Last year, the Old Town-Orono Twins won the Zone 1 American Legion baseball title by three games and promptly went on to win the state championship at Togus, going 5-1 in doing so. The Twins went 1-2 at the Northeast Regional. They finished at 25-8.

Old Town-Orono was clearly the dominant team a year ago but the concensus among the zone’s coaches is that there won’t be a dominant team this year.

Skowhegan has gotten off to the best start, 5-0, but four of the Log Drivers’ wins have been by one run.

“I think the top five teams can really vie for the two state tournament spots,” said Brewer Coach Dave Gonyar, whose Falcons won 15 of their last 19 games a year ago to earn a seventh consecutive trip to the state tourney.

“Everybody seems to have good pitching so you aren’t going to see many blowouts,” added Gonyar. “Hitting will end up dictating which teams will make it. The team that gets hot with the bat or gets the big hit will be in good shape.”

“There are going to be a lot of close games,” agreed first-year Skowhegan Coach Colin Quinn. “This is, by far, the toughest zone in the state. Skowhegan High School, Bangor and Old Town all made the (Eastern Maine) Class A playoffs this spring; Bucksport, Ellsworth, Orono and Hermon made it to the B playoffs and some smaller schools (i.e. George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill, Calais) also made it.

“It’s a very competitive league,” added Quinn.

“It’ll be a dogfight,” said Old Town-Orono Coach Dave Paul, whose team was 3-1. “No one team will dominate the zone. You’ve got five veteran teams but, on any given day, Calais and Penquis can give you all you want.

“It’s a pretty competitive zone and that should help the two teams that are fortunate enough to make it to the state tournament,” added Paul.

The state tourney will be held at the Mansfield Complex in Bangor this year after a 43-year stint at Togus.

“There’s a lot of parity in the zone this year,” said Penquis Coach Erv Morrison. “Unless one team has to use a number five or six pitcher against another team’s ace, all the games are going to be competitive.”

First-year Bangor Coach Steve Vanidestine said he expects at least five of the seven teams to battle for a state-tourney berth.

“The three teams we’ve played so far (Brewer twice, Skowhegan and Old Town-Orono) are certainly all capable of going to the state tourney,” said Vanidestine, who feels his team is also in the hunt despite a 1-3 start.

“We’ll go as far as our pitching takes us,” said Vanidestine. “We’ll play solid defense and score some runs. We have a solid bunch of athletes. The key for us is to put people on the mound who force the other team to put the ball in play. If we do that, we’ll be OK.”

Bangor has been plagued by walks in the early going.

Gonyar said his team’s strengths lie in its pitching and defense. The Falcons are now 3-3.

“We hit only around .250 as a team last year but we got timely hits and that’s what we’re going to need this year,” said Gonyar.

Quinn said there have been several ingredients behind his team’s fast start.

“We’ve played very well defensively; we’re quite deep in pitching and the hitting has been better than expected,” said Quinn.

Quinn’s son, first baseman-pitcher Garrett, is hitting .471 and has a win and a save already. Shortstop Corey Hight is hitting .421 and CF Adam Fitzpatrick is at .400.

Paul said his Twins will be “pretty solid” when it comes to pitching and defense.

“But we won’t be as formidable offensively. Guys like (Jimmy) Evans, (Brian) Wickett, (Marc) Halsted, (Mark) Thibodeau and (Ronnie) Coombs are going to have to step up their hitting,” said Paul.

Lefty Gary Sibley, who was 3-1 with six saves and a 1.70 earned run average last summer, and righty Thibodeau (7-1, 2.97) will key the ptiching staff.

Morrision expects improvement upon last year’s 1-20 season.

“If we get everyone to the games, I don’t know why we shouldn’t be able to compete with anyone in the league,” said Morrison. “The pitching should be fine. The defense also should be fine although we seem to make the spectacular play but we have trouble with the routine play. We should have a good hitting team but we haven’t hit in the clutch, yet.”

Calais Coach Peter Oakes said his team has made significant improvements in the areas of defense and team speed.

“And this is the best group, attitude-wise, we’ve had. The kids are really competitive,” said Oakes whose team’s 2-2 start is it’s best ever.

They aren’t as good as they have been offensively “but we’re going to try to get a run per inning. We’re going to move people with bunts and with ground balls to the right side of the infield.”

Trenton, according to assistant coach Charlie Farley Jr., has a “lot of young players on the squad” and has had its pitching depth significantly hurt by the bad back of veteran righty Greg Marancik.

“We need that fourth arm,” said Farley, who doesn’t know if Marancik will be able to pitch this summer.

He added that “We’ve done all right defensively. We haven’t beaten ourselves. And we have a good hitting team. We should score some runs.”

A capsule look at Zone 1

OLD TOWN-ORONO

Last year’s record, finish/Current Record: 19-5 (in league play), 1st; 3-1

Key returnees: 1B Jim Evans, CF-P Brian Wickett, P-1B Gary Sibley, C-P Ron Coombs, P-OF Mark Thibodeau, C Zac Pelleriti, 3B-2B Marc Halsted, P Nate Ballard

Promising newcomers: 2B Chris Hashey, SS Andy Trice, RF-LF Rob Paradis, LF Bub McLeod

Coach, years: Dave Paul, 4th year

Outlook: The Twins are the defending zone and state champs and have a deep and experienced pitching staff and a solid defensive team. They lost four key run producers so they won’t be as explosive, but first-teamer Evans, second-teamer Ron Coombs and Wickett, Halsted and Thibodeau provide them with some quality hitters. The Twins have good team speed.

