Don’t blink, you’ll miss a lot.

The short and sweet spring sports season is underway and as April gives way to May, one thing that has become evident is that Scarborough athletes and teams figure to be in the hunt for June glory.

Familiar faces are up to their old tricks and some newcomers are stealing the show as well and that’s all added up to an abundance of drama in the early going.

Let’s take a look back and a glimpse ahead:

Boys’ lacrosse

Scarborough’s boys’ lacrosse team earned a huge victory last Friday at South Portland, turning its season around.

The Red Storm dropped their first three games this spring, 8-6 to visiting Windham, 12-3 at Cape Elizabeth and 12-4 to visiting Falmouth before getting in the win column at Cheverus (12-3).

“Cape and Falmouth are really good teams, but we were upset about Windham,” senior goalie Ben Kerbel said. “We should have won that one, but we couldn’t finish.”

“I don’t think we had any confidence to keep up at that point (after losing the first three games),” Red Storm coach Zach Barrett said. “It was pretty low and we knew we had a lot of work to do. We committed ourselves this week to working on some stuff.”

Scarborough then made a statement against its neighbor and rival, winning a down-to-the-wire thriller.

The teams traded goals in a first period which ended with the Red Storm on top, 3-2, thanks in part to a couple goals from Wes Merrill. South Portland then scored the only three goals of the second quarter to lead, 5-3, at the half.

The back-and-forth continued in the third period, as Merrill, Nick Harmon (remember that name) and Olin Pedersen scored in succession to put the Red Storm back in front, but in a 55-second span late in the frame, the Red Riots had a three-goal surge of their own and took an 8-6 advantage to the final stanza.

There, Scarborough senior goalie Ben Kerbel stood tall and didn’t allow another goal and after Drew Witas struck to cut the deficit to one, Pedersen tied the score midway through the fourth.

Then, with 4:27 on the clock, Harmon, thanks to a fortuitous bounce, scored to give Scarborough the lead.

“I just saw Wes and he kind of looked over, then it bounced off his stick, I caught it, I just took the shot and it went in,” Harmon said.

Three Kerbel saves later, the Red Storm were able to close out a palpitating 9-8 victory.

“This was huge,” said Kerbel. “We really needed some wins. Getting one in a game like this will boost us going forward. We played great in the fourth quarter and did our job. That was nervewracking at the end. I trusted my defense and they got some good sticks in there. They got some shots, but not good ones and we got out of here unscathed. This feels awesome.”

“This means a lot,” Harmon said. “They’re a big rival. It feels good to beat them. We fought hard. We went down, went back up, went down again. It was pretty nervewracking at the end, but I trusted the defense and we pulled it off. It feels good to get this one. We just trusted each other and stayed with the process and got what we wanted.”

Merrill and Pedersen both scored three goals, Harmon finished twice and Kerbel made 17 saves, many from point blank range.

“It was just a good night,” Kerbel said. “Sometimes I just don’t know, but whatever it was was working. I was making saves. I got lucky with the pipe a couple times.”

“Ben did a great job making saves and keeping us in the game,” Harmon said.

“Those were point-blank shots and big-time timing,” added Barrett. “If they’d scored, it might not have ended the same way. Ben just played an outstanding game. He’s a big part of who we are. He runs the clear. You can’t put a price on that. He was the biggest reason we won this one.”

Scarborough hoped to climb to the .500 mark Tuesday when it hosted rival Thornton Academy, then it goes to Oak Hill Friday and visits Portland Monday of next week.

“This gives us a lot of confidence,” Harmon said. “We’re heading in the right direction. We’re on a roll going into the next game, but it doesn’t get any easier.”

“This is what we needed,” Kerbel said. “It gives us confidence and grit. We’re looking forward to our big game against TA Tuesday.”

“We still have a lot of work to do, but everyone’s bought in,” Barrett added. “We’ll keep plugging along and trying to get better. We hope to keep the train rolling.”

Girls’ lacrosse

On the girls’ side, Scarborough started with a dramatic 11-10 triple-overtime win at Portland, then lost at home to reigning Class C champion Freeport (8-6) and powerhouse Falmouth (15-3) before downing host South Portland (14-3) and losing at home to Marshwood (7-5) to fall to 2-3. Against the Red Riots, Fiona Betters and Hope Melevsky both scored three goals and Emilia Bukarac added a pair. The Red Storm played at Waynflete Tuesday, go to Gorham Friday and return home Tuesday of next week to meet Thornton Academy.

Softball

On the diamond, Scarborough’s softball team began the season with mercy rule wins over visiting Noble (17-0, in three-innings) and Thornton Academy (15-5, in five-innings), then was no-hit and blanked at Cheverus, 6-0, the Red Storm’s first loss to the Stags since 2010. After a 9-7 setback at Bonny Eagle, Scarborough improved to 4-2 by defeating visiting Biddeford (14-3, in six-innings) and host Deering (10-0, in five-innings). Jamie Kemper hit a home run in the loss to the Scots. In the win over the Tigers, Gabby Pelletier earned the victory and had a pair of hits. Laine Niles had four hits, Taylor Swalla added three and Alana Sawyer hit a home run. Against the Rams, Pelletier threw a no-hitter, Sawyer had three hits, Niles, Samantha Cote and Meghan Robinson all added a pair of hits and Sophia Nelson homered. The Red Storm hosted Falmouth Wednesday, go to Gorham Friday, welcome Massabesic Monday and visit Portland Wednesday of next week.

Baseball

Scarborough’s baseball team was 4-0 at press time, opening with a 12-1 (five-inning) victory at Noble, then defeating visiting Massabesic (4-3), host Thornton Academy (9-3) and visiting Sanford (3-0). Against the Knights, Erik Swenson earned the win, fanning nine, and Tyler Archambault had two hits and three RBI. Mason Porter doubled in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh in the win over the Mustangs. Against the Golden Trojans, Swenson earned the win, striking out a dozen, while Porter had two RBI and Kaiden Carrell finished with two hits and three RBI. Zak Sanders threw a four-hit shutout against the Spartans. The Red Storm were at Gorham Tuesday and hosted reigning Class A champion South Portland Thursday. After going to Cheverus Saturday, Scarborough plays host to Deering Tuesday of next week.

Outdoor track

Scarborough’s track team joined South Portland at a season-opening meet at Bonny Eagle.

The Red Storm girls tallied 99 points and were a narrow second to the Red Riots (108).

Scarborough’s boys had 60 points and came in third behind South Portland (139) and Bonny Eagle (74).

Tennis

Scarborough’s highly-touted girls’ tennis team won its first four matches, defeating Westbrook (5-0), Bonny Eagle (3-2), Biddeford (4-1) and Portland (5-0). The Red Storm faced their biggest test yet when they went to reigning regional champion Falmouth Thursday.

Scarborough’s boys began with 5-0 loss to Kennebunk, then improved to 4-1 by downing Westbrook (5-0), Bonny Eagle (4-1), Biddeford (5-0) and Portland (3-2). Reigning Class A champion Falmouth paid a visit Thursday.

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