(Ed. Note: For the complete Falmouth-Greely game story, visit theforecaster.net)

The 2011 softball season came to a end for Forecaster Country teams last week.

Last Tuesday, in a preliminary round showdown, No. 9 Greely held off No. 8 Falmouth, 2-1, to advance.

The Rangers, who snared the final playoff spot in the region with a 9-7 record, trailed 1-0 heading for the fourth, where junior catcher Edith Aromando rocketed a two-run homer to center to put Greely on top to stay. Sophomore pitcher Danielle Cimino worked out of jams in the late innings and the Rangers held on to win.

“It feels awesome,” said Greely first-year coach Kelsey Bryant. “I knew we could do it. We had to play our game and we brought it. All seven innings. It could have gone either way.”

The Yachtsmen, who once again got a stellar pitching effort from senior Kelsey Freedman, wound up 8-9.

“You can’t ask for anything better than this,” said Falmouth coach John Keyes. “It comes down to the last inning with a runner in scoring position with two outs. Who knows what can happen? I thought we did very well. Defensively, it was our best game. We just didn’t supply the offense today.

“We did a lot of good things this year,” he added. “This is the best group that I’ve had. They didn’t let me down today. The seniors played their hearts out. It’s a terrible way to end.”

Friday, the Rangers went to top-ranked Fryeburg and gave the Raiders a mighty scare before losing, 4-3. Greely erased a three-run deficit with three runs in the fifth, but Fryeburg Academy got the winner in the bottom of the seventh, ending the Rangers’ season at 10-8. Junior Emma Seymour had two hits in a losing effort. Cimino had an RBI single and went the distance.

Second-ranked Yarmouth, meanwhile, waited out a long weather delay in its quarterfinal versus No. 7 Wells Thursday, but ultimately was upset, 3-1, in nine innings. The Clippers, who enjoyed a spectacular regular season, just couldn’t get a key hit and the Warriors pushed across two runs in the ninth to take it and end Yarmouth’s season at 14-3.

“It was a really good season for us,” said Clippers coach Jim Senecal. “The kids are really disappointed now, but (Wells) finished the season very strong. We had a lot of hard-hit balls early in the game that were right at people. They defended everything very well. They’re well coached. When they get people on base, they put pressure on. We made the call to load the bases and it cost us one run. It was a tough last inning for sure. Their pitcher did great. She improved as the game went on.

“Winning 14 games exceeded what we thought we’d do,” he added. “We knew we had two great seniors in Abbie Hutch (Abbie Hutchinson) and Jules (Julie Dursema). So many other kids stepped up. The other seniors did great things for us. The three freshmen really contributed for us. We’re proud of what we did. We lose a lot of kids, but the future looks good.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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Greely pitcher Danielle Cimino prepares to deliver a pitch late in last week’s preliminary round win over Falmouth.

Greely centerfielder Katie Whittum exults after recording the final out in the Rangers’ 2-1 preliminary round playoff win at Falmouth last week.