SANFORD — By the end of the game, Sanford High pitcher Jen Jones said her eyes were crusted with the wind-blown dirt and sand that was swirling across the diamond all afternoon.

Good thing it didn’t affect her arm.

Jones struck out 14 and Isabelle Johnston drove in three runs Thursday as the second-ranked Spartans held off 10th-seeded Gorham 8-4 in a Class A South softball quarterfinal.

Jones allowed six hits and kept the Rams in check for most of the game.

“She’s a very good pitcher,” said Gorham Coach Renee Thibodeau. “She kept our girls off-balance.”

Sanford (14-3) will play third-seeded Biddeford (13-4) in the regional semifinals at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Witham Street Field. Sanford defeated the Tigers 7-5 on May 9. Gorham finished 8-10.

The Spartans were upset in last year’s quarterfinals so getting past this game meant a lot.

“We got over a little hurdle today and now we hope to keep on going,” said Sanford Coach Mike Bailey. “That’s our goal – game by game get better and play to the best of our ability.”

Gorham jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, with Noelle Dibiase driving in the second run with a double. But Sanford kept chipping away. The Spartans had 12 hits, stringing them together in timely fashion.

Trailing 2-1 into the bottom of the second, two runners were on for Nicole Main, who dropped a two-run double into right field to give Sanford a lead it wouldn’t lose.

Sanford added two runs in the fourth with RBI singles by Abby Blouin and Johnston, and two more in the fifth keyed by a two-run single by Johnston, who lashed a liner into center field.

The Spartans got contributions from everyone in the order as the Nos. 7, 8 and 9 hitters – Blouin, Johnston and Molly Boissonneault – combined for four hits, three RBI and three runs.

“We’ve worked really hard on our hitting this year,” said Bailey. “I think we did a great job today of focusing and putting the bat on the ball. It was a great effort by our entire lineup.”

Johnston agreed.

“We all contributed,” she said. “I think we did pretty well today.”

It was 8-2 entering the final inning and Gorham made things interesting. The Rams, who had been held hitless by Jones after the first inning, got run-scoring bunt singles from Kathryn Bertin and Lindsey Wilcox to pull within four, then loaded the bases with one out.

“That showed we have a lot of heart, a lot of fight,” said Thibodeau.

Bailey called a timeout for a conference with his team.

“I told them we had to settle down and get outs,” he said. “Sometimes we get nervous, we get tight and don’t play the way we can. It was all about focusing on what your job was and getting it done.”

For Jones that meant making her pitches. She struck out the next two batters to end the game.

“This is a big deal,” said Jones. “This was a worry of ours because we lost at this point last year. So this is a big deal to move on.”