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Hooffer’s High School Sports · Newsradio WGAN

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  Time to talk to Michael Hoffer from Hoffer's High School
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  Sports, who is with us on Tuesdays at this time every
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  single week, and this is no exception.
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  Mike, how are things? Things are good I I understand
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  the summer is here. Yes, I've heard, but the sunburn
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  on my arms from this weekend certainly gives me good
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  indication of that, as does the potentially record temperatures
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  today. I I bet you you're going to be
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  very happy about that 'cause I'm sure you've been outside in the
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  cold and rainy, you know, weather for too many of these
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  games already so far in the spring.
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  So I bet you you're looking forward to this.
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  Definitely, yeah. I got absolutely soaked last
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  Thursday, I think it was, and there've been plenty of cold,
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  rainy, windy days. I'll, I mean, 88's a little
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  much, but I'm not going to complain.
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  It's better than the alternative.
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  It's better than 38, There's no doubt about it, Mike.
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  So let's talk a little bit about, I guess we'll start off
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  with baseball here. So another very eventful week
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  here. I would be remiss if I didn't
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  mention that the Yarmouth Clippers are now above 505 and
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  four looking good in class BI don't think they're going to
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  threaten for the state. Title but.
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  They are, they're coming together as a team and I don't
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  think they're alone. There's a lot of other very
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  interesting programs that are putting together cool seasons.
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  So tell me a little bit about where we stand.
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  You know, Class A, Class B. How are things going in baseball
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  right now? Yeah, You know, it's interesting
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  that you mentioned Yarmouth, what a great story they are, you
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  know, a team that missed the playoffs last year and it's
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  quietly putting together a coming of age, right.
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  And you're right, they probably are a year or so away from
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  serious contention. But it's always encouraging
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  what, you know, when a team turns the corner or becomes
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  competitive a little bit quicker than expected.
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  So like kudos to them on their on their starts and we'll see
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  just how far they can take it top.
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  You know, Class A continues to be very interesting.
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  We got a lot of contenders. Big, big game tonight.
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  Looking forward to a good game under the lights tonight where
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  South Portland goes to Gorham, the red riots undefeated,
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  another big win yesterday where they held off on Eagle 1.
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  Nothing. And they're going to get a test
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  of the Gorham team that's playing really, really well
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  right now. So you know, I'm kind of
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  interested to be the first chance I get to see either team
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  honestly. So you know, those are two of
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  the top teams in my mind. There's many other servers
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  having a fantastic season. They're they're not letting up
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  21 runs the other day in a win over Portland.
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  They've had a couple of big explosions this year where
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  they've scored a ton of runs. So what a turn around story
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  they've been this season. Thornton Academy really starting
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  to put it together. And then you get seems like
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  Falmouth and Scarborough locally, who who remain very
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  competitive, haven't been winning as much as you might
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  expect. But you know, it's it's just
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  going to be one of those post seasons where, you know,
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  depending on who's pitching, anyone can beat anyone.
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  You have one bad inning this season could be over.
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  You get hot at the right time, like Biddeford did last year,
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  and you can go all the way. So like, you know, now the
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  weather's getting nicer, I'd expect even more offense.
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  And, you know, and a lot of these teams have really good
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  pitching too. So it's a good time to be a
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  baseball fan. It is indeed a good time to be a
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  baseball fan. Can you go over quickly how the
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  selection for the playoffs works, You know, like where the
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  line is for teams to make it in or out.
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  I know that's obviously different every year a little
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  bit depending on records and what not, but how does they how
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  do they structure it? So as we're kind of gearing up
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  for that time of the year, you know, who and how should I be
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  keeping an eye on this? Yeah, I think 67% of the teams
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  make it in. So for instance, in class AI
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  think there's 16 teams, I believe 11 teams make the cut.
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  And then when that happens, you know, the top five, we get a buy
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  right into the quarterfinals, the others playing a prelim.
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  And that's either a good or a bad thing, depending how you
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  look at it. Sometimes the team will come out
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  of that preliminary round and win a game and and get red hot
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  and go on a run like Biddeford did last year.
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  Yeah, I think it's been a perfect world.
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  You like to have as much rest as possible.
