Bangor, Orono advance to state tourney

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BANGOR – In a pitching-poor/hitting-rich American Legion Zone 1 tournament, the Bangor Comrades took the easy road while Orono took the hard one to get to Sunday night’s championship.

The difference was apparent as No. 3 Bangor starter Joe Vanidestine enjoyed one of the strongest starts of the tourney to help lead the fourth-seeded Comrades to the Zone 1 title with a 13-1 victory.

Top seed Orono, which had to play an extra game Sunday after losing Friday in the double-elimination tourney, simply had little pitching left after outslugging two teams to secure the zone’s second berth in the state tournament, which begins Saturday at Maguire and Morton Fields in Augusta.

The 13-8 Comrades will take on the Zone 3 runnerup at 2 p.m. Saturday while 14-7 Orono meets the Zone 3 champ at 11 a.m.

Sunday night, Vanidestine (3-1) used an effective fastball-curve mix to hold Orono to three hits and no earned runs in six innings while walking six batters and striking out five.

“I was trying to keep the ball low so they’d pound the ground, and we turned three double plays to kind of knock the wind out of them,” said Vanidestine. “Plus we got up on ’em early and that helped.”

Catcher Shawn Bouchard led the offense with three of Bangor’s 10 hits and four RBIs.

“I’m keeping my head in now. Instead of trying to hit the ball as hard as I can, I’m trying to make contact, put the ball in play, and score some runs,” Bouchard said.

Bangor won three straight to take the title.

“Tonight we had the frame of mind we didn’t want to lose and then play again on Monday the way these games have gone,” Bouchard added.

Sunday afternoon, Orono had to swing “the hammer’ after a quick start and a four-inning lull, to earn a third straight trip to states.

Thanks in large part to the hitting heroics of center fielder Aaron Civiello (3-for-4, three RBIs and two runs) and the lucky sledgehammer that he used to rally his Stearns High School football team for two years, the Twins beat back a determined comeback by a stubborn Trenton team for a 14-12 win.

“I found the hammer yesterday in the tool shed and got it out and started swinging it around at the game and we scored some runs,” Civiello said. “So I brought it out again today and we scored some more. Then I started swinging it in the sixth and we got going again.”

The Twins were on a roll early as they plated four runs in the bottom of the first, but Trenton came back with five in the top of the second. Toby Cole’s two-run double followed a John Lewandowski RBI single, and Pete Collier scored two more with a single to shallow left.

Trenton scored one in the third and added three more in the fourth as Young shut the Twins down for four innings.

A Brad Wheaton RBI double in the sixth sent Young to the dugout and Trenton ace Mike Cowperthwaite to the mound.

Cowperthwaite fared far worse. After a flyout, Brad Boyles hit an RBI single and Jason Sirois walked before Emerson and Civiello hit consecutive RBI singles. After another walk, Cowperthwaite gave way to Joe Richards, who walked Rob Donato to force in a run before the third out made it 9-9.

The Twins sent nine more batters to the plate in the seventh and came away with five runs.

Trenton made things more interesting in the eighth by scoring three runs with two outs. Tyler Balombini-Goddard tripled to right as Boyles lost the ball in the sun. Four straight singles by Weed, Derek Awalt, Justin Roberts, and Courtney Bunker followed.

Comrades 13, Twins 1

(Sunday night)

No. 4 Bangor (13-8) No. 1 Orono (14-7)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Bombardier,ss 3 1 0 1 Sirois, ss 2 0 0 0

Johnson, 3b 5 2 1 0 Cousineau,ss 1 0 0 0

Shea, 2b 3 4 2 0 Emerson, 2b 2 1 0 0

Strout, 2b 0 0 0 0 Obed, 2b 2 0 0 0

Karam, 1b 1 2 1 2 Civiello, cf 2 0 1 1

Shain, 1b 0 0 0 0 Stinson, cf 0 0 0 0

Bouchard, c 5 0 3 4 Folsom, dh 2 0 0 0

Sullivan, lf 4 1 1 0 Glossian,p-rf 1 0 0 0

Proctor, dh 3 1 1 1 Donato, lf 0 0 0 0

Tremble, rf 4 1 0 0 Brissette,lf 2 0 1 0

Worcester,cf 3 1 1 1 Clark, 1b 1 0 0 0

Chapman, cf 0 0 0 0 Robbins, 1b 1 0 0 0

Tewhey, 3b 1 0 1 0

Wheaton, 3b 2 0 0 0

Cole, c 2 0 1 0

Boyles, rf 0 0 0 0

T.Brown, rf 1 0 0 0

Totals 31 13 10 9 Totals 22 1 4 1

Bangor 216 022 0 – 13

Orono 100 000 0 – 1

E – Vanidestine, Shain; Cousineau, Emerson, Obed, Donato, Cole 2B – Brissette 3B – Worcester LOB – Bangor 12; Orono 7 DP – Bombardier-Karam, Shea-Bombardier-Karam, Bombardier-Shea-Karam; Glossian-Obed-Robbins SB – Shea 2, Bombardier, Johnson; Stinson SF – Bombardier, Karam

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Bangor

Vanidestine (W,3-1) 6 3 1 0 6 5

Curran 1 1 0 0 0 1

Orono

R.Brown (L,2-2) 2 3 7 6 8 2

Glossian 3 6 4 2 1 0

T.Brown 2 1 2 2 3 2

WP – Vanidestine; R. Brown 2 TIME – 2:21 ATTENDANCE – 178

Orono 14, Trenton 12

(Sunday Afternoon)

Trenton (12-8) Orono (14-6)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Bunker, 2b 5 1 1 1 Sirois, ss 5 2 1 1

Lewndwski,3b 6 1 2 1 Emerson, 2b 3 3 1 1

Cole, ss 5 2 3 2 Civiello, cf 4 2 3 3

Collier, rf 5 1 1 2 Folsom, c 2 0 0 0

Ingalls, lf 6 0 0 0 Donato, lf 4 1 0 3

Blmbini-Gdrd,cf 3 3 3 0 Brissette, dh 4 2 2 1

Weed, 1b 5 1 3 2 Wheaton, 3b 4 2 2 2

Awalt, c 5 2 3 2 Clark, 1b 5 1 1 0

Roberts, dh 5 1 2 2 Boyles, rf 3 1 2 1

a-Bannister 0 0 0 0

Totals 45 12 18 12 Totals 34 14 12 12

a-ran for Roberts in the eighth

Trenton 051 300 030 – 12

Orono 400 005 50x – 14

E – Lewandowski, Awalt; Sirois, Wheaton 2B – Cole, Weed, Awalt; Wheaton 2 3B – Lewandowski, Balombini-Goddard LOB – Trenton 10, Orono 8 DP – Lewandowski-Bunker-Weed, Young-Cole-Weed; Wheaton-Emerson-Clark SB – Civiello 2, Sirois, Donato S – Boyles

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Trenton

Young 5 1/3 6 6 5 5 1

Cowperthwaite 1/3 3 3 3 5 1

Richards (L, 3-1) 2/3 2 4 4 3 0

Packwood 1 2/3 1 1 1 1 0

Orono

Tewhey 2 1/3 8 6 1 2 1

Brown 3 2/3 5 3 2 2 1

Robbins (W, 5-1) 3 5 3 3 0 2

WP – Young 2, Cowperthwaite, Packwood; Tewhey 2, Brown 2 PB – Folsom TIME – 2:59 ATTENDANCE – 252