OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Paul McDonough singled in Tanner Chase with the winning run in the top of the ninth inning Wednesday night to give Ramsdell-Rogers the Zone 5 American Legion baseball championship with a 13-12 victory against Fayette-Staples Post.

Ramsdell-Rogers, from York, earned a spot in the Legion state tournament next week in Augusta.

Fayette-Staples will meet Saco-Biddeford Savings of Westbrook in a play-in game Saturday for the state tournament.

McDonough’s single capped a stirring comeback at The Ballpark for Ramsdell-Rogers, which once trailed 8-1.

“I got a pitch I could actually hit,” said McDonough, who drove it to right-center to break a 12-12 tie.

“I thought we played very, very well for the age of our kids, playing against a quality team like (Fayette-Staples) and down 8-1,” said Ramsdell-Rogers Coach Chuck Chadbourne.

“I thought it would have been very easy for us to just say ‘Hey, let’s just take runner-up. I guess we’re OK with that.’ I just kept telling the kids, ‘Let’s keep chipping away.’ Once we got to 8-6 we thought, ‘Hey, we can really get this done.’ “

And they did.

The early part of the game belonged to Fayette-Staples, the team from Saco that chased Ramsdell-Rogers starter Adam Bailey by batting around and scoring six runs in the second to build its 8-1 lead.

Ramsdell-Rogers scored three in the third and was within 9-6 through six innings, then scored four in the top of the seventh for a 10-9 lead.

McDonough led off with a walk and eventually scored on an Aaran Maran single. Sam Leal added an RBI in the inning on a bloop single to right.

York took its 10-9 lead when Josh Ingalls scored on a shortstop’s fielder’s choice on a ball hit by Alex Mercurio.

Down 13-12, Fayette-Staples threatened to score in the bottom of the ninth when Max Dube was hit by a pitch to lead off.

He reached third base with two outs but was stranded when Alex Newton lined to third to end the game.

Fayette-Staples Coach Ray Petit lamented his team’s poor defense.

“Offensively we played great,” he said. “On defense we shot ourselves in the foot.”

Fayette-Staples committed six errors.

“We’re going to field a bunch of ground balls before Saturday,” Petit said. “We’re athletic enough to do it. I don’t know if it’s a lack of confidence or what. We’ve got to get it done if we want to succeed.”

Sam Canales, the leadoff hitter and shortstop for Fayette-Staples, went 5 for 6 with four singles and a double. He also scored three runs.

Trevor Fleurent of Fayette-Staples had three hits and scored four runs. 

Staff Writer Austin Pollack can be contacted at 791-6356 or at:
apollack@pressherald.com