Scarborough won two games in walk-off fashion over the weekend, defeating Windham, 3-2, on Saturday and Portland North, 2-1, Sunday in eight innings.
The victories advanced Scarborough deeper into the 10-and-under District 6 Little League all-star tournament being played at South Portland. They will face either Bayside or Yarmouth Friday at 5:30 p.m.
Trailing Windham by a run Saturday, Scarborough attempted to play small ball in the fourth and fifth innings, but had each attempt was foiled by Windham’s strong defense.
“We were bunting because their fielders weren’t coming in when we were showing bunt,” Scarborough coach Dan Kelly said. “We were testing them out a little bit, but their catcher was making nice plays. They were fielding exceptionally well all day.”
If at first you don’t succeed, try something different.
Trailing, 2-1, Alec Cohen singled to lead off the bottom of the sixth, and the speedy Ian Morris was brought in as a pinch runner. Matt Hartl then ripped a single to right field, and Nick Suchecki walked, loading the bases.
“In the last inning you have to get some guys on base,” Kelly said. “We had some good hitters coming up, so we’re just going to let them swing away.”
With his teammates in the dugout chanting, “Rally!” their hats turned inside out and backwards, the No. 9-hitter Ryan Collins stepped to the plate with the game on the line.
With the count even at two balls and two strikes, Collins lined a single to center field, scoring Morris and Hartl for the victory.
“That was a fantastic hit,” Kelly said. “It was a clutch hit when we needed it.”
The late-inning heroics wouldn’t have been possible if starting pitcher Nick Bagley hadn’t kept the game close.
The right-hander tossed a complete game, throwing 95 pitches – 10 more than the maximum allowed by Scarborough Little League during the regular season.
“He’s a real strong kid,” Kelly said. “He’s our ace. My hat’s off to Windham. That’s a tough one for them to lose.”
Scarborough then advanced to play Portland North Sunday.
The game entered extra innings scoreless, but Portland got a run in the top of the eighth.
The deficit could have been greater, but perfect fielding fundamentals resulted in a double play to end the inning.
With runners on first and third and one out, Evan Leonardson fielded a grounder at third base. He looked the runner back at third and fired to first baseman Mikey Caryl for the first out.
Portland’s base runner broke from third to home on the throw, and Caryl fired to Morris, the catcher, who blocked the plate and applied the tag to end the inning.
Still, Scarborough was left one run down and only three outs – eventually only one strike – from defeat.
In the bottom of the eighth, with two outs and runners on second and third, Suchecki fell behind in the count, 0-2.
After fouling off a pitch to stay alive, Suchecki lined a ball up the right field line, scoring Hartl and Cohen for Scarborough’s second walk-off win of the weekend.
Collins started the game on the mound, pitching five innings, striking out four and waking just one while allowing no runs on two hits.
Suchecki came on in relief for the win, pitching three innings and only allowing one run for the victory.
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