* SMAA all-star, first-team
• SMAA All-Defensive team
* Senior All-Star
* Captain

Courtesy Portland High School

Buck was a menace at the plate and on the basepaths this spring, but it was on defense where he stood apart, as he finished a challenging senior year with a flourish.

Buck saw playing time as a freshman, solidified his reputation as a top outfielder as a sophomore and as a junior, he made the league’s All-Defensive team, was an honorable mention all-star and had 11 steals and 12 runs scored.

This past fall, Buck was an integral member of a Portland football team that had state championship implications before he broke his collarbone and had to miss the latter part of the season and the Bulldogs lost to Thornton Academy in the state final.

This spring, however, Buck had returned to health and returned with a vengeance, hitting .300, slugging .375, scoring six runs and going 13-for-13 on stole base attempts.

Highlights included two hits and two runs scored in a season-opening win over Westbrook, two runs scored against South Portland and three hits and an RBI in a victory over Thornton Academy in the finale.

He also produced a bevy of highlights in centerfield, making 50 putouts, throwing out four base runners and only committing one error. His finest hour might have come against rival Deering, in a game played at The Ballpark in Old Orchard Beach, where Buck posted an assist and six putouts, including two running catches.

“He made some catches that were just outstanding,” said Bulldogs coach Kevin Winship. “The catch he made against TA in our last game on a ball hit directly over his head was just unbelievable. He saved many a game for us over the years by running around catching balls everywhere in the outfield. Balls that were hit in the gaps weren’t sure hits when Reegan was out there.”

Buck will play at the University of Southern Maine next year and figures to have many more highlights in store.

Coach Kevin Winship’s comment: “Reegan was the leader of our team. He’s a great kid with a great attitude and work ethic. He loves the game of baseball. He had some pretty good offensive stats but those don’t tell the whole story. Reegan was a threat every time he came to the plate. With his speed and base-stealing ability, he could turn a single or a walk into a triple within two pitches, but where Reegan excels is with his defensive ability in centerfield. He has been with the varsity since his freshman year and will certainly be missed.”

Previous winners:

• 2023 Henry Bibeau (baseball)
* 2022 Henry Bibeau (baseball)
* 2021 Brendan Mailloux (tennis)
• 2020 No season
• 2019 Donnie Tocci (baseball)
• 2018 Aaron Hoekstra (lacrosse)
• 2017 Jake Knop (baseball)
• 2016 Dan Marzilli (baseball)
• 2015 Ryan Ruhlin (baseball)
• 2014 Jonathan Bobe (track)
• 2013 Caleb Fraser (baseball)
• 2012 Ryan Jurgelevich (lacrosse)
• 2011 Ryan Jurgelevich (lacrosse)
• 2010 Caleb Kenney (lacrosse)
• 2009 K.R. Jurgelevich (lacrosse)
• 2008 Brian Furey (baseball)
• 2007 Sam McAdam (lacrosse)
• 2006 Joe Fessenden (baseball)
• 2005 Peter Sengelmann (lacrosse)
• 2004 Jake Schuit (lacrosse)

SADIE ARMSTRONG, Senior- Softball

Derek Davis / Portland Press Herald

* Pete Meagher Award winner
* SMAA All-Conference, first-team
* SMAA All-Academic
* Senior all-star
* Captain

Contributed photo

Armstrong has been well known in the softball world for many years and before she left to compete at the Division I college level, she produced an epic performance for the Bulldogs this spring, returning to the mound with a flourish and wielding one of the most potent bats in the state, elevating her team to its best season in seven years.

Armstrong missed out on her freshman season due to COVID, then was an honorable mention all-star as a sophomore. In the spring of 2022, as a junior, Armstrong went 10-5 on the mound with a 2.35 earned run average, while hitting .568 with 25 hits, including five home runs, and 20 RBI with a dazzling .643 on-base percentage and she was named PHS Spring Athlete of the Year. Armstrong was classified as a senior in 2023 and couldn’t pitch due to a shoulder injury, but still managed to be named a first-team league all-star, hitting .468 with seven doubles and three home runs.

After being granted an eligibility waiver from the Maine Principals’ Association, Armstrong repeated her senior year, a decision her family made since she could only attend school sporadically her freshman year. Now fully able to pitch, Armstrong made up for lost time and her team surged from three wins to 14.

At the plate, Armstrong hit .566, as more than half of her 30 hits went for extra bases (nine doubles, four triples, three home runs). She drove in 21 runs, scored 22, walked 14 times and only struck out on four occasions.

On the hill, Armstrong led the league with 107.1 innings pitched, earned 14 victories, had a 2.21 ERA and struck out 147 hitters.

Highlights were plentiful.

Armstrong got the win on the mound and had two hits and an RBI in a season-opening victory over Biddeford, then homered and threw three hitless innings in a win over Falmouth, had three hits and fanned 12 in a victory over Massabesic, struck out 10 and doubled in a win over Deering, scored three times against Westbrook, tripled twice and drove in two in a narrow loss to South Portland, doubled twice, drove in a run and struck out nine in Portland’s first win over Scarborough in 19 years, had four hits, including a pair of triples, scored three times and drove in two runs in a victory over Sanford, doubled and singled in a win over Kennebunk, threw a two-hitter in a victory over Marshwood, threw a three-hitter with nine Ks in a victory over Bonny Eagle and homered twice and drove in five runs in a win over Noble.

In the playoffs, where Portland won twice for the first time since the 2017 team reached the regional final, Armstrong scored three runs and struck out 10 in a preliminary round victory over Westbrook, then she had three hits, scored a run and went the distance in a down-to-the-wire win at South Portland in the quarterfinals. The Bulldogs were beaten by Windham in the semifinals, but the season was a rousing success.

Armstrong will play next year at Longwood University, a Division I school in Virginia and it’s safe to say she won’t ever be forgotten back home in Maine.

Coach Jason McLeod’s comment: ““Sadie epitomizes what it is being not only a true student-athlete, but an ambassador of the game of softball and women’s sports as a whole. She gives back to the game in so many ways that her performance, on the field, sometimes gets overlooked because of the expectations that not only she puts on herself but others as well. She has been the most unselfish person I’ve ever had the pleasure to coach and be around. What she has done, in leading this team and setting such a positive example the past four seasons, it can’t be put into words.”

Previous winners:

• 2023 Samantha Moore (track)
* 2022 Sadie Armstrong (softball)
* 2021 Samira Doiron (lacrosse)
• 2020 No season
• 2019 Annika More (lacrosse)
• 2018 Lauren Paradise (tennis)
• 2017 Jess Brown (softball)
• 2016 Jess Brown (softball)
• 2015 Margot Andreasen (tennis)
• 2014 Annette Denekas (tennis)
• 2013 Annette Denekas (tennis)
• 2012 Drew Barry (lacrosse)
• 2011 Drew Barry (lacrosse)
• 2010 Mary Moran (tennis)
• 2009 Maggie Swann (tennis)
• 2008 Liz Mosley (lacrosse)
• 2007 Jasmine Powell (track)
• 2006 Katie Hutchins (softball)
• 2005 Kelly Flaherty (lacrosse)
• 2004 Lily Anderson (lacrosse)

Sports editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.