CUMBERLAND—Just when you think you’ve seen it all when Greely and Cape Elizabeth square off on the diamond, the ancient rivals raise the bar.

For intensity, unpredictability, drama and an unforgettable finish.

Monday afternoon at Twin Brook, the Rangers dug a hole, a largely self-inflicted one, then worked their way out it, let a sure win slip away, before snaring the victory anyway.

Thanks to a prodigious blast.

In other words, business as usual in Class B South baseball this spring.

Greely senior starter Sam Almy and Cape Elizabeth junior pitcher Jameson Bryant stole the show early, completely shutting down the opposing team for two innings, but in the top of the third, Almy’s defense abandoned him and not for the last time.

The Capers managed to score twice on three hits, with two errors mixed in, then they added another unearned run in the top of the fourth, as the Rangers committed two more costly and untimely errors.

Greely got on the board in the bottom half, on back-to-back doubles from senior leftfielder Ryder Simpson (remember that name) and junior rightfielder Wes Piper, but when senior centerfielder Charlie Song stole home in the fifth, Cape Elizabeth was back in front by three runs, 4-1.

The Capers still led by that margin with two outs and no one on in the bottom of the sixth, but the bottom of the Rangers’ order sparked a rally and after junior pinch-hitter Owen Piesik singled home a run, freshman shortstop Kyle Soule followed with a two-run single before an error brought in the go-ahead run.

Sophomore reliever Gehrig Donnelly was on the brink of closing it out in the top of the seventh, but Greely’s sixth error allowed the tying run to score, sending the game to the fateful bottom half of the inning.

And there, with one out, after senior third baseman Marky Axelsen reached on a single, Simpson crushed an offering from senior reliever Gabe Harmon and launched it over the fence in right-center for a game-ending, two-run home to produce a 7-5 victory.

The Rangers won their fifth straight contest, improved to 9-1 on the season and in the process, dropped Cape Elizabeth to 5-4.

“We always know we’re in it,” Simpson said. “We love each other and we’re a family. We know we can win any game at any time. We never give up.”

Long awaited

Greely didn’t have much luck with Cape Elizabeth in 2023, falling at home (4-3) and on the road in somewhat controversial fashion, 3-2, in 10-innings.

This season, both teams, as expected, have been near the top of a deep and balanced Class B South.

The Rangers opened with a 12-1 (five-inning) victory at Lake Region, then blanked visiting Gray-New Gloucester in five-innings (12-1), before downing visiting Fryeburg Academy (5-1) and beating host Edward Little, 3-2, in a contest played at Central Maine Community College. Greely fell from the unbeaten ranks when it was shut out at home, 1-0, by reigning regional champion Yarmouth. The Rangers bounced back to knock off visiting Freeport (8-5) and shut out visiting Lake Region, 7-0, before beating host Fryeburg Academy Friday, 3-1, and visiting York Saturday, 7-1.

Cape Elizabeth edged visiting Poland in the opener (3-2, in eight-innings) before blanking host Leavitt (4-0) and downing visiting Yarmouth in a rematch of last year’s regional final, 7-2. After falling at Wells (4-2), the Capers outlasted visiting Mt. Ararat in 10-innings (1-0). After falling at home to York (4-2), Cape Elizabeth beat visiting Wells (6-3), then lost at Yarmouth Friday (3-1), before bouncing back Saturday for a 6-1 victory at Lake Region.

Monday, on a very pleasant mid-May afternoon (60 degrees with a slight breeze), the Capers looked to make it three in a row in the series, but instead, the Rangers prevailed over their rival for the first time since a 2-0 win in the 2022 Class B South semifinals.

But it took nearly two hours, and an abundance of twists and turns, to make it official.

Almy made quick work of Cape Elizabeth in the top of the first, fanning junior first baseman Andy Choi on a 3-2 pitch, getting Harmon, who started the game at shortstop, to bounce out to short on the first pitch he saw, then inducing junior second baseman Brady Inman to fly out to relatively deep left.

In the bottom half, Bryant got junior catcher Wyatt Soucie and Axelsen to both fly out deep to center before inducing a ground out to second off the bat of Simpson.

Almy started the top of the second by striking out Song, then freshman leftfielder Max Hayward grounded out to short, but Bryant drew a two-out walk. Junior catcher Jimmy Hollowell then bid for the game’s first hit, but lined out to first for the third out.

In the bottom half, Piper led off by singling to left-center. Sophomore first baseman Ben Kyles then bounced into a short-to-second force out. With senior designated hitter Ethan Robeck at the plate, Kyles stole second, but Robeck struck out looking, then Soule bounced out to second to end the threat.

Cape Elizabeth then broke the ice in the top of the third.

