But you still need to activate your account.
Sign in or Subscribe to view this content.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Nova Seafood of Portland, for the last four years the best American Legion baseball team in Maine, is now a national champion.
Made up entirely of players from the reigning Class A state champion Deering High School team in Portland, Nova Seafood used a combined three-hitter from Mike Powers and Ryan Reid to shut out Kennewick, Wash., 2-0 on Tuesday to win the 2004 American Legion World Series.
Coach Mike D’Andrea’s club, 37-4 overall, went 5-0 in the World Series, and entered Tuesday’s play needing to beat Kennewick just once to win the eight-team, double-elimination tournament. Kennewick would have needed to defeat Nova Seafood twice to win the title.
Powers allowed just one hit over eight innings, walking one and striking out one. Reid, who will attend James Madison University on a baseball scholarship this fall, allowed two hits in the ninth, but recorded three outs by strikeout to earn the save.
Outfielder Scott Brown, who batted .417 during Northeast Regional and World Series play and also pitched for the Maine Zone 4 runners-up, was named the World Series’ most valuable player.
He had a bases-loaded single with one out in the 10th inning Monday night as Nova Seafood rallied to defeat Boyertown, Penn., 4-3 to advance to Tuesday’s championship round.
In that game, Nova Seafood scored three runs in the eighth inning to tie the game and force extra innings.
Powers, Reid and designated hitter Ryan Piacentini joined Brown on the all-tournament team from Nova Seafood, while Reid also earned the James F. Daniel Sportsmanship Award and the Bob Feller Pitching Award for recording 29 strikeouts in national competition.
Nova Seafood managed just eight hits off Kennewick’s C.J. McClure, but scratched out runs single runs in the second and seventh innings to earn the victory.
Reid doubled to start the Nova Seafood second, and went to third on a sacrifice by Jeff Skillin. After Andrew Dvilinsky reached on an infield hit, Reid scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Neil Esposito.
Powers took a no-hitter into the fifth, when Sam Sainz hit a two-out single up the middle for Kennewick (58-9).
Nova Seafood padded its lead with a two-out rally in the eighth, as Ryan Flaherty doubled home Chris Burleson, who had singled and stole second base.
Flaherty finished with two doubles for Nova Seafood, while Reid and Dvilinsky each had a single and a double.
Nova Seafood entered the state American Legion tournament with a 22-3 record, then went unbeaten in four games to claim the state title and advance to the Northeast Regional in Middletown, Conn.
Nova won its first two games at the regional before losing to Bristol, Conn., 15-3. The Zone 4 champs rallied to win their next three games, including a doubleheader sweep of Bristol, to advance to the World Series.
(Tuesday’s Championship Game)
Kennewick, Wash. (58-9) 000 000 000 0 3 2
Nova Seafood, Me. (37-4) 010 000 10x 2 8 3
McClure and Sloppy; Powers, Reid (9) and Esposito
Comments
comments for this post are closed