Bangor East thwarts Bangor West

The Bangor East Little League All-Stars were in a tough situation going into Monday afternoon’s District 3 playoff game at Taylor Field in Bangor.

They were one loss away from elimination and were facing a confident, undefeated team in Bangor West. To set up a winner-takes-all game in the Penobscot Division, the East needed someone to step up and give them a charge.

That someone was Josh Pressley. Pressley pitched a six-hitter and went 2-for-4 with three RBIs to lead Bangor East to a 7-4 victory over Bangor West.

Bangor East’s win sets up a deciding game at Fourteenth Street Field at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The winner is Penobscot Division champ and plays in the District 3 final. The loser goes home for good.

Bangor East is now 4-1 in the playoffs and Bangor West is 3-1.

If not for Pressley’s heroics, the East team might have gone home Monday night. The tall 12-year-old kept West hitters guessing throughout the game – striking out nine and walking only two.

“I was just throwing really good,” said Pressley. “I worked as hard as I could and ended up winning it.”

“We went to the curveball in the later innings with Josh because he just didn’t have his fastball today, but that’s what did it,” said Bangor East Coach Bud Pressley.

Pressley got the Bangor offense jump-started immediately with a two-run homer in his first at-bat. Pressley scored leadoff hitter Chris Nil with a shot over the left field fence in the top of the first.

“We jumped out quick and I think that in itself set the tone for this ballgame,” said Bud Pressley.

Bangor East didn’t stop there as it took advantage of two walks and two errors by scoring twice more for a 4-0 lead.

Bangor West scored a run in the first on an RBI single by Jamie Whitney, but never came closer than three runs.

“The thing that killed us was the walks,” said Neil Waterman, Bangor West’s coach. “When we got down 4-0 on one hit, it really put a lot of pressure on the kids.”

The two teams met a week ago and battled eight innings before Bangor West came away with a 3-2 victory.

That game prompted Bud Pressley to make a key change in his lineup and move Nil up to the leadoff spot.

“Our leadoff guy wasn’t getting on base in front of Josh and Mike Arsenault,” said Pressley. “And that (change) panned out for us in the first inning today.”

And the third… Nil reached again in that inning on an error and later scored his second run.

Errors cost Bangor West dearly as all of them led to runs by Bangor East. Errors and walks – four and eight of them, respectively.

The East took a 6-1 lead in the third inning, thanks to two errors, a walk, and an RBI double by Josh Pressley.

Two walks and a fielder’s choice in the fourth gave Bangor East its last run.

But it was enough as the West could manage only a three-run rally in the fourth inning to close out the scoring.

Pitcher-second baseman Ken Jordan’s two-run homer over the right-center field fence highlighted the rally. Whitney scored on a balk.

First baseman Mike Reid had the only other RBI for Bangor East with a fielder’s choice. Right fielder Arsenault’s sixth-inning single was the only other hit.

For Bangor West, shortstop Tom Waterman and first baseman Whitney each singled twice to lead the offense. Waterman stole a base and scored twice while Whitney scored a run and had an RBI.

Jordan pitched the first three innings and took the loss.