following an 11-6 home loss to Biddeford and an 11-10 setback at Massabesic. Grace Carlista, Grace Durgin and Molly Henderson all had two goals against the Tigers. The Red Storm closed at Freeport Thursday (see our website for game story).

The Capers fell to 4-9 and 14th in Class A after losses at York (13-12), at home to Yarmouth (16-6) and at Freeport (12-4). Phoebe Altenburg and Campbell DeGeorge both had two goals in the loss to the Falcons. Cape Elizabeth hoped to snap a five-game skid in its finale Thursday at home versus Thornton Academy.

South Portland was 3-10 and 20th in Class A (where only 16 teams qualify) after an 18-3 home loss to Windham and a 13-3 win at Deering last week. Rain Jordan scored twice in the loss to the Eagles. The Red Riots closed at Noble Wednesday.

The girls’ lacrosse playoffs begin next week on the fields of the higher seeds.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.

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