Tournament Results:
Opening Round:
Saco/Maremont 13, Brewer 0
Bayside 5, Waldo County 1
Winner's Bracket Semifinals:
Saco/Maremont 7, Acadian 2
Bayside 7, Auburn Suburban 6
Elimination Bracket Quarterfinals (six teams remain):
Brewer 2, Auburn Suburban 1 (elim.)
Waldo County 6, Acadian 3 (elim.)
Winner's Bracket Final:
Bayside 4, Saco/Maremont 2
Elimination Bracket Semifinal (four teams remain):
Brewer 7, Waldo County 6 (elim.)
Elimination Bracket Final (three teams remain):
Saco/Maremont 15, Brewer 3 (elim.)
Championship Series:
Saco/Maremont 12, Bayside 4
Saco/Maremont 14, Bayside 1 (TITLE)
Summary:
After a 4-2 loss midway through the 2013 Maine state tournament, Saco/Maremont Little League found itself staring up from the bottom bracket, needing three consecutive wins to claim the state championship.
Just like they did in 2011, when Saco/Maremont emerged from the elimination bracket and claimed the state championship in the 9-10 year old division.
And just like they did in 2012, when the league streaked to a state crown in the 10-11 year old division following a loss earlier in the tournament.
Saco/Maremont was very familiar with the way out.
Saco followed that loss with thee consecutive victories, including a championship series sweep of the Bayside Little League team that sent them crashing to their earlier loss, and claimed the Maine state championship at Linscott Field in Augusta. The victory gave the league Saco's third-ever state championship in the major baseball division, and earned its players their third state crown in as many years.
Saco Maremont Little League won the Maine title in 1988, before it and Saco Little League merged after the turn of the millennium, and Saco-Old Orchard Beach won top honors in 1958.
Saco/Maremont had opened the tournament with a pair of victories, but Bayside's William Snyder slammed a three-run homer in the first inning, and his team held on to defeat Saco, 4-2, in the winner's bracket final.
Saco earned a rematch with a 15-3 victory over Brewer Little League in the elimination bracket final -- the victors scored ten times in the bottom of the first inning of that game -- and then scored in each of their nine offensive innings over two championship series games against Bayside. Saco/Maremont forced a deciding game with a 12-4 win that was shortened to five innings by rain, then capped their comeback with a 14-1 win in four innings.
The wins vaulted Saco/Maremont into the New England Region tournament, where the Maine representative eventually fell in the semifinal round to eventual U.S. runner-up Westport Little League.
Saco had scored just two runs in their first meeting with Bayside, but notched a run on their first batter of the first championship series meeting when Timmy Smith led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run.
"It sets the tone, no question, for your leadoff guy to put one out," said Saco/Maremont manager Todd Duchaine. "And it sends a message to the other team in a hurry."
Bayside tied the game in the second when Walt Lewandowski cleared the fences, but Saco/Maremont sent another message in the second, scoring five runs to take command of the game.
Andrew DeGeorge led off the second with a single, and moved to third on Hunter Penley's double. Michael Bourgault then launched a three-run homer over the right field fence to give his team the lead. Later in the inning, Anthony Bracamonte singled to produce another run, and Saco added a fifth on a wild pitch.
Bayside narrowed the Saco lead on Trey Fletcher's solo home run in the top of the third, but Saco/Maremont extended the lead on Daniel McLeer's two-run shot in the bottom of the frame.
Pitcher Brogan Searle-Belanger led off the fourth with a double and later scored on an error, and Saco added two more in the fifth on Luke Chessie's two-run single up the middle.
Searle-Belanger surrendered the two solo home runs, but struck out six and allowed just one other hit in the game.
"He's dominant," said Todd Duchaine of his pitcher. "That's what we needed. Folks have been asking 'when's Brogan going to pitch?' And, well, they saw him tonight."
"They've come out of the loser's bracket and they've also beaten a team twice to win championships before," added the Saco manager with an eye toward the deciding game. "This is not new territory for them. Hopefully we can pull it off again."
The next day, Saco/Maremont pounded fifteen hits and batted around in two separate innings during a four inning, 14-1 win over the same team that sealed the state championship.
Chessie, who had taken the loss in the teams' first meeting, threw a complete game, striking out seven and allowing just three hits.
"Chessie certainly mixes up his pitches," said Bayside manager Chris Sawyer. "He's got a good biting curveball (and) he's got a good fastball."
Saco jumped to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, with Smith opening the game with a double down the right field line and Bracamonte driving him in with a single before scoring himself on a fielders' choice. Bayside halved the deficit on Fletcher's leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning -- his fourth of the tournament -- but Saco scored six times after two batters were retired in the second inning, and moved on from there to the title.
Bracamonte drove in the inning's first run with a line double to center field, and Chessie followed with a two-run single to center. Searle-Belanger drove him in with a triple to right field, and after Bourgault walked, Penley reached on an infield single that scored another run. Ean Patry -- who had singled earlier in the inning -- added another single two batters later that scored Bourgault.
Searle-Belanger doubled in a run in the third, and Bracamonte did the same in the fourth. Chessie capped the scoring with a two-run single to right field that scored Smith and Bracamonte and pushed Saco/Maremont's lead to double-digits.
"Except for a couple of games during the entire all-star season, we've hit the ball very well," said Todd Duchaine after the game. "You've got to keep pace with us. If you're not throwing your ace the whole game, it's tough to keep up with us."
"We certainly made some errors in the field, but even with that said, they were hitting the ball well today," said Sawyer. "When a team like that gets on a roll, it's tough to slow them down. They're a good hitting club."
Good hitting. Outstanding pitching. And a very high comfort level in winning games while on the brink of elimination.
Follow Saco/Maremont at the New England Region Tournament -- Click here to view results.
Linescores:
| Elimination Bracket Final |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
|
R |
H |
E |
| Saco Maremont |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
2 |
3 |
0 |
| Bayside |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
4 |
4 |
1 |
|
|
| Championship Series Game 1 |
| Bayside |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
4 |
7 |
2 |
| Saco Maremont |
1 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
12 |
14 |
0 |
|
|
| Championship Series Game 2 |
| Saco Maremont |
2 |
6 |
2 |
4 |
|
|
|
14 |
14 |
0 |
| Bayside |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
1 |
3 |
4 |
|
|
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Last revision: 06/08/2014
