One of the perks of playing in the Senior League World Series being held this week at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor is the opportunity to play on national television.
This year, Saturday afternoon’s championship game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Only two days into the tournament, a player from Maine District 3 champion Bronco-Hermon has already earned some prime time coverage on ESPN. Bronco-Hermon outfielder Mark Mailloux of Hermon made a diving catch that reached as high as No. 2 Monday night during the Top 10 highlights segment on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”
“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” said the 15-year-old Mailloux, who also plays for Hermon High School and competes on the R.H. Foster of Hampden American Legion squad.
He had received a call from Bronco-Hermon coach Matt Kinney on Monday night to let him know that Jon Alba, sports director at ABC 7/FOX 22 of Bangor, had sent the footage of the catch to ESPN.
“He said they had no guarantees it was going to be on there, but I was just pretty excited that they even offered that,” Mailloux said. “I woke up a little bit earlier [Tuesday] morning so I could see it.”
Word spread quickly among Mailloux’s family and friends about the rare Top 10 appearance.
“I got a bunch of people texting me and calling me, same with my parents, people sharing it on Facebook. It’s pretty exciting,” he said.
Bronco-Hermon opened the Senior League World Series on Sunday by posting a 9-8 victory over the U.S. Southwest champion, Capitol Park Little League of San Antonio, Texas.
During that game, Mailloux turned in the stellar defensive play. In the top of the first inning, with two outs and runners at first and third, the right fielder from Hermon chased down a foul popup off the bat of U.S. Southwest’s Clay Kotzur.
Mailloux made a headlong dive and snared the ball while nearly crashing into the tarp rolled up next to the fence.
“Once the ball’s hit, it’s like instinct,” Mailloux said. “You go to the ball and do your job, catch it. I was going toward the ball and laid out and ended up landing on the warning track.”
He admitted that he was unaware how close his dive had taken him to potentially crashing into the tarp.
“I didn’t really feel it going into my glove. I hit the ground, looked up, everybody’s running toward me, I’ve got the ball in my glove. We were pretty excited,” Mailloux said.
The Maine District 3 champions were scheduled to play U.S. West champion, Central East Maui Little League of Wailuku, Hawaii, in a Senior League World Series game at 8 p.m. Tuesday.