It didn’t stop there as Bessey Motors rallied off 11 unanswered runs after trailing early in a mercy-rule shortened 11-1 victory over Gardiner in an American Legion contest Friday.
“When we get down we get right back up,” Bessey Motors’ Matt Smith said. “We don’t waste time. We get ahead quick, usually.”
Most of the damage came in the bottom of the third. But before the pre-4th of July fireworks began, Gardiner (3-3) struck first in the top half of the frame after back-to-back two-out errors by the home team. Alex Curtis made it hurt with an RBI single to plate Dalton Therrien.
The fuse was lit shortly after as Bessey Motors (7-0) responded with a nine-run inning, sending 14 batters to the plate. The top team in Zone 2 entered the inning without a hit against Gardiner starting pitcher Ben Allen only to rough him up for six hits the second time through the order.
“It was the second time through (the order),” Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer said. “(Allen) had a big windup and he kept us off-balance. They finally adjusted to the speed of it. They made an error, maybe a couple errors during that inning and then it got contagious. We started hitting the baseball.”
All nine runs came with two outs, beginning with a bases-clearing single by Smith to right field. Smith ended up on third after Jake Martin misplayed the ball in right, allowing all three runs to score to put Bessey Motors ahead 3-1.
“We’re that kind of team that when we get one hit we’re going to get another and another and another,” Smith said. “We’re a team of momentum. We just keep going.”
Ty Martin and Jake Spinhirn followed with RBI singles and Blake Slicer doubled in a run in his second at-bat of the inning. Riley Chickering followed with a two-run single through the left side to score Spinhirn and Slicer.
“I think we were a little overly aggressive on pitches out of the zone early,” Chickering. “The third inning we started swinging at good pitches to hit and putting good solid swings on it. When you put solid swings on a pitch, it’s going to go some where.”
Allen didn’t get out of the inning, pulled in favor of Jariah Caissie after 2 2/3 innings. Nick Bowie capped off the scoring with an RBI single to shallow right field off Caissie to give Bessey Motors a 9-1 lead.
Gardiner committed three errors in the inning and four for the game.
Bessey Motors ended the game early two innings later with both Riley and Emery Chickering touching home. Riley Chickering was the first, scoring on an RBI groundout by Bowie, his second RBI of the contest. Pinch-hitter Bailey West ended it with the team’s 10th two-out run, a single to right on the first pitch he saw to bring Emery Chickering around to score.
Ten different players recorded runs for Bessey Motors.
Riley Chickering finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored and improved to 3-0 on the mound during the American Legion season. The University of Maine at Farmington product allowed one unearned run on four hits over five innings. He struck out one and didn’t walk a batter. Chickering retired six of the final seven batters he faced after getting nine runs of support in the third.
“Same as we usually get,” Slicer said of Riley Chickering. “Consistent, tough. It was nice to get just five innings out of him instead of having to go seven. He was very good at getting strikes on his first pitch, being able to mix it up. He hit his spots real well.”
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