Freshman rightfielder Jackson York got things started with a single to center. After sophomore third baseman Caiden Johnson fouled out behind the plate, where Soucie made a nice catch up against the backstop, Choi singled to right, then Harmon blooped a single to right, but York was thrown out at the plate with the runners moving up to second and third. One out from getting out of trouble, Almy got Inman to hit the ball to third and when Axelsen couldn’t come up with the ball, Choi scored the game’s first run. Harmon then came home when Song reached on an error by junior Liam Coull at second, which put runners at the corners. Song stole second, but Piper kept the deficit at two by diving to catch a pop-up off the bat of Hayward for the third out.

Bryant preserved the lead in the bottom half, getting Coull to ground out to short, senior centerfielder Jackson Leding to pop out foul to third and Soucie to ground out to first, with the pitcher covering.

The Capers added to their lead, with another unearned run, in the top of the fourth.

Almy struck out Bryant, his opposite number, with an off-speed pitch leading off, but he walked Hollowell on a 3-1 pitch and senior courtesy runner Tate Mosher took second when York’s liner was dropped for an error by Simpson in left. Johnson grounded to short, but Soule couldn’t come up with the ball and the error loaded the bases for Choi, who lined a single to right on a 1-2 pitch, scoring Mosher and reloading the bases. Almy then escaped further damage by blowing high heat past Harmon for strike three, then getting Inman to fly out to left, keeping the score 3-0.

But not for long.

Axelsen led off the bottom of the fourth with a deep fly out to center. Simpson then drove a ball deep to center and it got over Song’s head for a double. Piper then ripped a deep shot to left that one-hopped over the wall for a ground rule double, scoring Simpson with the Rangers’ first run. Bryant got out of the jam, however, fanning Kyles on an off-speed pitch before firing strike three past Robeck.

Cape Elizabeth got the run right back in the top of the fifth against Donnelly, who came on to replace Almy.

Song drew a walk leading off, then Hayward laced a single to right-center, moving Song to third. With Bryant at the plate, Hayward took off and stole second and when the throw went through, Song raced home and scored safely to make it 4-1. Donnelly then got Bryant to chase strike three and Hollowell to line out to Soule at short, who tagged out Hayward to complete the double play.

Bryant battled back from a 3-0 count to strike out Soule swinging leading off the bottom of the inning, then Coull bounced out to second. Leding went the other way and singled to left, but Soucie grounded out to second to send the contest to the sixth.

There, Donnelly dazzled in the top half, fanning York on an off-speed pitch, doing the same to Johnson, then getting Choi to watch an off-speed pitch for strike three on a full count to retire the side.

And then Greely roared to life in the bottom half and turned the game on its ear.

Harmon came on to replace Bryant and fanned Axelsen on a 3-2 off-speed pitch before getting Simpson to fly out to right, but Piper drew a walk on a 3-1 pitch and when Kyles lined a single to left, just in front of the dive of Hayward, the Rangers brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Piesik, who singled to right-center, scoring Piper and when the throw came home, both runners moved up. That set the stage for Soule, the nephew of longtime Rangers coach Derek Soule, who has shown great promise this spring, and on a 2-1 pitch, Kyle Soule lined a single into the hole between first and second, bringing home both Kyles and Piesik to tie the game.

“Top to bottom, our lineup can compete with anyone,” Simpson said.

“The bottom of our lineup brought us back,” said Axelsen.

“The bottom of the order had some key hits,” added Derek Soule. “That’s been a theme this year. Owen coming off the bench had a huge hit. Kyle has been coming along and he had a big hit.”

Greely wasn’t done, as Coull reached on an infield single and the run was able to score on a subsequent error by the second baseman. Leding flew out deep to center for the third out, but the Rangers were suddenly up by a 5-4 score and were just three outs from victory.

But they couldn’t close it out.

Donnelly got Harmon to watch strike three on a 3-2 pitch to start the top of the seventh, but he plunked Inman with an inside pitch, then threw wildly trying to pick Inman off and the runner moved into scoring position at second base. Donnelly got Song to chase strike three on an off-speed pitch, leaving the game up to Hayward, who appeared to end it when he bounced to second, but for the sixth time, Greely couldn’t make the play and on the error, Inman raced home with the tying run. Hayward was gunned down by Soucie trying to steal second, but the contest would require the bottom of the seventh inning to determine the winner.

Harmon got Soucie to ground sharply to second leading off, but Axelsen came through by lining the ball to right-center and while Song dove for the ball, it bounced off his glove for a single.

“I was like, ‘OK, Marky, I know you want to go over the scoreboard, but just calm down and see what you can do,'” Axelsen said. “I saw three sliders and I don’t even know if the one I hit was a strike, but I got lucky.”

That brought Simpson to the plate and on the first pitch, Simpson turned on a Harmon offering and drove it deep to right-center. The ball was clearly hit well enough and far away from the outfielders to score Axelsen with the winning run, but even better for Greely, it sailed over the fence and at 6:52 p.m., Simpson circled the bases and stomped on home plate to make the Rangers’ 7-5 victory official, setting off a wild celebration.

