American Legion baseball: Pastime roughs up River Valley in Zone 2 playoffs

AUBURN — There were so many runs scored for Pastime on Tuesday night that every single batter scored in the second inning at least once.

In the opening round of the American Legion baseball Zone 2 playoffs, Pastime shut out visiting River Valley 23-0 in six innings. The game was called after the sixth due to darkness at Pettengill Field.

“I think we hit the ball about the same when we played Auburn or Augusta a couple of times, but that’s definitely what we are capable of hitting,” Pastime manager Jake Brown said. “I think it was really a full team effort, the guys off the bench got some good hits.”

Brock Belanger led off the first inning for Pastime with a single, which was followed by a Gage Cote walk. After two stolen bases, both scored on a single by pitcher Hunter Landry, and just like that, Pastime was on the board and was not looking back. Pastime finished the inning with five runs, capped off by an Eddie Turgeon single that drove in Jack Leblond.

Landry shut down River Valley in the second with a one-two-three inning that included two strikeouts. In his mind, it was all about relaxing.

“Really just not thinking about it too much,” Landry said. “When you overthink you start losing the ball, so you just gotta get back to the basics, pound the zone, and good things happen.”

Good things happened in the second inning. Belanger started off the inning with another single and a steal. He was quickly knocked home by a Cote double. Two batters later, a triple by Landry scored two more runs. That was followed by seven straight base runners. Pastime scored 11 runs before an out was recorded. They finished with 12 in the inning.

“What we did a good job of, too, was staying patient at the plate,” Brown said. “Definitely a good way to start the playoffs.”

In the top of the third inning, Landry gave up just one hit and struck out two more, a recurring theme throughout the game. Pastime didn’t take River Valley for granted, though.

“Those guys, River Valley, they battled and played the whole game,” Brown said. “I tip my cap to them, even with the score the way it is, they played the full game.”

In the bottom-half of the third, it was deja vu, with Belanger again leading off the inning with a single, which later turned into a run. Pastime capped off its scoring spree in the fourth inning when Gage Cote hit a fly ball into deep right field that ended up turning into an inside-the-park home run, making the score 23-0.

“I think we’re doing well,” Landry said. “We had a couple games this season that kind of woke us up and made us realize we aren’t the best team that’s ever been, and so we kind of really came together as a team and stopped thinking about it too much, which I guess is the whole point.”