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  You like to line up your pitching as best as possible
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  because, you know, in baseball you can't pitch the same guy
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  every day. You know, in a perfect world,
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  you have your ace go in the quarterfinals, a regional final
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  and then the state final. So, you know, at least you can
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  line it up that way. That's great.
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  But yeah, so the answer your question is the top 2/3 of the
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  teams get in. You know, I think there are,
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  there are some regions where only 8 get in as others were
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  upwards of a dozen or so do and they have multiple preliminary
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  round games. But yeah, this is the time of
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  year you start paying attention to the heel points early on,
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  they don't make a lot of sense and you have teams that you
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  don't expect near the top. But you know, as we go forward
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  here, we're going to get a better idea of just, you know,
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  who's lining up where, who has work to do, you know, who could
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  conceivably get a home game, who can avoid a prelim.
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  And these are all really important things.
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  So you know that stuff that we'll be keeping an eye on here
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  over the next couple of weeks. I hate to be a complete ignorant
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  fool, but how do those points work?
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  Like how are they awarded? I mean is it per wins?
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  Is it like a complex formula? I always love this stuff,
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  especially when I follow hockey because hockey is just the
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  weirdest. But tell me a little bit about
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  how they actually select that. I guess it's very complex.
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  It's way beyond something I could ever explain, period, or,
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  or explain in a 10 minute segment.
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  But it's it, you know, it's who you play, who they played.
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  It's all factored in together. So like strength of schedule
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  kind of stuff kind of a little bit.
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  Yeah, I mean, it's in a sense. And then it's supposed to all,
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  you know, come together in a perfect world, everyone plays
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  the same schedule and then, you know, the best teams would be
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  determined that way. But you you factor in, you know,
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  team is playing from other conferences.
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  Sometimes the Class B team will mix in some A games and those
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  are worth more. And you know, supposedly it's
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  it's the most fairway. It's it's definitely beyond my
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  understanding. So I wish I could give a better
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  explanation. Maybe you have a caller call in
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  and do a 5 second explanation but.
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  That's not me, but it that a complex formula that no one
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  understands is a perfectly fine answer.
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  I think and everyone accepts yes.
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  Before I leave baseball, is there any marquee matchups that
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  you're really looking forward to this week or things that we
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  should be keeping an eye on? I know we have a game today
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  against Freeport. It'll be interesting to see
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  whether or not they can keep rolling, which will be cool.
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  Any others that are on the list that that you're really excited
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  about? Yeah, I mean that you've got, I
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  mentioned the go on South Portland game tonight.
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  It's going to be huge for, you know, who's going to be at the
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  top of class AS and tomorrow you've got a Greeley Cape
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  showdown. They've been that last week with
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  really one handily at home. But Rangers have really been
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  struggling for the most part over the last couple weeks.
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  Another loss yesterday to Poland like Cape.
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  Would love some revenge over at their place.
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  So looking forward to seeing those two teams tomorrow.
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  Haven't had a chance to catch up with the Rangers yet so I'm
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  really playing catch up on baseball this week Matt.
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  It's just so many games I plan to cover here over the last few
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  weeks have been rained out, so this is the time to get a crash
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  course on some of these top teams.
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  Indeed. So let's turn our attention to
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  baseball's cousin, softball. How are things going on the
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  softball side? And the same question, really.
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  I mean, like, what have we learned about Class AB and some
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  of these teams? Obviously, I think some of the
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  juggernauts continue to roll and there's some very interesting
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  stuff, you know, games going on and and awesome players.
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  Tell me a little bit about what we're seeing.
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  Yeah, I have been able to actually to see quite a bit of
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  softball the last few days and, you know, class AS clearly
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  services the gold standard. They have dominated everyone.
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  They've played. They've played all the top
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  contenders for the most part at this point.
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  And you know, it's not just Addison Deroche throwing no
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  hitters and striking out 17 every game, which is, you know,
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  ultimately that helps. Amazing it's amazing, but that
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  line up just they have no holes. They have a lot of girls top to
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  bottom who who can hit and get on base and over the course of
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  the multiple innings that's going to wear you down.
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  The fascinating thing for me for classy S is you know who's the
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  number two team and there's a lot of really good teams that
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  are pretty even that are jockeying right now.
