Softball is back, the bus is loaded, somebody's mom packed the wrong color uniform, and Washington Academy has not allowed a run all season. We are going to get to the WA thing in a second because it is wild, but first we have to talk about the fact that several teams in this state appear to have decided that defense is a personality trait.
Five teams in Maine softball have played multiple games and given up a combined zero runs. Five. We are one week in. The pitchers are working in 42 degrees with a wind off the field. The hitters are wearing two layers under the jersey. None of that is supposed to produce a 30 to 0 run differential, and yet here we are. The full standings back this up.
Washington Academy has played three games. The other team has scored zero runs. Total.
This is the headline. The Raiders are 3-0 in Class C North. They have allowed 0 runs across three full games. Three shutouts. Their starting pitcher is currently sitting in the pitching circle wondering if anybody is allowed to actually hit her.
PIR has them at 40.9, which is a top three Power Rating in the state. They are the only team in Maine with a three game win streak. They are also the only team with three shutouts already on the books. We do not know who their catcher is, but she has not had to throw the ball back from the backstop yet, so the arm is fresh.
If they keep this up through the Mount View, Sumner, and Narraguagus rotation, somebody is going to start making travel plans for Standish in June. Way too early to say it. Saying it anyway.
Lisbon, Skowhegan, Medomak Valley, and Nokomis are also doing the no runs allowed thing.
Lisbon is 2-0 in C South, has scored 27 runs, has allowed zero, and currently sits at the top of the entire state at PIR 48.1. Twenty seven to nothing across two games. The Greyhounds appear to have shown up in early April with the lineup they were saving for July.
Skowhegan is 2-0 with two shutouts of their own and a 25-0 run line. Medomak Valley is 2-0 with the biggest run differential in the state at plus 30, scoring 15 runs a game and allowing none. Nokomis only has one game in the books, but it was a 20 to nothing shutout, which is the kind of opener that makes the rest of the conference politely cancel their first scrimmage.
Five teams. Zero runs allowed. Eleven games combined. Somebody check the umpires.
The rest of the top tier.
Lewiston is 2-0 with a 45.4 PIR in Class A North, the only Class A team currently in the top three. Windham is 1-0 in A South. South Portland is 1-1 but the win was 12-3, and PIR still has them at 37.5 because the rating system is paying attention to how they got it, not just whether they got it.
Fryeburg Academy, Lake Region, Winslow, and Freeport are all sitting in the high 30s, all unbeaten, all staring at schedules that get harder very quickly. Lake Region in particular has played three games already, which is one more than almost anybody else, and they are 2-1 with a plus 26 run differential. The kid throwing for them is going to be a name.
A note on what is coming.
Right now, when you click into a softball Slate page, you see scores, dates, and standings. What you do not see yet is a projected score, a win probability, or a spread. That is going to change. Our GameIQ engine is locked in for basketball, hockey, and soccer, and it is about to come online for softball as well, alongside baseball. Once it switches on, every game on the schedule will get a projection, and every result will go into the back end so we can grade ourselves at the end of the year.
We are doing one final pass to make sure cold weather April noise does not pollute the rating. We will tell you the day it goes live. You will be able to argue with it immediately. We encourage that.
DSI, in case you have not seen it yet, is our Depth of Schedule Index. It is a nine layer rating of how hard a schedule actually is. A 2-0 record against two title contenders is not the same as a 2-0 record against two teams who are still trying to find a coach. DSI separates them. Once enough games are in, you will see it next to standings. Plain English definitions for every metric live in the glossary.
What to watch.
Lisbon and Washington Academy are not on the schedule together this season unless somebody draws somebody in the regional final. We can dream. Lewiston and Skowhegan are eventually going to find each other in A North. South Portland is playing the entire toughest schedule in the state and will be a fascinating PIR test by Memorial Day.
The serious part. The freshman who walked four straight in the third inning of her first varsity game is in our database. The eighth grader brought up to play right field for one inning of garbage time, also in there. The senior who has been the bullpen catcher for four years and who finally got a real start on Friday, also in there. Same database row, same font, same respect.
Now go cook.