Livin' on a Prayer
Woah oh, Gorham's half way there.
They say sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, especially in single-elimination tournament play. Some very, very good teams have had a ball bounce the wrong way in single-elimination play and the only real guarantee of success is to have Bill Russell on your team.
But Gorham might have the next best thing: the luck of the Baseball Gods.
The quarterfinal win was well-documented, how Falmouth's 6-0 lead was wiped out by rain, and they got another break in the semis.
With a 4-2 Gorham lead, Thornton Academy was threatening and I'll let Joe Bailey take it from here.
Key play in tonight's Gorham win over Thornton Academy.
— Joe Bailey (@joebaileysports) June 13, 2026
Thornton Academy down 4-2 in the 7th...bases loaded nobody out..
Looks like they tie it on an error..but runner ruled out for running on wrong side of line..
And in the end, the ump was right as you will see pic.twitter.com/nRn4Wjrsfe
The Thornton Academy runner was ruled out for being in fair territory on his way to first base, which he was.
Rule 8-4-1 states that "The batter-runner is out when:"
You already know the rest. The TA faithful think it was the worst call of all-time. Gorham fans think it's a great call. The Twitter experts want to know what color the ump's underwear is and if he's ever spent more than 20 minutes in Saco on purpose.
I'd love to see a view from, say, the third base dugout, but I've watched this 20 times or so in slow-motion. The runner is clearly in fair territory and fails to touch the half of the double bag that's in foul territory. From where the catcher sets up to make the throw to how the first basemen attempts to catch it, it's hard for me to imagine the runner wasn't at least inconveniencing the play at first.
I kind of think this is the right call?
I generally fall to the side of "let the players decide", but there's some calls that have to be made and this might be one of them. Again, I'd like another angle, but it seems like they got it right.
Michael Hoffer was there.
Michael Hoffer
Gorham will play #10 Noble, who pulled off another upset, this time over #3 Cheverus. Despite giving up an 8-0 lead, Noble is now in their first Regional Final since 2002.
I had a chance to knock the rust off my color commentary skills, thanks to LCTV, who needed a sub for Medomak Valley's semifinal against Poland.
The Panthers got a 2-hitter from Sidney Nicholls and will face Lake Region at St. Joseph's. The Lakers got a 4-hitter from Haley Hamlin, who struck out 11 York batters.
I'll be at the Medomak/Lake Region Regional Final with LIVE STATS
In one of the crazier semifinal games you'll ever see, Hampden outlasted Oxford Hills in extra innings.
Nathan FournierStaff Writer
Elsewhere
Owen Beaton's walk-off in the 10th inning gave Telstar a win over Buckfield...Fryeburg scored twice in the 7th inning to rally past Cape Elizabeth...Cony needed every bit of Landen Perry's 10 strikeout gem to get by MDI...Harlee Gasser's 10 strikeouts got Lewiston past Skowhegan...Lily Regan homered and drove in 5 runs to lead Bonny Eagle to their first Regional Final in 30 years...Gardiner scored 3 in the 6th to rally past Belfast...Lily Fortin homered and struck out 14 Forest Hills batters in NYA's win...Addison DeRoche struck out 10 in a shutout of Gorham.
This week on the podcast, Marc Calnan of Eastern Maine Sports is back to preview today's regional finals and talk about their new podcast,
Check out Open Mic with Eastern Maine Sports on Spotify
Scarborough's Finn Coburn is the boys soccer Gatorade Player of the Year, which for some reason we're doing in June.
The girls winner will be announced in a couple of days
My Scottish co-worker warned me this would happen.
Supporting my bagpipe brothers 🏴 pic.twitter.com/c6zhoQx68M
— Wally (@Wally97) June 15, 2026
The options for Game of the Day are always good for the Regional Finals, usually better overall than the Gold Ball games (more games to choose from and all that), so it's no surprise that we've got a bunch of great options, but the Game of the Day is a real humdinger (as my father would say).
Oxford Hills and Bangor are #2 and #3, respectively, in the baseball Power Rankings. They're 4th and 6th in the state in scoring offense. They're 4th and 12th in scoring differential. And the Model has this as a true 50/50 toss-up. This is exactly what the Stax Index is designed to highlight.
Oxford Hills is 17-1 on the season, with the lone loss coming in Bangor to the Rams. Bangor is 15-3 with stumbles against Mt. Ararat, Hermon, and Hampden--all quality losses.
Even factoring in the tweak I made to the formula, 97.2 might be the highest Stax Index of all-time.
The Model's picks for the rest of today's games are after the jump.