BANGOR, Maine — Old Town manager Troy Sheehan was blunt about his team’s effort against the U.S. East all-stars on Tuesday night.
“We got pounded last night and nobody was happy about it,” he said.
It was the Maine District 3 champions did much of the pounding during Wednesday night’s contest against Asia Pacific.
Old Town piled up 15 hits and overcame six errors to register an 11-8 victory over Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, in the Senior League World Series at Mansfield Stadium.
“That was awesome,” said Sheehan, whose ballclub (2-1) advances to Thursday’s 8 p.m. semifinal against U.S. Central representative Holmes County, Ohio, which beat Old Town 13-2 on Tuesday.
The victor plays in Saturday’s championship game.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Sheehan said. “We came into this thing with high hopes and moderate expectations. We just want to represent ourselves well, play hard, be competitive and I think we’ve done that.”
Kaleb Gifford spearheaded the Old Town offense with three singles and drove in four runs, while Austin Sheehan (double) and Ryan Hoogterp each had three hits and two RBIs.
T.J. Crawford rapped two triples and a single out of the leadoff spot for the winners to support Hoogterp, who picked up the win with 1⅔ innings of one-hit, two-run relief.
“It’s a dream of all of ours to come to this World Series and to make it this far,” Gifford said. “I’m sure we’re all super excited. We can’t wait for that next game.”
Lorenzo Sebaklim led Saipan (2-2) with three singles and an RBI to back starter and losing pitcher Ethan Babauta.
Asia Pacific was shorthanded for its tourney finale as three players were ineligible after being ejected as the result of a situation during Tuesday’s game against Italy.
The squad nonetheless showed plenty of enthusiasm and fight, but its pitching staff could not hold Old Town in check.
“They did their best. We came up short to a good team — not to mention the 10,000 fans with them,” quipped Saipan manager Gregorio Camacho. “I think the fans there were a little bit louder than our boys because we’re known to be a little bit cheerful during this tournament.”
Saipan took a short-lived 1-0 lead in the first inning on Nathan Camacho’s run-scoring double, but the visitors were playing catch-up after that.
Maine’s District 3 champs scored three in the first against Babauta. Hoogterp, Sheehan and Daniel Cole stroked RBI singles, but it was Crawford’s leadoff triple that set the tone.
“After T.J. got the triple, the first hit of the game, it got us all up, got us started,” Gifford said.
“The bats were live and we just need to hop on the first pitch and get the bats going in the early innings,” Crawford added.
Saipan got one back in the second via Sebaklim’s run-scoring single, but Old Town tallied twice in the bottom of the inning, one on Gifford’s sacrifice fly.
Asia Pacific scored twice in the third, including Babauta’s RBI single, but the Maine squad answered with three more. Gifford lined a two-run single and Sheehan ripped an RBI single as Old Town made it 8-4 game before Stoddard worked the first scoreless inning of the contest.
Maine added a run in the fourth on Hoogterp’s hot RBI single, then Saipan snapped a two-inning drought with a two-run rally in the sixth that included Craig Aguon’s sacrifice fly.
Undaunted, Old Town rallied for two in the home half, one on Gifford’s looping RBI single behind first base, to extend the lead to 11-6.
“The Maine crowd is just great,” Hoogterp said. “Everyone from Old Town is here; kids from Bangor.”
Saipan scratched out two runs in the seventh with the aid of two errors, but came up short.
The Maine District 3 champions know they face a tough test on Thursday.
“(They have) better pitching than we saw tonight. It’s going to be a bit of a challenge, but I’m confident that we can do it,” Crawford said.