Class A South softball: Scarborough earns spot in state title game

STANDISH — It was the darndest thing.

Scarborough’s Sam Carreiro hit the ball about five inches during the first inning of the Class A South softball championship game.

The ball should have either gone foul or been an easy third out at first base.

Instead, it spun as if it had a life of its own and avoided Portland catcher Elaina Legere. Carreiro not only made it to first, but Chloe Griffin slid home safely for the first run of the game.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Scarborough coach Tom Griffin said. “That thing looked like a top spinning. It was amazing.

“I’ve coached a lot of years, I’ve never ever seen a ball like that.”

Instead of the inning being over, the Red Storm plated five runs to set up an 8-3 victory and earn a spot in the Class A championship game against Skowhegan on Saturday.

“It was pretty special,” Carreiro said. “I hit it, and then I was like, ‘I got to run.’

“I surprised that it worked out so well. She scored. I turned around and I was like, ‘Awesome!’”

“Good teams creat those things,” Portland coach Robbie Ferrrante said. “That ball just spun. My catcher was going to make the play but couldn’t pick it up, it had so much spin on it.”

Carreiro’s hit didn’t even make it one foot. In the fourth inning, Laura Powell’s hit went at least 220 feet feet, flying over the left-field fence and then over the shed that is beyond the left-field fence at Bailey Field on the campus of St. Joseph’s College.

“I said it was gone (as soon as she hit it). I didn’t know it was going to go over that house,” Ferrante said.

The home run pushed the Red Storm’s lead to 7-1. Powell struck out her first two at-bats on high pitches, so she was looking for another high one. She got it, and drove it. Then got to watch it sail over the fence.

“When I hit it, I kind of felt like it was a good hit,” Powell said, “so when I turned around first base, I kind of looked and realized it was over, and it was, yeah.”

Portland (16-3) plated two runs in the top of the seventh, but Red Storm pitcher Abbie Murrell shut down the rally and stranded runners at first and second.

“Hats off to them,” Ferrante said. “They’re on a mission. We’re glad we had a shot at them, we just didn’t have enough. They just got too much. They just keep coming at you, and coming and coming.”

Scarborough (19-0) remains undefeated and returns to the state championship game for the first time since losing to Messalonskee 1-0 in 2015, when Powell and Carreiro were freshmen.

“As a freshman, we lost the state (championship game) by one run,” Carreiro said. “We’ve been working our butts off the last two years to get back. This is everything we worked for, so this is awesome.”