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  Gorms maybe establish themselves nice come from behind win over
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  Windham last night, very therapeutic win for the Rams.
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  They hadn't beaten Windham in eight years and including they
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  lost to Windham in last year's playoffs.
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  So as a big win for them coming from behind, eight runs in the
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  bottom of the sixth, Fun game under the lights there.
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  They certainly stake their claim, as did Westbrook with a
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  19 to three win at Scarborough yesterday.
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  Shocking that they put up so many runs and one so easily.
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  Four runs in the first and then five in the second, five in the
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  third, five in the 4th and they're really seem to be
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  clicking at the right time. South Portland's really put
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  together a great year. Come from behind, walk off win
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  over TA yesterday. So, you know, a lot of
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  excitement there. I was still would not write
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  Windham off. You know, Scarborough I think
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  got off to a great start. They're going to bounce back.
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  So those two through 7 teams, if you will, are really it's going
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  to be an interesting battle is they jockey.
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  You want to finish second, right?
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  You get 2 home playoff games, you avoid service till the
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  regional final even if you finish third, you can
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  conceivably do that. But clearly right now the Stags
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  are the team to beat. And I think Mordomic Valley,
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  same thing goes in Class B South of defending champs there.
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  And then of course, over to lacrosse.
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  What's happening in the world of lacrosse that we need to be
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  keeping our eyes on right now? We're getting to the, I think,
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  interesting part of that season as well.
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  Absolutely huge showdown today down in Kennebunk.
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  We get a rematch of last year's state final Windham upset
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  Kennebunk last year handed them their only loss.
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  The Rams clearly look like the team to beat this time around
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  and would love a little dose of revenge.
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  So that'll be a good battle here this afternoon.
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  And you know, you've got a lot of other teams looking really
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  good to Thornton Academy with, with our athletes of the week
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  this week. Sheriff is playing as well as
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  anybody. Falmouth, Yarmouth also in the
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  hunt there. So girls across, you know, a lot
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  of exciting things going on. On the boys side.
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  It still looks like TA and Falmouth are on a collision
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  course. They don't play till June 2nd.
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  So you know, neither team has been seriously tested yet,
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  although Falmouth will get a very good Yarmouth team coming
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  up here on Friday. I think Yarmouth's the third
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  best team. They've moved up to Class A this
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  year, really proved like they belong.
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  So we've got some really exciting games, which is what
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  you want. You want, right?
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  You'd rather have these premier matchups toward the end of the
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  season, regardless of what the sport is.
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  You want your best games toward the end.
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  They're great measuring sticks. They really get you prepared for
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  playoffs. And, you know, we're going to
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  have no shortage of those showdowns here coming.
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  Up the Athlete of the Week was of course awarded yesterday.
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  Let's make sure that that person gets all the recognition that
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  they deserve. Who did you have this week for
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  your Athlete of the Week? This year's select this week's
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  selection sorry is Oceano Lamar of Thornton Academy girls
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  lacrosse standout. She truly does it all.
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  She can score some goals, but she's dominant in the draw
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  circle and terrific on ground balls, setting up teammates, all
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  the little things that help you win games.
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  But she's really one of the premier players in the state.
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  Only a junior had three goals and a pair of wins in each each
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  win last week, including an absolute downpour at
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  Scarborough, which I had the pleasure of standing outside
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  for. So she's she's really come on
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  her team's on a win streak. They have a big victory over win
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  them with their credit, they've only lost to Kennebunk.
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  They might be the second best team when all said and done, but
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  this is a team that I think many people felt was still a year
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  away. They are not.
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  They are they're here. They're here to stay.
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  And and she's a big reason why. So oh, Sheila Mark,
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  congratulations to her. A lot of fun to watch and she's
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  only getting better. All right, that's unfortunately
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  where we're gonna have to end because we are out of time.
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  Make sure you subscribe to Hoffers High School sports.com
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  and check things out. I believe we got some polls
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  dropping on team rankings here today, so make sure you check
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  those out as soon as they drop and all the other good coverage
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  that you see there every single week.
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  Thanks a lot, Mike, and we will talk next Tuesday.
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  Sounds good man, I look forward to it have.
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  A good one.