Bessey Motors’ Blake Slicer slides safely into third base in front of Rogers Post’s Gavin Bates during their Zone 2 semifinal in Paris on Wednesday.
PARIS — If defense wins championships in baseball, Bessey Motors has a title to look forward to on Thursday.
The top-seeded team in the Zone 2 American Legion baseball tournament flashed the leather Wednesday, limiting the damage Rogers Post inflicted in a 5-3 semifinal victory at Tim Bryant Memorial Field.
“The defense today was spectacular,” Bessey Motors manager Shane Slicer said.
No. 1 Bessey Motors’ defense had to be spectacular. Colton Carson was up and down on the mound, and the Oxford Hills-based team’s bats were held mostly in check by fourth-seeded Rogers Post starter Ethan Brown.
In stepped the fielders, who negated numerous Rogers Post (13-7) scoring opportunities.
It started in the first inning, with center fielder Cam Slicer ranging back to catch a fly ball with one out and a runner on second. Slicer made a similar catch to end a threat in the sixth and made a Willie Mays-style catch an inning later.
“Cam Slicer was fantastic in center field, tracking down some very well-struck balls,” Rogers Post manager Dave Jordan said.
Slicer didn’t even have the defensive play of the game, however. That belonged to designated-hitter-turned-third-baseman Emery Chickering, who tracked a foul fly all the way to the fence with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the eighth.
“That last hurrah that we had, the third baseman Chickering made a fantastic play down the line to save a potential game-tying rally, if Grant (Hartley) has a few more pitches to see,” Jordan said.
“I think their sails were deflated quite a few times,” Shane Slicer said. “That’s hard in a nine-inning game to get up and expect to get three, four runs and put us away. And so I think our defense, by just minimizing, had them going in a roller coaster emotionally. Where our group kept getting lifted up by our defense.”
Neither offense was able to produce runs in bunches. Instead, it was a grind to get runs across.
Rogers Post got on the board first in the top of the third. Maxx Bell was hit by a Carson pitch leading off before being lifted for pinch runner Giles Paradie, who eventually scored after a fielder’s choice and a bunt loaded the bases and a Jarod Norcross Plourde walk drove him in. Carson got out of the jam by sandwiching strikeouts around a foul pop-out.
Bessey Motors responded with two runs in the bottom of the frame. Blake Slicer led off by reaching on an error. He later scored on a Janek Luksza single, and Hunter LaBossiere scored on a fielder’s choice by Ashton Kennison in the next at-bat.
Singles by Norcross Plourde and Gavin Bates, with a Grant Hartley walk in the middle, loaded the bases in the fifth. Carson limited the damage by inducing a double play to allow just one run to cross.
“Colton got in trouble a lot, but when the chips were down he pitched really well,” Slicer said. “That’s a grind-out game, when you don’t have your best stuff. I’m proud of what he was able to do because he couldn’t throw his curve for a strike, he wasn’t hitting his spots, and then when they had bases loaded a couple times, whatever, he’d get one run or no runs and it was great.”
Carson gave up another run in the sixth when he walked Ian Brushwein to lead off. Brushwein moved around the bases on a passed ball and a sacrifice bunt, then scored on Carson’s errant throw to first on Austin Cox’s grounder.
Carson finished the game with three runs (one earned) on four hits in seven innings. He struck out three and walked five.
Brown was matching Carson in terms of keeping offenses quiet until Bessey Motors got to him the bottom of the seventh. Troy Johnson led off with a walk, then Blake Slicer bunted for a hit before Brown was taken out in favor of Nick Hathaway. Cam Slicer greeted Hathaway with an RBI single to tie the game, then the go-ahead run scored on an error on a Cam Slicer steal. Slicer then scored the final run on a wild pitch.
“I thought both teams made plays in crunch time. They made a few more plays than we did,” Jordan said.
Brown was the hard-luck loser after scattering five hits and just two earned runs in six-plus innings. He walked two batters and struck out one.
Janek Luksza finished the game on the mound for Bessey Motors, getting help from Chickering’s highlight catch in the eighth before stranding a lead-off infield single in the ninth.
“It was really two great teams playing against each other,” Jordan said. “Obviously they’re the best team in the league, and we were probably the hottest team going in, having won seven of eight and only losing to them last week up here in the bottom of the seventh. I think it was everything that it was billed for.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Bessey Motors’ Brayden Bean, right, looks to tag Rogers Post’s Tyler Libby in a rundown during their Zone 2 semifinal in Paris on Wednesday.
Bessey Motors’ Trent Spaulding slides into the tag of Rogers Post’s Austin Brown during their Zone 2 semifinal in Paris on Wednesday.
Bessey Motors’ Colton Carson delivers a pitch against Rogers Post 153 during their Zone 2 semifinal in Paris on Wednesday.
Bessey Motors’ Blake Slicer, left, slides into second base in a cloud of dust as Rogers Post’s Austin Brown handles the throw during their Zone 2 semifinal in Paris on Wednesday.
Cameraon Slicer makes a running catch against Rogers Post during their Zone 2 semifinal in Paris on Wednesday.
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