The South Portland National Junior Babe Ruth team maneuvered around the tight scheduling that often comes with post-season summer league baseball.

South Portland held off a feisty Scarborough team to win District 6 on Saturday, then, on Sunday in Bangor, won a pair of games to get a leg up in the state tournament.

In game one at the state tournament, John Carey knocked three hits and Jake Watson had a bases-loaded double to key a 5-3 win over Coastal. Teammates David Harrison (who won as the starter) and Mike Dicenso (with a save in relief) turned in strong performances on the mound in the opener.

Chris Gorham followed that by pitching a complete-game victory and struck out eight against Brewer in a 6-4 win. Josh Mackie and Jamie Boudreau had two hits each to spark the South Portland offense.

The Nationals followed that up with a 6-4 win over Kennebunk Monday.

DISTRICT 6 CHAMPS

Saturday the South Portland squad put down Scarborough 13-3 to win the District 6 tourney in Falmouth.

South Portland coach Gene Carey felt good about his team after the win, and speculated that he had saved enough arms for the state tournament.

“This is a very balanced team,” Carey said. “Everybody here has contributed. And I think we spread around our pitching pretty well this weekend.”

As much of a juggling act as South Portland’s coaches had with their pitching staff, Scarborough came into the championship even more taxed. The Scarborough boys played seven innings of their nine-inning game with Gray Saturday morning (thanks to Friday afternoon’s heavy rain and lightning), before finally pulling out a comeback 11-8 win.

“We played 15 innings today,” said Scarborough coach Maurice Thayer after Saturday’s loss. “And if we had won this game (against South Portland), we would have had to play 22.

“But this is a good group,” he said, noting the Scarborough squad had no regrets, despite playing five games in six days.

Scarborough had only 30 minutes to prepare for the Nationals and the South Portland team jumped in front right away with four runs in the first inning.

True to their reputation, Scarborough’s players answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. But, after Scarborough left the bases loaded in the second inning, South Portland took charge with eight runs with two outs in the third inning.

The win earned the South Portland team – Josh Mackie, Mike DiCenso, John Carey, Jaime Boudreau, Jake Watson, Nick Folan, Ed Bogdanovich, Travis Gulliver, Dave Hardison, Eliot Pickering, Chris Gorham and Dan Foster – a trip to the state tournament. The coaches from South Portland are Carey, John Foster and Tim DiCenso

ROAD TO THE DISTRICT FINALS

While South Portland’s Nationals cruised through the winners’ bracket, Scarborough also came out strong on opening day of the district tournament, beating Falmouth 9-8. Neil Ravin threw five strong innings and Scarborough took a 7-2 lead on Falmouth. Falmouth, however, battled back to take an 8-7 lead and it took Cam Labonte’s bases-loaded, two-run single to earn Scarborough the win.

Shannon Richardson pitched a 1-2-3 final inning to preserve the opening victory.

Gray defeated Scarborough 17-2 in game two, sending the team to the loser’s bracket.

Wednesday Scarborough took a dramatic 8-7 win over Freeport, thanks to Nate Gadbois’ two-run triple over the right fielder’s head in the bottom of the last inning. Nate’s hit couldn’t have come at a better time, or on a better day, the player also celebrating his 14th birthday that day.

Earlier in the game, Scarborough scored single runs in the first and second innings but Freeport took a 7-5 lead in the game. Scarborough’s Ravin pitched into the eighth inning and Tony Stanley relieved him.

Gadbois’ game-winning hit was set up by Sean Milligan’s leadoff double in the eighth. Andrew Nigro then reached on a fielder’s choice.

The next night, Scarborough took a 6-4 win over Yarmouth, earning a second chance at Gray.

After two innings – Scarborough leading 2-1 – the game was delayed until Saturday morning and the Scarborough boys fell behind 5-2. Scarborough’s players woke up and scored six runs over three innings, but Gray sent the game into extra innings with three runs in the sixth.

Derek Army provided the big effort in this game, pitching a scoreless final inning and delivering the game-winning hit in the top of the ninth, a bases-clearing double to cinch the 11-8 win.

Members of Scarborough’s team were Derek Army, David Emma, Brian Vermette, Dan Simmons, Sean Milligan, Andrew Nigro, Nate Gadbois, Adam Blanchard, Shannon Richardson, Cam Labonte, Tony Stanley and Neil Ravin, and coaches Mike Wickham, Dan Ravin and Thayer.

Copy the Story Link