Westbrook’s and Cape Elizabeth’s 12-year-old Little Leaguers know each other well. The major forces two seasons ago as 10-year-olds, Westbrook and Cape once again dominated the field in this year’s 11-12 age District 6 tournament at Portland’s Payson Park.
When the dust settled this time, it was Westbrook emerging with tough wins Sunday and Monday over Cape to take the district title.
Westbrook now advances to the State tournament, underway this weekend at Legion Fields in Falmouth.
Hard-throwing Sean Murphy took to the hill Monday, overcame a couple of tight spots and sealed his complete-game shutout by retiring the final four hitters in a 2-0 win.
The game’s only runs came when Tommy Lemay came through with two strikes on him, lining a double to right field, plating Mike Mowatt (who had walked) and Mitch Chipman (who had singled) in the third inning.
“Murph” scattered three hits over six inning while striking out seven, mixing in a strong curve with a fastball.
Despite taking the loss, Cape’s ace, Robert McDonald, was just as strong in pitching a complete game. He struck out the side in the first inning, finishing with 11 K’s. He retired the last 10 batters that he faced. And the only hits he gave up were the single and double in the third.
Westbrook edged Cape in the first game of the final series on Sunday 4-3 in seven innings, a thriller that still had fans buzzing Monday.
Credit Zack Collett with the big blast, a three-run homer to deep center, giving Westbrook its first lead of the game in the fifth inning.
“It felt great,” said Collett of his homer. “I’m pretty sure that it was a first pitch. It was high and I just tomahawked it out.”
Westbrook trailed 2-0 after four innings as Cape Elizabeth’s starter Jamie Ross held Westbrook at bay through the first four innings. Cape started the game with back-to-back doubles off of Westbrook’s starter Nick Finocchiaro and added another run in the second on a single by Robert McDonald.
However, in the top of the fifth, Reid Coulumbe and Mitchell Chipman were on base via walks when Collett came to the plate to face Ross. With a count of one and one, Collett drilled his shot to center to give Westbrook the 3-2 lead.
Cape tied it up in the bottom of the sixth inning when Jamie Ross doubled and McDonald singled to send the game to extra innings.
In the top of the seventh, Lemay worked a walk, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a double by Chipman. Gardiner pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning to pick up the save. Finocchiaro, who pitched well scattered five hits over six innings to pick up the win for Westbrook.
After falling in the final game, Cape manager Cameron Brown had no regrets.
“Both games came down to the end. There was outstanding pitching,” said Brown. “You’ve got to give Westbrook a lot of credit. It was a well-played game and, who knows. If we played this game next week, we might have won it.
“This is what Little League is all about.”
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