South Portland American 11

South Portland National 9

It was a battle for South Portland supremacy in the Bayside Little League tournament last Thursday as South Portland American took on South Portland National for the Little League Bayside bracket championship.

A grand slam in the top of the sixth by Felix Del Vecchio made things interesting, but in the end South Portland American held on for the 11-9 win to claim the Bayside bracket. The Americans were buoyed by a seven-run fifth inning that was punctuated by a three-run homer by Trevor Borelli.

South Portland American entered the bottom of the fifth trailing by a run. Joseph Dibiase got the rally started when he reached on an error by the shortstop. Sam Michaud looked to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but sent the ball right by the third baseman into shallow left field for a base hit. Nicholas Whitten singled to tie the game at five.

The next batter was Borelli, and he gave the Americans the lead for good when he drilled a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left field. It was his second homer of the game. Jonathan Vickers followed that up with an infield single. That prompted the Nationals to bring in Del Vecchio to pitch. Aidan McKee had started the inning but was unable to record any outs. Sam Cross bunted for a single and eventually came around to score on a series of wild pitches. After a pair of strikeouts for the first two outs of the inning, Daniel Fox singled. He also ended up scoring on a wild pitch. When the dust settled, the Americans had an 11-5 lead.

Even though it looked like they were out of it, South Portland National refused to give in. Manny Ortiz led off with a walk and Adam Helmke followed suit. Ben Michaud singled and suddenly the Nationals had the sacks full and nobody out. Cross came on to pitch to Del Vecchio. Del Vecchio took a 3-2 pitch over the wall in left for a grand slam. That made it an 11-9 game. But Cross settled down and got a strikeout, a groundout and another strikeout to close out the game.

Earlier in the game, things were back and forth. The Americans grabbed the first lead of the game in the bottom of the first. With two outs, Whitten doubled to get things going. Borelli took a 2-1 pitch the other way over the wall in right field for a 2-0 lead for South Portland American.

The Nationals got one of those runs back in the top of the third inning. Ben Michaud led off with a double. Del Vecchio flied to left and Michaud tagged up. The throw to third was off the mark and Michaud advanced with no play. Zac Marles singled and Michaud scored easily to and the Americans led 2-1.

The Nationals took their first lead of the game in the top of the fourth. Cosmo Romano led off with an infield single. Robert Graff followed that up with an infield single of his own. Graff moved to second on a wild pitch, but Romano was thrown out at third. Taylor Knowles reached on an error by the shortstop. Following a strikeout for the second out, Helmke hit a three run homer to give his team a 4-2 lead.

The lead didn’t last long.

In the bottom half of the inning Borelli reached on an error in left field and eventually found himself standing on third base. Andrew Hodge was thrown out on a fielder’s choice but Borelli scored and it was a 4-3 game. Joey Gleason walked and moved to third when Austin Mills hit a ground rule double. Gleason then scored on a wild pitch and the game was tied again.

The Nationals grabbed the lead again in the top of the fifth. Marles hit one that dropped in between the fielders. He moved to second on a tailing liner that was trapped in centerfield. A comeback liner to the pitcher resulted in a quick double play after a throw to first and the Americans were nearly out of trouble. But Marles moved to third on a passed ball and scored when Graff reached on a throwing error by the shortstop. After the inning the Nationals led 5-4. That set up the flurry of runs that finished the game.

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