HAMPDEN, Maine — Casey Sudbeck recalls some significant disappointment a year ago when his goal of playing in the Senior League World Series came up a game short.
But beginning Sunday that dream will be realized when Bronco-Hermon, a team of players from Hampden Academy and Hermon High School, will begin play in Little League baseball’s world championship tournament for 15- and 16-year-olds at Mansfield Stadium.
Bronco-Hermon will open against U.S. Southwest champion San Antonio, Texas, at 5 p.m.
Sudbeck and his teammates, who last year lost to Old Town in the championship round of the Maine District 3 tournament that provides the host team for the annual event, went undefeated in winning the district crown this year.
After an extra-inning scare from Sebasticook Valley of Newport-Pittsfield in its opener, Bronco-Hermon scored three more victories — including a 13-0 win over Brewer in the first game of the championship round — to earn the Hampden-Hermon area its first SLWS berth since 2012.
“We all felt like we had the best team and had a lot of talent on this team, so that was kind of the goal coming into this, to get to the World Series,” said Sudbeck, a pitcher and center fielder who will be a senior at Hampden Academy this fall.
“Last year we kind of felt the same way but we didn’t win, so we had to come back this year and make sure we won the games to get to the World Series.”
The 14-player Bronco-Hermon roster coincidentally features an equal number of players from Hampden Academy and Hermon, high school programs that both had their seasons ended by eventual state champions this spring. Hampden lost to Bangor 8-2 in the Class A North quarterfinals, while Hermon reached the Class B North championship game before falling 2-0 to Old Town.
“It works out well for us where there’s good representation from both teams and they all seem to play about the same amount and they all get along well,” said Bronco-Hermon head coach Matt Kinney, a former major league pitcher who also is the head coach at Hermon High School.
“If you look at the positions that everybody’s playing, for the most part as far as the kids playing their best positions, it’s worked out pretty well, with the kids from Hampden and the kids from Hermon mixing and matching.”
Bronco-Hermon relied on pitching and defense to win the Maine District 3 tournament.
The pitching staff is anchored by its three starters, University of Maine verbal commit Alex McKenney, Sudbeck and Zach Nash, while pitcher-infielders Alex Applebee, Derek Gendreau and Kent Johnson Jr. all have been effective in relief.
“We’ve got three solid starters and guys who can throw strikes out of the ’pen, and defensively we’ve played well,” said Kinney. “If you have pitching and defense, I think you stand a chance against anyone.”
McKenney plays first base while Nash plays shortstop when not on the mound, with others on the roster including outfielders Tyler Knights, Mark Mailloux, Garrett Trask and Nick Robidoux, catcher Christian Greener, third baseman Rece Poulin, first baseman Nick Lorenzo and catcher-outfielder Connor Maggliozzi.
“Our bats kind of struggled in the first three games but in the championship game they finally came alive the way we expected,” said McLean Poulin, head baseball coach at Hampden Academy and a Bronco-Hermon assistant coach along with Kent Johnson. “We know it’s not going to be easy against the teams that are coming here.”
Under the blind draw that established matchups for the modified double-elimination format that was instituted for the Senior League World Series for the first time last year, Bronco-Hermon may face the toughest schedule ever presented to a Maine District 3 team.
The host’s bracket also includes the U.S. Southwest, West, East and Southeast, regions that have combined to win eight of the 14 Senior League World Series since it was moved to Bangor in 2002 — Latin America has won five of the other six titles.
“If you come and compete, you never know what will happen, because pitching and defense can keep you in it,” said Kinney. “If we had to play them in basketball, you’d have to have everybody on the other team have a terrible game because they might just be bigger and better. But in baseball, if we have a kid who throws strikes and has some pretty decent stuff and we can play defense and put a couple of hits together, you can win.
“That’s why I love this sport, because Goliath doesn’t always win.”
There was some anticipation that Bronco-Hermon’s first SLWS opponent would be two-time defending champion West University Little League of Houston, Texas, but that team was eliminated in Wednesday’s championship round of the U.S. Southwest tournament by the Capitol Park Little League of San Antonio, Texas.
So instead of opening against the two-time defending champs, Bronco-Hermon will begin its Senior League World Series adventure against the team that beat the two-time defending champs.
“I think it’s going to be fun for us to face the best right off and see how we stack up against the best of the best,” said Nash. “I think if we go out and leave everything on the field and know we gave it our all — play clean in the field and hit the ball — that’s something we can live with.”
Nash has been coming to the Senior League World Series as a young fan for several years, all the while envisioning himself playing on this international stage one day.
That day is here.
“As a little kid I’d spend the whole week there and it’s going to be awesome to finally get to play there,” he said.
“This is our summer. A lot of people want to do other things like go down to the beach, but for us this is going to be awesome to experience the Senior League World Series.”
