BANGOR, Maine — When Parker Soule-Parent stepped to the plate in the fifth inning of the winner-take-all championship game at the State Senior American Legion Tournament against the Trenton Acadians in Bangor Wednesday night, his Sanford-based Greater Southern Maine Riders had gone 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position in the championship round.
There were runners on first and second, and his Riders were trailing the Acadians 1-0.
Greater Southern Maine had been 2-0 in the four-team double-elimination tournament entering the championship round but had lost to the once-beaten Acadians 3-1 earlier Wednesday evening, which forced a championship game.
Tournament Most Valuable Player Soule-Parent rifled a vicious line drive single to right to drive in the tying run, and when the ball skipped past the right fielder, the go-ahead run also scored as the Riders scored five times in the inning to triumph 7-2 at the Ronald J. St. Pierre Field in Shawn T. Mansfield Stadium.
It is the first state American Legion baseball championship for a Sanford-based team since 1951.
The Riders will play the host team in their Northeast Regional opener at Fitton Ballpark in Worcester, Massachusetts, at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6.
Henry Marcotte started the decisive fifth-inning rally with a seeing-eye ground ball single past the second baseman.
He was forced out at second on a grounder by Tyler Do, and Parker Bjorklund walked.
Soule-Parent then drilled his opposite-field single to right off Evan Haskell’s 0-1 pitch.
“The pitch before was a slider for a called strike, so I was sitting on the same pitch again, I got it, and I was able to put a good swing on it,” said Soule-Parent, a recent Massabesic High School of Waterboro graduate who is going to play at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut this fall.
Spencer Young came on in relief and hit Brody Baron with a pitch before Noah Corliss grounded a soft single to center to load the bases.
A passed ball produced the third run before pinch-hitter Donovan Harvey laced a two-run single to center.
“That was awesome,” said Soule-Parent about Harvey’s hit.
“It was a fastball middle-of-the-plate in, and that’s my pitch. I went out and hit it,” said Harvey.
“We had been knocking on the door all day and we finally got one to fall. Parker has been on fire all tournament. I’m glad he was the guy to do it. It’s just all energy. The team gets going with that little bit of momentum and it just carries on. With my swing, I felt confident because I got put into a position to do it,” said Harvey.
“I knew it was a big moment. I had a terrible at-bat up until that point, but I got my pitch and hit it,” added Harvey, who attends Ossipee Valley Christian School in Cornish.
Harvey picked up another run-batted-in in the two-run sixth with a bases-loaded walk before an errant pickoff throw delivered the second run.
Side-armer Ryan Clark, who was a freshman at the University of Maine-Farmington this past spring, threw three innings of two-hit, one-run ball to pick up the win.
He struck out one, walked one and hit a batter. He worked out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the seventh, inducing a game-ending fly ball to center field. He allowed a run in the sixth on a hit batsman, a Luke Horne single and three ground ball outs.
“Everything was working for me. I got into tough situations, of course, but I had no doubt that I could get the balls in play and just get the outs,” said Clark, who had graduated from Kennebunk High School. “I knew as soon as we were up by a good amount of runs, it was game over.”
Trenton had taken a 1-0 lead in the second inning on consecutive singles by Hollis Grindal, Horne and Jackson Barry.
Noah Corliss had two singles for the winners, and Soule-Parent’s base hit gave him seven hits, including a homer and a double, in 11 at-bats in the tourney. He drove in five runs.
He also pitched three scoreless innings in the tourney-opening 5-3 win over Trenton.
Soule-Parent was pleased to be named the MVP.
“It feels great. I’ve worked really hard. I’m really happy we came out with the win,” said Soule-Parent.
Greater Southern Maine head coach Patrick Corless said Soule-Parent was very deserving of the honor.
“His hit broke it open for us. That was huge. I can see why he got named MVP. He has had some big hits for us in the series. He’s a great kid, has a great bat and is even a better pitcher,” said Corliss.
Haskell, making his first start in several weeks after sustaining an injury during the high school season, gave the Acadians 4 ⅓ quality innings before allowing two walks and a hit in the fifth and being replaced.
“His first bullpen session wasn’t until just the other day. I let him try it and he gave me the green light,” said Acadians coach Adam Sheehan. “He is such a good player mentally. I knew he was going to battle and keep his composure. He pitched great.”
Landen Richard, who had thrown two scoreless innings in Wednesday’s first game, threw four innings of solid five-hit, one-run ball in the title game with three strikeouts and two walks.
He worked his way out of a runners on second-and-third, one-out jam in the fourth following a walk and a Ryan Winchester double.
Trenton standout Dawson Curtis reached base in nine consecutive at-bats on seven hits and two walks before being held hitless in the final.
Curtis said it was difficult coming out of the losers bracket but said “we fought. We’re a bunch of Downeast fighters and we will never quit on anything.
“They’re a great team. We knew we would have to play almost perfect baseball to beat them. We played a very clean first game but we were exhausted in the second game. We battled and battled coming out of the losers bracket but we just came up short at the end of the day,” said Curtis, who will play at Husson University in Bangor next season.