Newsletter #40...Step it up, Mother Nature!

The calendar reads late-April, the days are longer and spring sports are underway, but lagging behind, like usual, is the warm weather.

If you've been outside to watch any of the early action this season, I hope you dressed accordingly, because I often don't and that's a hard price to pay.

This is nothing new of course.

There's always a stray nice day or two that makes everyone believe we've turned the corner and summer is just over the horizon, only for steady rain, or snow flurries, to laughingly fall in response.

And of course, the cold spring wind is omnipresent.

Brighter (and warmer) days are ahead, however. Generally by playoff time in June, there are some afternoons where it's so hot that teams have to take hydration breaks.

That seems like a million miles away, but it is coming.

Be patient.

Something I'm trying to tell myself as my teeth are chattering while I'm shivering on the sidelines.

Westbrook milestone

This past Tuesday, Westbrook senior Lyla Dunphe scored the 100th goal of her career in a 17-1 home victory over Lawrence. Dunphe became the Blue Blazes' first-ever 100-goal scorer and helped them improve to 2-0 on the young season. Westbrook hosts South Portland later today.

In case you missed it

Previews
Baseball
Softball
Boys' lacrosse
Girls' lacrosse

And a podcast covering it all: https://www.hoffershighschoolsports.com/hoffers-high-school-sports-podcast-episode-32-spring-sports-preview/

Game stories from the past week...

Yarmouth softball gives up lead, rallies to beat Greely

Windham girls down Cheverus in early showdown

Cape boys dominate faceoffs, rally for win at South Portland

Greely girls shut down by Kennebunk

South Portland boys surge past Scarborough late

Cape baseball falls to Fryeburg in opener

Cheverus baseball opens with wild win at Thornton Academy

Our first feature of the spring, on the promising Falmouth girls' lacrosse team:

Never mind the “experts,” Falmouth’s girls are very much a title contender

When the pundits released their preseason list of girls’ lacrosse favorites, the Falmouth Navigators weren’t at or near the top of the list. Falmouth wasn’t listed at all in the daily newspaper’s five teams to watch and they were mentioned a distant fifth in the Hoffer’s High School Sports preview,

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

Media

Two spots with WGAN's Matt Gagnon since the last newsletter. Here are the links:

https://wgan.com/morning-news/hoffers-sports-model/

https://wgan.com/morning-news/hoffers-high-school-sports-27/

Features

Hoffer's High School Sports, in conjunction with cPort Credit Union, named Cape Elizabeth senior boys' lacrosse player Bennett Hooper our Athlete of the Week.

HHSS/cPort Athlete of the Week

Every Monday this season, Hoffer’s High School Sports/cPort Credit Union will select an Athlete of the Week. The winner will receive a drawstring bag with the HHSS/cPort logo. This week’s selection, the first of the spring sports season, is…

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

Tuesday brought the first polls of the season for baseball, softball and lacrosse:

HHSS Super-Six polls

Every Tuesday throughout the season, Hoffer’s High School Sports will present Super-Six polls for baseball, softball, boys’ lacrosse and girls’ lacrosse. The polls only include teams from our coverage area, which is essentially coastal Cumberland County, plus Thornton Academy. Here are this week’s polls, which consider games played through Monday,

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

Thursday's Hoffer's High School Sports Podcast featured Barry Mothes discussing stepping down after 32 years as Greely's boys' hockey coach.

Hoffer’s High School Sports Podcast, Episode 33...Barry Mothes retires

This week’s podcast guest is longtime Greely boys’ hockey coach Barry Mothes, who discusses stepping down after 32 years as the Rangers coach. Read more on Mothes’ decision here: https://www.hoffershighschoolsports.com/end-of-the-line-for-a-legend-mothes-steps-down-as-greely-boys-hockey-coach/ To listen to the podcast, click play below.

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

And the story on Mothes stepping down, for more perspective: https://www.hoffershighschoolsports.com/end-of-the-line-for-a-legend-mothes-steps-down-as-greely-boys-hockey-coach/

I'll be back with another newsletter next Friday.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffersports@yahoo.com