NOTE: The six state tournament qualifiers each played three preliminary round games against predetermined opponents. At the conclusion of this pool competition, the top four teams advanced to single-elimination semifinal and championship round games.
Tournament Results:
Round 1 (Saturday, July 24):
Augusta West 14, Coastal 0 (4 innings)
Lincoln 4, Rockland 1
Cape Elizabeth 6, East Biddeford 5 (7 innings)
Round 2 (Sunday, July 25):
East Biddeford 3, Lincoln 2
Cape Elizabeth 9, Coastal 0
Augusta West 11, Rockland 1 (full six innings)
Round 3 (Monday, July 26):
Cape Elizabeth 12, Lincoln 2 (4 innings)
Augusta West 9, East Biddeford 1
Rockland 10, Coastal 0 (4 innings)
Standings |
W |
L |
Runs Allowed |
Augusta West |
3 |
0 |
2 |
Cape Elizabeth |
3 |
0 |
7 |
East Biddeford |
1 |
2 |
17 |
Lincoln |
1 |
2 |
16 |
Rockland |
1 |
2 |
15 |
Coastal |
0 |
3 |
33 |
The top four teams advance to the semifinal round.
Ties are broken based on records in head-to-head competition among tied teams. If a clear winner cannot be determined from head-to-head results, the tie is broken by calculating the ratio of runs allowed to defensive innings played for all teams involved in the tie. The team with the lowest runs-per-defensive-inning ratio advances.
In the event of a tie involving three or more teams, once the initial tie is broken, the remaining tied teams are again compared on head-to-head record to determine if a clear winner can be identified. If no clear winner can be identified from head-to-head results among the remaining tied teams, the runs-per-defensive-inning ratio is again used. This process is repeated until all ties have been broken.
East Biddeford advances as the third seed based on a superior runs per defensive inning ratio. East Biddeford allowed 17 runs in 19 innings (.895 runs/inning), while Rockland allowed 15 runs in 16 innings (.937) and Lincoln allowed 16 runs in 16 innings (1.000).
Lincoln advances as the fourth seed based on their head-to-head victory over Rockland.
Semifinal Round (Thursday, July 29)
East Biddeford 7, Cape Elizabeth 4
Augusta West 6, Lincoln 5
Maine State Championship Game (Friday, July 30)
East Biddeford 2, Augusta West 0 (TITLE)
Summary:
Revenge, as the saying goes, is sweet. Just ask the East Biddeford Little League all-star team.
East Biddeford lost three games against Maine opponents in the 2004 international tournament, but later avenged each of the defeats in games that eliminated their opponent. The last of the second-chance wins, a 2-0 upset of previously undefeated Augusta West Little League, gave East Biddeford the league's first-ever state championship.
"We've come back to beat every team when it mattered," said East Biddeford coach Peter Mourmouras.
Augusta West came into the championship game heavily favored, returning five players from its 2003 state championship team and outscoring eight opponents by a 75-11 margin. But East Biddeford tallied an unearned run in the first inning, and pitcher Trevor Fleurent made the early lead hold up. The left-hander made the most of his first pitching appearance at the state tournament, shutting down Augusta West's offense with a complete game four-hitter. Fleurent walked only two batters, one of which was intentional, and struck out twelve. Sixty-one of his 81 pitches were strikes.
"He was unbelievable," said Mourmouras. "He's our third pitcher normally."
"Of all the pitchers we have, I think he has the best control," said East Biddeford manager Peter Anton. "He spots his pitches very well."
Fleurent also keyed East Biddeford's early rally. He led off the game with an opposite-field double over the first base bag, then moved to third and scored on a throwing error following Alex Luro's bloop single.
"It was huge," said Mourmouras of the early lead. "To go out in the first inning -- it put (Augusta West) back on their heels."
East Biddeford added a run in the fifth when Luro drew a two-out walk, moved to third on a pair of passed balls, and scored on a throwing error when Keith Petrin's walk created a first-and-third situation.
"They made a couple of mistakes and we took advantage of them," said Anton. "That was the difference in the ballgame."
Augusta West pitcher Ryan Minoty struck out ten and allowed only four hits in the loss. Minoty had defeated East Biddeford in the teams' first meeting, and allowed only one earned run in eleven innings against the eventual champions.
Fleurent, who retired ten batters in a row from the first through the fourth inning, ran into trouble only once. Corey Lapierre's two-out double put Augusta West runners at second and third with two outs in the fifth. Fleurent intentionally walked leadoff hitter Jake Lachance, who came into the game hitting .625 with four home runs at the state tournament, then registered an inning-ending strikeout.
