BANGOR, Maine — In a baseball game with more ups and downs than a roller coaster, composure is one of the most important assets a team can showcase.
The Maine District 3 champions from Hampden-Hermon watched as a seemingly insurmountable 8-1 lead vanished in a mere two innings thanks to a resilient U.S. Southwest champion from San Antonio, Texas.
But manager Matt Kinney’s Bronco-Hermon club sent a partisan Mansfield Stadium crowd home happy Sunday evening, as Alex Applebee’s infield single gave the Maine representatives a thrilling 9-8 victory.
Bronco-Hermon had raced out to an 8-1 lead after five innings only to see San Antonio rally for six runs in the top of the sixth and another in the top of the seventh, but Applebee’s slow-rolling grounder up the third base line allowed Kent Johnson to scamper home with the winning run and for Kinney’s club to win an all-important opening game.
“They’re a great team, so we knew we had to play real well to win that game,” said Kinney, whose club next plays at 8 p.m. Tuesday, while the U.S. Southwest champs will battle the U.S. East representative from Clifton, New Jersey, at 8 p.m. Monday.
Right-hander Alex McKenney kept the San Antonio bats in check in his 4⅔ innings of work, but had to leave the game upon eclipsing the 95-pitch limit.
McKenney only surrendered one run on two hits while striking out five.
His mates backed him up with plenty of run support, as Casey Subdeck drove in the game’s initial run with a first-inning double while Mark Mailloux sparked a four-run fifth with a deep three-run double to center.
Maine appeared to have firm control at that point, but San Antonio demonstrated why the U.S. Southwest has won the last two Senior League World Series titles, sending 11 men to the plate in the sixth, with Aaron Valdez’ two-run double and Jalen Battles’ two-run single serving as the big blows.
“It was frustrating at times in the middle innings when it started to slip away, because we felt like we just weren’t getting breaks,” McKenney said.
Reliever Zach Nash managed to extinguish the San Antonio sixth with a strikeout, but a leadoff seventh-inning triple by Derek Klosowski and an RBI groundout to second by Matt Castro allowed San Antonio to tie the game.
But Nash would strand two Texas runners, as he did in the sixth, to give his mates a chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh.
“Zach did a good job, he came in and kept it from getting away from us,” said Kinney.
Even though Christian Greener would lead off the Maine seventh with a base hit to center, he was erased on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Kent Johnson. However, Johnson stole second and got to third on a balk.
After Mailloux struck out, Applebee chopped a 3-2 pitch to the left side that he managed to beat out and allowed Maine to walk off with the victory.
Even as Maine’s lead shrunk, Kinney’s club managed to keep their heads in the game against a San Antonio club that had to beat defending champion West University Little League of Houston twice just to get to Bangor.
“Looking at the guys in the dugout, nobody got negative, nobody was hanging their heads,” Kinney said.
“We knew when we saw our draw it was going to be fun,” McKenney said. “We know we can compete.”
Applebee scored two runs and singled twice while Subdeck had a pair of doubles for Maine. Klosowski (triple, single) and Valdez (double, single) were San Antonio’s lone repeat hitters.
In Sunday’s opener, U.S. Central champ Clear Ridge, Illinois, beat Europe-Africa champ Barcelona, Spain 6-0 and U.S. Southeast winner Dunfries, Virginia edged U.S. East champ Clifton, New Jersey 4-3 in the second game.
