BRISTOL, Conn. — The Saco Little League Major All-Stars’ season came to an end on Tuesday afternoon as the Maine state champions dropped a 7-1 decision to Connecticut and were eliminated from the New England Regional Tournament.
While the final outcome wasn’t what the local All-Stars wanted, Saco manager Kirk Purvis was focused on his team’s incredible summer rather than the two losses in Bristol.
“This has been a great way to spend a summer with 12 families who enjoy each other and we spent a lot of time together,” said Purvis. “There’s a lot of effort, resources, money (and) time that goes into doing something like this and we had a great summer. It was a lot of fun.”
Purvis’ squad, which lost to Massachusetts on Monday evening, would quickly fall behind on Tuesday as the team from Fairfield, Connecticut scored two runs in the top of the first.

The Fairfield American Little League team added one run in the second and two more in both the third and fifth innings to push the lead to 7-0.
Saco finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth when Mac Lowe singled and scored on an RBI groundout off the bat of Henry Lausier. Unfortunately for the local squad, Connecticut’s Pierce Cowles got a strikeout to end the game and Saco’s season.
“Every team down here is good. We knew we were going to face great competition and we went down again early, but again it could have been worse and we limited the damage. We just couldn’t get our bats going,” said Purvis.
Purvis gave credit to Connecticut starting pitcher Will Meyers, who went four innings with just three hits allowed and six strikeouts.
“He was good. We couldn’t catch up to his fastball and he had a good curveball. He kept us off balance and limited us. You tip your cap to the kid,” Purvis said.
Jeremiah Chessie, Lausier and Justin Labelle also had hits for Saco in the game. Chessie got the start on the mound and would go three innings with five strikeouts. Matt Kimball went the final three innings and struck out one, while giving up two runs on four hits.
The Saco manager felt the experience of playing in Bristol in front of the ESPN cameras had an impact on his club.
“No question that being on TV, being in the spotlight down here at this huge tournament affects your mindset — but we told the kids all along to enjoy the moment,” said Purvis. “They’re not going to play in this environment ever again and (we told them) to just savor every out, every at bat, every time in the field. We came out on the short end twice, but I think the kids had an absolute blast while they were down here.”
The Saco coach has a feeling this group of standouts will be making some noise on the high school level in a few years.
“I would think the sports department at Thornton Academy will be looking forward to getting this crew onto the field,” said Purvis.
While his team won’t be celebrating with a regional championship this week, Purvis was happy to go down fighting with this group.
“There are definitely some characters. There are some kids here who I will never forget,” said Purvis. “They make me laugh every day, but I’m so impressed that when they get between the lines their heads are straight and they are focused on becoming better baseball players … I wouldn’t trade my 12 kids for anybody.”
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.