T.J. Vallee opened the sixth with a double, but Fleurent quickly retired the next three hitters to seal the win.
"There's not much more I can say," said Augusta West manager Tom Vallee. "we just didn't hit the ball."
"Hats off to East Biddeford," he added. "They played a great game."
East Biddeford looked anything but championship-bound in its early state tournament games. Maine officials employed a new format in 2004 in which each state tournament qualifier played three pool games before the six-team field was reduced for single-elimination semifinal and championship round games. East Biddeford won only one of its three pool games, scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth inning to edge Lincoln Little League 3-2. The single victory was enough to lift the District 4 champions into a three-way tie for third place, and East Biddeford advanced to the semifinal round on a tiebreaker.
Their semifinal round opponent, Cape Elizabeth Little League, defeated East Biddeford 6-5 in seven innings during pool competition. East Biddeford prevailed in the rematch, riding a pair of home runs to a 7-3 victory. Joey White gave East Biddeford an early lead with a three-run blast over the right field fence in the top of the first inning. After Cape Elizabeth closed the gap to 3-2, Luro launched a three-run homer of his own far beyond the left-center field fence in the fifth.
"Our bats have been kind of off-duty the last three games," said Anton, whose team was homerless and scored only nine runs in its pool games. "This team can hit the ball, and today we showed it."
"They were good pitches by our pitcher," said Cape Elizabeth manager Andy Dickey. "But they went down and got them and drove the ball out. They were great hits."
"It's tough . . . You only lose one game and you go home," said Dickey. "But that's the way they do it at the next level."
The power surge made a winner of Luro, who scattered nine hits in a complete game effort.
"Alec did a great job of keeping them off-balance," said Anton. "He's definitely our number one, our go-to guy. You've got to get to the championship game, so you've got to pitch your best guy."
Augusta West, which came within a victory of reaching the Little League World Series in 2003, dominated pool competition, outscoring three opponents by a 34-2 margin. The District 5 champions needed a last-inning rally in the semifinal round, however: Lincoln capitalized on four walks and two wild pitches to score four runs in the fourth inning, and carried a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the sixth. But Augusta West converted two errors, a walk, and four wild pitches into three runs and a 6-5 victory.
East Biddeford, which avenged its initial loss in the international tournament with a 5-1 win over West Biddeford Little League in the District 4 championship game, soon gained its revenge against Augusta West. The win was doubly sweet for the District 4 champions. East Biddeford last reached the state championship game in 1998, but fell 4-2 to Augusta West on a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
East Biddeford also reached the Maine championship game in 1986 before dropping a 4-2 decision to Old Town Little League.
Follow East Biddeford at the New England Region Tournament -- Click here to view results.
Linescores:
Game 1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
|
R |
H |
E |
Augusta West |
3 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
14 |
13 |
0 |
Coastal |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
9 |
|
|
Game 2 |
Lincoln |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
|
|
4 |
7 |
1 |
Rockland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
1 |
9 |
0 |
|
|
Game 3 |
East Biddeford |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
5 |
7 |
3 |
Cape Elizabeth |
2 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
6 |
9 |
2 |
|
|
Game 4 |
Lincoln |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
2 |
6 |
4 |
East Biddeford |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
3 |
5 |
0 |
|
|
Game 5 |
Coastal |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
0 |
3 |
1 |
Cape Elizabeth |
0 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
x |
|
|
9 |
15 |
0 |
|
|
Game 6 |
Augusta West |
1 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
11 |
10 |
0 |
Rockland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
1 |
5 |
3 |
|
|
Game 7 |
Lincoln |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
2 |
4 |
5 |
Cape Elizabeth |
3 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
12 |
9 |
0 |
|
|
Game 8 |
Augusta West |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
|
|
9 |
10 |
0 |
East Biddeford |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
1 |
4 |
1 |
|
|
Game 9 |
Rockland |
1 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
10 |
12 |
0 |
Coastal |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
0 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
Semifinal Round |
East Biddeford |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
|
|
7 |
10 |
3 |
Cape Elizabeth |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
4 |
9 |
0 |
|
|
Semifinal Round |
Lincoln |
0 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
5 |
7 |
4 |
Augusta West |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
|
6 |
8 |
0 |
|
|
Championship Game |
East Biddeford |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
2 |
4 |
0 |
Augusta West |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
0 |
4 |
2 |
|
|
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Last revision: 06/12/2005