PENQUIS

Last year’s record, finish/Current Record: 1-20, 7th; 0-3

Key returnees: P-CF Toby Pineo, SS John Moore, 3B McLean Poulin, P-2B Jeff Gilmore, RF-P Darren Smith

Promising newcomers: C James McEwen, 1B-P Matt Thomas, 2B Adam Shearer, RF Eric Kepple, OF-P Brock Clukey, P Danny Parks

Coach, years: Erv Morrison, 3rd year

Outlook: The Travelers may not contend but they should be more competitive than they were a year ago thanks to the return of players like All-Zone 1 first teamer Pineo and honorable mentions Moore, Gilmore and Poulin. Those four are going to have to have productive years. There is good team speed and respectable pitching and defense.

As always, trying to get all the players together is a problem due to work commitments.

BANGOR

Last year’s record, finish/Current Record: 9-13, 5th; 1-3

Key returnees: 3B Tony Fernandez, C Justin Shaw, P-DH Eric Murray, C Justin Shaw, P Matt Kinney, LF Matt Alaimo, RF Roy Peary

Promising newcomers: 1B Mark Reed, LF Josh Jamieson

Coach, years: Steve Vanidestine, 1st year

Outlook: Bangor may have the best offensive lineup, one-through-nine, in the zone. Reed was an All-Zone 1 first-team pick two years ago but opted to play basketball last summer. Bangor is decent defensively and it has plenty of good arms but its pitchers have frequent trouble throwing strikes. The pitchers walked 20 in two of the three losses. Fernandez and Reed are the offensive catalysts.

SKOWHEGAN

Last year’s record, finish/Current Record: 15-9, 3rd; 5-0

Key returnees: P-1B Garrett Quinn, P-OF Nate Jewell, CF Adam Fitzpatrick, SS Corey Hight, C Kregg Jarvais, LF-P John Alward, RF-1B Greg Domareki, 2B Ben Bulmer, DH Eric Nichols

Promising newcomers: 3B Adam Gilman, P Jared Cochran

Coach, years: Colin Quinn, 1st year

Outlook: In All-Zone first-teamer Quinn, second- teamer Jewell, veteran Alward and surprisingly good youngster Cochran, the Log Drivers probably have the best four-man rotation in the zone. The defense is fairly good. The loss of two first-teamers has hurt the offense but Quinn is a top-notch No. 3 hitter and they’ve also received good production from Jarvais, Fitzpatrick and Hight.

BREWER

Last year’s record, finish/Current Record: 16-8, 2nd; 3-3

Key returnees: P Peter Kenny, P-1B Ben Jenkins, SS Sean Smith, P-DH-OF Tim Hodgins, 3B Brent Emerson, 1B-DH Tiger Stewart, P-OF Greg Crossman, OF-2B-P Danny Needham, C Mike Wentworth

Promising newcomers: 2B Jason Dority, P-3B Chris Bartlett, OF Jason Orcutt

Coach, years: Dave Gonyar, 4th year

Outlook: The Falcons have 11 players back off last year’s state tournament team and have plenty of experienced quality pitching in veterans Kenny, Jenkins, Hodgins and Crossman. Kenny was a first-teamer last year and Hodgins was a second-team utility player. Brewer is also one of the best defensive teams in the zone. Offense is the question mark. There is good speed but not much power. They will need good offensive years from Smith, Emerson, Jenkins and Hodgins.

TRENTON

Last year’s record, finish/Current Record: 12-9 (4th), 2-4

Key returnees: SS Will Holloway, 3B J.T. Loomis, LF Jerry Gray, RF Matt Haney, P-1B Jared Polchies, P Mike Clough, P Greg Marancik

Promising newcomers: 1B Jeff Haskins, CF Scott Kenny, C Steve Perry, 2B Matt McDonald, SS-P Danny Curtis, P Jason Brown

Coach, years: Jack Merrill, 2nd year

Outlook: The Acadians are young and may be a year away from being a legitimate state tourney contender, especially with veteran Marancik’s status in doubt due to a back problem. Even though they lost offensive catalysts Eric Lanks (All-Zone first-teamer) and second-teamers Mike Clark and Mark Leighton, the Acadians should be a pretty good offensive team with good team speed. They should also be solid defensively. Clough and Polchies are solid starters but pitching depth is a problem.

CALAIS

Last year’s record, finish/Current Record: 7-15 (6th), 2-2

Key returnees: 1B Chris Sherrard, CF Mike King, C Nate Martell, P Derek Armstrong, P-1B Shirl Penney, P-OF-3B Paul Napoleoni

Promising newcomers: RF Joe Viselli, SS Brian Chamberlain, 2B Mike Morin, LF Elliott Peabody, P-3B Justin Tapley, 3B Troy Dennison, IF Cory Dennison

Coach, years: Peter Oakes and John Rogers, 3rd year

Outlook: The third-year team has much more team speed and has played much better defensively than a year ago. Calais turned four double plays in a 4-0 loss to Brewer. It also has a little more pitching depth. Sherrard was a second-team All-Zone pick a year ago after hitting .364 with three homers and 20 runs batted in. Viselli is hitting around .450 and joins lead-off man King in giving them a lot of speed at the top of the order. Napoleoni, Armstrong and Penney give them a decent pitching rotation.