Second Chance at the Ballpark

There's no denying the drama in Gorham and Falmouth's 1/8 quarterfinal on Friday. Falmouth, the 8 seed, led 6-0 when the skies opened and wiped out their prime opportunity for a massive upset. According to the rules of high school baseball, they had to start the game over, much to the chagrin of the Falmouth faithful.

They understandably weren't thrilled and who can blame them?

But at the rematch (moved to the Ballpark in OOB because the field was still unplayable), Cooper Whitehead put Gorham on the board in the first and that was all Miles Brenner needed. He tossed a complete game shutout and Gorham took advantage of their mulligan to survive and advance.

They'll take on TA today in the semifinal.

Gorham baseball gets 2nd chance, beats Falmouth in A South quarterfinals

The Rams, who trailed the Navigators by six before Thursday’s contest was suspended, Gorham starts fast and wins the makeup game on Friday.

The Portland Press HeraldSteve CraigStaff Writer

You don't often get two schools playing each other in both the boys and girls games in the tournament, and it's even rarer to have the schedule work out for a natural doubleheader. But even rarer than that has to be what Maranacook did to Lincoln Academy yesterday in lacrosse.

Maranacook beat the Eagles by a combined 43-2 and while the Lincoln boys were reportedly short-handed, 43-2 is as dominant a performance as a school could hope for.

Maranacook/Winthrop boys, girls lacrosse advance to semifinals

The Hawks and Black Bears both start fast and never trail in Class C quarterfinal wins over Lincoln Academy.

Centralmaine.comJimmy JamesStaff Writer

Elsewhere

David Edwards homered to lead Richmond in a rout of Valley...Buckfield erupted for 6 runs in the 5 to put away Vinalhaven...Bella McBrady's 2 RBI and 7 strikeouts helped Gorham eliminate the reigning champs from Windham...Eben Whalen's 7 goals led Gardiner to a rout of Erskine...Abby Trainor added 7 more goals as Windham cruised past Cape.

We've got our finalists for the Winkin Award, baseball's version of Mr. Basketball.

This is a senior award, so your favorite junior didn't actually get snubbed.

[SoPo's Hudson Iacuessa and Cony's Parker Morin] are joined by Fryeburg Academy shortstop Alex Allain, Old Orchard Beach shortstop Trot Moody, Messalonskee first baseman Denny Martin, Mt. Desert Island shortstop Collin Sullivan, Ellsworth first baseman Jackson Barry, Dexter/Piscataquis shortstop Brady Gaw and Katahdin shortstop Calvin Richardson.

Nine baseball players named as finalists for Winkin Award

Hudson Iacuessa of South Portland and Parker Morin of Cony are among the players in the running for the award given to the state’s top senior.

Centralmaine.comStaff report

The World Cup is here and with it, the every 4 years challenge of how to present the beautiful game to middle America.

You could do a lot worse than Cookie Monster.

The US kicked off their World Cup with a dominant performance, maybe the most dominant performance by an American team in the history of the World Cup. They routed Paraguay 4-1 in a match that could have been even more lopsided.

This immediately made me wonder: are we that good or does Paraguay just suck? The USMNT was a half goal favorite on DraftKings. The Ringer had them ranked 22nd in the field on account of their defense with the US ranked 18th. It's hard to read the result as anything short of encouraging.

Everyone is very calm and reasonable about it so far.

Here's a record you might not be aware even exists.

What, you might ask, is a Maddux? Well, a Maddux is when a pitcher throws a complete game shutout on fewer than 100 pitches. If you remember Greg Maddux's career, it's a logical stat. Even more fitting is that Maddux has the most "Maddux" stat lines since 1988 with 13.

Misiorowski allowed 1 hit and threw 74 of his 95 pitches for strikes to lower his ERA to 1.34 on the year.

And because I never miss an opportunity to put a random internet deep dive in the newsletter, here's Greg Maddux (and Tom Glavine) in a legendary Nike commercial.

It's the end of an era in film criticism.

Gene Shalit, Longtime ‘Today Show’ Film Critic, Dies at 100

Gene Shalit, the bushy-haired mustachioed television personality who reviewed books and movies on “The Today Show” for 40 years, has died at 100.

VarietyPat Saperstein

Shalit wasn't exactly the best critic, but he had a gimmick and he executed that gimmick flawlessly.

There's been a lot of upsets in the playoffs so far, but a number of regions have stayed chalk, including A North baseball.

In today's 2/3 semifinal, #2 Mt. Ararat hosts #3 Bangor for a trip to the Regional Final. The stat profiles of the two teams are similar: Mt. Ararat has allowed fewer runs. Bangor has played a slightly tougher schedule. The Eagles have the better %Perfect. The Rams have a more prolific offense. But overall they're very close.

Mt. Ararat won the regular season matchup 7-4 back in April. The Model thinks the home field will give them the edge today.

The Model's picks for the rest of today's games are after the jump.