“I was just trying to hit the ball hard,” Simpson said. “I was seeing it well today. I was looking for my pitch and it was in my ‘go zone.’ I took it. I thought it had a chance. After a second I knew.

“I hit one last year, but it wasn’t at all like this. It couldn’t have felt better. It’s amazing. I was thinking about that exact moment about five hours before the game today.”

“When he hit the ball, I knew we won,” Axelsen said. “I didn’t know if it was gone, but I saw the outfielder’s numbers (on the back of his uniform). (Coach Soule) was waving his hands down the line, then he raised them up and I knew it was gone. That was a huge team win. A textbook team win. Every single one of our guys came up huge. It was awesome. It was sweet.”

“Ryder has very good power, but I thought the ball was going to stay in the park,” added Derek Soule. “Marky was definitely going to score. He was going hard all the way. I was not expecting a home run. Home runs are hard to hit in this big park. In my years, we’ve only had a few walkoff home runs. The one that comes to mind the most is in 2006, Matt McDonough hitting a walkoff home run against Falmouth to win a playoff game. It’s a very rare thing.

“Bottom line, I’m really proud of how we fought back. We had some really good at-bats and hit the ball late in the game. Even when we gave up that (tying) run, I felt good with the top of the order coming up. With the momentum we had offensively, I thought we had a pretty good chance to come up with a run.

“Cape’s a rival. It always feels good when you get a win against your rival.”

Simpson played the hero with two hits, two runs scored and two RBI.

Piper also had two hits, drove in a run and scored once.

Axelsen, Kyles, Piesik and Kyle Soule also touched the plate.

Soule drove in two runs and Piesik added an RBI.

Greely left four runners on base.

Almy didn’t earn a decision, giving up four unearned runs on four hits in four innings of work. He walked two and struck out four.

Donnelly got the victory in relief after surrendering just one unearned run on one hit in three innings. He walked one, hit a batter and fanned six.

The Rangers somehow overcame their uncharacteristic six errors.

“That says that when we play a clean game, there’s no worries, but when we don’t, we can still grind it out,” Axelsen said.

“We don’t normally field like that, so we had to make for it in other ways,” said Simpson. “Sam pitched a great game, but we didn’t give him any help.”

“I don’t think we’ve ever won a big game against a quality team when we’ve made that many errors and given a team that many runs and still managed to get ourselves off the ground and fight back and win,” Derek Soule added.
“Defensively, we’ve played so well the last couple weeks. We’ve had errorless games, or one error here or there, but we had a season’s worth today. That was kind of a shock.”

Cape Elizabeth’s offense was paced by Choi, who had two hits, an RBI and scored a run.

Harmon, Inman, Mosher and Song also scored runs.

The Capers left six runners on.

Bryant got a no-decision, giving up one run on four hits in five innings. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out four.

Harmon took the loss, surrendering six runs (five earned) on five hits. He walked one and fanned one.

“It’s a tough loss,” said Cape Elizabeth coach Donny Dutton. “Ryder put a good swing on the ball and it went out. That’s baseball. Seven competitive innings from start to finish. Greely’s a really good team. We’re a really good team. It’s a really good baseball game at this point in the season. You can’t hang your head. I think our pitchers did an outstanding job all day. They just ran into a couple more (hits) than we did and that’s what it came down to.”

Rivalry week

The teams meet again a week from Wednesday in Cape Elizabeth, and that figures to be can’t-miss drama as well, but in the interim, both squads will face stern challenges.

The Capers (currently ranked third in the Class B South Heal Points standings) travel to Poland Wednesday and go to York Friday before returning home next Monday to face Fryeburg Academy.

“We’re a competitive bunch and we’ll stay in that mindset,” Dutton said. “We’ll be ready to go for our next opponent. Poland’s a tough team as well. Class B South is probably the best baseball in the state right now. There are a lot of great teams. We’re all playing each other right now. It’ll be a case of whoever comes through the gauntlet on top might be in good shape. Our pitchers are doing a great job. Our defense is playing a lot better than it was earlier in the season. It just comes down to getting guys on base and getting timely hits.”

Greely (which moved into the top spot in Class B South courtesy Monday’s victory) now goes on the road for four straight tests. Wednesday, the Rangers are at Yarmouth. Friday, they visit Freeport. Next Monday, Greely goes to Wells and two days later, comes the second showdown at Cape Elizabeth.

“Class B is loaded with talent,” Simpson said. “It’s a war every time we step on the field. This is great for us, especially to start rivalry week.”

“That shows how strong we are, how close-knit we are,” Axelsen said. “Coach told us to celebrate tonight, then come ready to practice tomorrow. We need to stay up. Energy is our biggest thing. When we’re up, we’re hitting and pitching well. If we have the ability to do this late in a game in two innings, we can do it the whole game.”

“It’s rivalry week and we’re just taking it one game at a time,” Derek Soule added. “We’re on a roll.”

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

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