OLD ORCHARD BEACH — David Cusson waited patiently in the dugout.
And he waited.
And waited.
After Cusson started in the first game of the Maine State American Legion Junior Tournament final for Lewiston, coach Matt Blais started Colt Bernier in the No. 9 slot in the order and moved Luke Ferrago to second, relegating the diminutive defensive specialist to the bench.
In the seventh inning, Blais inserted Cusson as a defensive replacement, in part to help protect a one-run lead — a lead that evaporated.
Given the chance to bat in the bottom of the eighth, Cusson came through. He shot a 2-2 curve ball to right field, allowing Tucker Beaudoin to score from second base and helping lift Lewiston to the state junior legion title with a 4-1, eight-inning victory over Seacoast Law and Title of Westbrook at the renovated Ballpark.
“I noticed (Westbrook pitcher Keenan Lowe’s) arm motion was slower when he was throwing that curve ball,” Cusson said. “He gave me a curve ball, and I poked it to right.”
The hit moved Nate Berube, who’d walked, to third. Two batters later, Lewiston starting pitcher Chris Madden walked to load the bases, and Nate Blais followed him with a single to score Berube and Cusson to pad the lead.
Westbrook put the first two batters on base in the bottom of the eighth, but reliever Tucker Beaudoin came in and retired the next three Westbrook hitters in order to seal the victory. Included in that sequence was a stellar play from Cusson, who caught a bloop pop fly to right field over his right shoulder as he ran away from the infield.
“That was the only play I had on it,” Cusson said. “I kind of caught it sideways.”
Cusson also fittingly made the game’s final out with a more traditional catch of a pop fly at second.
“There aren’t enough good things to say about the way David Cusson has played all season,” Blais said. “He’s done absolutely everything we’ve asked of him, and asked no questions.”
Madden, meanwhile, scattered seven hits and allowed one run over seven-plus innings. Used sparingly as a pitcher all season, Madden’s arm was likely the freshest on the staff at the tail end of the five-day postseason tournament.
“He hasn’t pitched much, but he’s someone we knew was there,” Blais said.
“I know I hadn’t pitched much this season,” Madden said, “but I wanted the ball in a championship game, I like being in that situation.”
Madden threw just 71 pitches through seven innings, but could feel fatigue setting in.
“I knew it didn’t feel right, and I was glad they were swinging a lot early in the count,” Madden said. “I don’t know if I could have gone as many innings as I did throwing many more pitches.”
On the other side, Lowe also pitched a gem. Before unraveling in the eighth — Lowe hit the 100-pitch mark on Cusson’s single — he’d allowed just one unearned run on one hit through seven.
“We had it lined up where we had our 1-2 going today,” Westbrook coach Andrew Coulombe said. “Keenan pitched a great game today.”
Coulombe had a reliever ready, and told his assistant coach that, if Cusson reached base, he’d go to the second pitcher.
“Maybe it was a batter too late, maybe not,” he said. “The kids battled hard today, though, this was a great season for us.”
Madden scored the game’s first run in the top of the first inning. He drew a walk, then stole second and third. Josh Delong walked, and when Lowe attempted to pick Delong off at first, the ball sailed into right field, allowing Madden to scamper home. Lowe retired the next 20 Lewiston batters before Beaudoin reached on a sharp single to center in the eighth.
Mitchell Chipman scored Westbrook’s run in the bottom of the sixth. After being hit by a pitch, he scored on a Matt Moody single.
Westbrook earned a 7-2 win in the first game to force the deciding nightcap. After Lewiston scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 2-1 lead, Moody, the catcher, blasted a three-run triple to right past a diving Delong with two outs in the top of the second to put Westbrook back on top by a pair.
Joe Dvlinsky held the line from there, allowing Lewiston just four hits and five baserunners through the sixth inning. Dvlinsky finished with six strikeouts against two walks in six innings, and Aaron Duncanson pitched the seventh in the victory.
Lewiston’s Matt Bowen struggled to find the plate in his four-and-a-third innings, tossing 108 pitches in a seven-strikeout, five-walk effort. Nate Blais pitched the rest of the way.
Delong, voted MVP of the tourney, was 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs in the first game to pace Lewiston’s offense.
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