Entering Friday’s games, there were six high school teams with two or fewer losses in Classes A, C and D North combined.
But there were five in Class B alone, which makes its upcoming playoffs that much more intriguing.
“It’s tremendous. It’s a really good division,” said head coach Rusty Worcester of 14-2 Oceanside from Rockland/Thomaston. “It’s fun to play good teams. There are five or six teams that have a really good chance to win it.”
The other teams with two or fewer losses were 15-1 Gardiner, 15-1 Hermon and Old Town and Medomak Valley of Waldoboro, both of which were 13-2.
“It’s wide open. There isn’t a clear-cut path to the championship at all,” said first-year Hermon coach Rob Jenkins. “The regional championship game may be better than the state game. We just played Foxcroft Academy the other day and they’re a very formidable team. They have great pitching.”
Foxcroft Academy (12-4) will be the sixth seed for the playoffs. The Ponies are one of several teams outside of the top five who could rattle off some upsets and make an extended playoff run.
Nokomis of Newport (8-7) is likely to finish in the ninth spot but coach J.D. McLellan’s Warriors dealt Gardiner its only loss (1-0) and two of Nokomis’ losses were in extra innings to Oceanside and Medomak Valley.
McLellan said his team could make a lengthy run, “if we all come together and peak at the right moment. We’ve done it before.”
Junior Britney Bubar kept Gardiner off balance with her slow deliveries, tossing a three-hitter.
“She has nothing but spin on the ball. She doesn’t have a fastball,” said McLellan, whose team’s offense has been led by junior third baseman Austin Leighton.
Winslow (12-4) is another dangerous playoff opponent as is 10-6 Ellsworth, which owns a win over Hermon.
Class B North has exhibited parity in recent years. Not only hasn’t a top seed won the regional title since Hermon in 2010, neither has a No. 2 seed.
Four No. 3 seeds, a fourth seed and a fifth seed have claimed the last six regional crowns. Old Town came out of the No. 4 spot to win it a year ago.
“It’s anybody’s game,” said Old Town coach Jenn Plourde, whose Coyotes had a Friday makeup game against Mount Desert Island. “You can’t have an off-game [in the playoffs] or a bad inning. You can’t take anything for granted. Everyone is competitive.”
OId Town took an 11-game winning streak into the MDI game behind the pitching tandem of Olivia Albert and McKenna Smith and some necessary lineup changes made by Plourde during the season.
The Coyotes were inexperienced at shortstop so Plourde decided to alternate Albert and Smith there. When one is pitching, the other plays shortstop.
“It killed me to take McKenna out of the outfield with her speed,” said Plourde, who added that Smith and Albert are two of the team’s top hitters.
Freshman Hannah Sibley won the first base job midway through the season and Plourde said “she has done an amazing job.” Junior outfielder Morgan Love has made dramatic strides as a hitter and that has been a factor in the team’s streak.
Gardiner, led by sophomore pitcher Jillian Bisson, has given up just 27 runs in 16 games and has held opponents to two runs or less 13 times. Senior center fielder Julia Nadeau and junior shortstop Logan Granholm make coach Don Brochu’s team strong up the middle.
Hermon has also limited opponents to two runs or fewer 13 times behind junior Katie Windsor and sophomore Bre Oakes, who have impressively filled the void left by the graduation of lefty Karli Theberge.
University of Maine-bound senior catcher Hailey Perry has been a key offensive catalyst and Jenkins said sophomore Megan Chamberlain has been a “pleasant surprise.”
Coach Richard Vannah’s Medomak Valley Panthers have been paced in the circle by junior Gabby DePatsy and at the plate by sophomore Lydia Simmons. The Panthers don’t have a senior on the roster.
“Simmons is a very, very good hitter,” said Worcester. “They can hit and they’re a good fielding team. They’re very, very competitive. And since they don’t have a senior, they’re going to be even tougher next year.”
Sophomore Chloe Jones has had an outstanding season in the circle for Oceanside and the offense has been led by sophomore catcher Abby Veilleux, junior shortstop Casey Pine and senior first baseman Alexis Mazurek.