AUGUSTA — The bashers showed up Thursday afternoon for Tri-Town American Legion baseball.
All of them. Early and often. On the same day. With exquisite timing.
Sixteen hits, six of them for extra bases, staked Tri-Town to an 11-1 rout of Pastime Club in an elimination game of the Zone 2 tournament at McGuire Field.
“We’ve been waiting for that,” Lukas Johnson said. “It’s taken the entire season. We had a few games where it was one person, and the next game another person. We never all had a good game together.”
Johnson was both a prime perpetrator and a big-time beneficiary of the outburst.
He doubled in his first two at-bats and used Tri-Town’s healthy lead as the springboard to a gem on the mound. The left-hander scattered six hits and went the distance in a game shortened to eight innings by the mercy rule.
No. 7 Tri-Town (12-9) will face No. 4 Augusta Elks (14-7) at noon Friday with a berth in next week’s state tournament at South Portland’s Wainwright Complex at stake. The winner then would have to beat No. 1 Bessey Motors (18-3) twice to win the zone championship.
The program from Poland, Minot and Mechanic Falls once made it to the championship round of Junior Legion but is seeking its first trip to the senior showcase. They already have taken out the second and third seeds.
“We struggled throughout the year to string some stuff together. Today was a good day for us. We were able to do it when it mattered,” Tri-Town assistant coach Bob Hubbard said. “That’s the benefit of double-elimination. You can’t drop your head after that first loss. You live to fight another day. We’ve definitely got a seasoned group that know what they need to do.”
Shut out by Bessey on Wednesday afternoon, Tri-Town got a 350-foot blast off the bat of Kaleb Bridgham on the fifth pitch against Pastime and never let up.
Johnson doubled later in the inning and scored on the first of Mitchel Davis’ four RBIs.
“It always helps when the bats come alive,” Johnson said. “It takes a load off the pitcher. It gives me a little more freedom on the mound to do what I want to do, not having to throw strike after strike after strike, especially since the off-speed wasn’t doing quite what I wanted it to.”
Using the outside corner to his advantage against Pastime’s lefty-heavy lineup, Johnson struck out only one but chalked up 14 groundouts, including a double play.
Davis (3-for-5, two runs scored) was acquired after Andy Valley of Turner folded its team two weeks into the summer. He also sat out last week while participating in the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl football game.
“I came over and these guys accepted me right away. It’s been a lot of fun,” Davis said. “Let’s hope we can bring it through tomorrow.”
Ethan Cailler was 3-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs scored and two stolen bases atop the order.
Bridgham belted a double in addition to his home run. Davis and Shawn Murphy each added a two-bagger.
“What are you going to do? They hit the ball. They’re a good baseball team,” Pastime Club coach Andrew Cessario said. “(Johnson) located and once again our bats kind of went a little quiet from the high of (Tuesday’s 13-10) win over Auburn.”
Brandon Hubbard made it 3-0 in the second. After his leadoff walk, Hubbard went to second on Matt Rabasco’s sacrifice bunt and scored on a hit by Cailler.
Tri-Town added three with two out in the fifth. Cailler and Murphy singled ahead of a two-run double by Davis to the gap in left center field. Tanner Marston also collected the first of his two hits and an RBI to chase Matt Poulin, the first of four Pastime pitchers.
Pastime (14-7) took advantage of an error, a single by Gage Cote and a Poulin groundout to grab its run in the fifth. That inning ended with Marston applying the tag to Cote on an attempted steal of home.
“All year long our pitching has been solid,” Bob Hubbard said. “It’s just being able to get those timely hits and get that stuff together. Luke did a tremendous job on the mound, and we were solid behind him defensively.”
Davis piggybacked Murphy’s leadoff double with a hit to make it 7-1 in the seventh.
Tri-Town plated four more on the strength of five hits in the eighth. Cailler, Murphy, Bridgham and Hubbard drove in runs.
“For most of us this is our last year, so we’re not going to go down without a fight,” Johnson said. “The core group of this team has been together for a while. We’ve been in situations like this all the time.”
Cote was the lone repeat hitter for Pastime, which fell shy of the state tournament for the first time since 2009.
“The thing I take away from it for my Lewiston High School guys and all the young guys is the success we had,” Cessario said. “This wasn’t a failed season. We were in the top four of a 12-team zone. That’s something to be pretty proud of. They can’t hang their heads. They had a great season.”
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