LL regular season ends this week, playoffs begin Monday

    Standings as of July 3: American Division: Sleepers (12-1), Key Bank (7-5), Woodland Tigers (6-6), K of C (6-7), North Stars (4-8), Maine Bag (0-11). National Division: S. W. Collins (12-1), Shop ‘n Save (11-2), VFW (7-5), Police (4-7), Savings Bank of Maine (3-10), Woodland Eagles (1-10).     Results of games played through July 3: K of C 7, Savings Bank of Maine 5; Sleepers 19, Police 6; Key Bank 11, Shop ’n Save 6; Savings Bank of Maine 8, Woodland Eagles 5; S. W. Collins 4, Police 1; Sleepers 21, K of C 0; North Stars 18, Maine Bag 9; Shop ’n Save 30, Savings Bank of Maine 8; Key Bank 15, North Stars 13; K of C 13, Maine Bag 4; Sleepers 4, Key Bank 3; Woodland Tigers 12, North Stars 6; Shop ’n Save 10, Police 6; VFW 17, Savings Bank of Maine 3; S. W. Collins 9, Woodland Eagles 3.
    Schedule for July 8-14: Wednesday, July 8: Police at VFW, Maine Bag at Savings Bank of Maine, Key Bank at Woodland Tigers; Thursday, July 9: all-star practice or make-up games: Friday, July 10: all-star practice or make-up games; Saturday, July 11: 9- and 10-year-old all-star game, 10 a.m.; 11- and 12-year-old all-star game, 1 p.m.; managers/coaches/umpires softball game, 3 p.m.; Monday, July 13: American and National Division playoff quarterfinals; Tuesday, July 14: National Division semifinals.
S.W. Collins 14, North Stars 8
    The S.W. Collins contingency made the trek north to Stockholm for their contest with the North Stars. The game featured as much swatting of baseballs as black flies with the two teams combining for 19 hits and 22 runs.
    Gunnar Bondeson of the Northstars pitched the games first 3-1/3 innings and Glen Peterson made his pitching debut by completing the final 2-2/3 innings. For Collins, Donovan Savage threw 3-2/3 innings, striking out seven batters. Nate Wyman completed two innings of work, fanning four, and Taylor Miller got the final out via a strikeout.
    At the plate, Shane Landeen led the way for the Stockholm crew with a 2-for-2 performance. Shane’s first hit was a long home run to left field. Brady Anderson was also perfect at the plate,  going 3 for 3.
    For Collins, Donovan Savage and Nate Wyman led the charge as each went 3 for 4 on the day.  
Key Bank 14, Woodland Eagles 4
    Key Bank’s offensive attack was led by Nick Frost’s three hits and two each from Dustin Bouchard, Paul Hanson, Scott McCrossin and Nick Pelletier. Noah Frost and Austin Scott each added a hit. For the Eagles, Jared Fox homered and Shawn Doody tripled and singled. Both teams used several pitchers, as Key sent Nick Frost, Seth Beidelman, Pelletier and McCrossin to the mound, while Woodland countered with Callee McBreairty, Cotey Doody and Josh McCormack.  
Woodland Tigers 7, VFW 6
    The Woodland Tigers picked up a close one against VFW. Nolan Powers and Evan Desmond combined to strike out 11 Tiger batters. Dylan Berkoski hit two triples and a single and Desmond  had a single for VFW. Desmond caught a fly on the mound and Berkoski  caught one at short. Matt Theriault made two putouts at second to keep the Tigers from advancing.
    The Tigers’ Matt Manter struck out 11 and Zach Connelly struck out three more. Woodland’s offense was led by Connelly with a double and two singles, followed by Manter with a double and a single. Dylan Conroy had two singles and Garrison Doody also had a single. Liza Durrette had a putout at first, assisted by Conroy. She later returned the favor by assisting Conroy with an out at home.
Key Bank 7, VFW 4
    Evan Desmond pitched a complete game for VFW in his first outing on the mound, but Key managed to scatter nine hits for seven runs and earn the triumph. Scott McCrossin and Ryan Washington each had two hits for Key, as Washington drove in six runs to lead Key. Washington also pitched four strong innings, striking out 10 batters and allowing no hits.
North Stars 12, Savings Bank of Maine 10
    In Stockholm June 22, the North Stars broke open a close game by scoring four times in the third and three in the fourth to come out on top.
    Devon Chamberlain had a double during the third-inning uprising. North Star pitchers Shane Landeen, Brady Anderson and Elliott Landeen combined to strike out 13 batters in the contest.
    The Bankers had their big inning in the fourth, scoring six times thanks to drawing five walks and a solid base hit off the bat of Brayden Burby.
VFW 15, Maine Bag 10
    VFW had its big innings in the first and the sixth, scoring 13 of its runs in those frames to take the victory.
    Dylan Berkoski went 4 for 4 and Jake Perreault tripled and singled for the winners. Matt Nadeau had a triple and Evan Desmond a double, while Zach Whitten contributed with a single for VFW.
    Josh Fortin was the lone Maine Bag player with multiple hits in the game, both singles. Ricky Sheldon and Kris Michaud both had singles.
    Nolan Powers struck out six for VFW, while Fortin fanned eight batters on the mound for Maine Bag.
K of C 7, Maine Bag 5
    In an abbreviated game due to lightning, K of C scored twice in the bottom of the fourth on a double by Kyle Soertart Beaulieu to break a tie and earn the victory.
    Six different players had hits for the Knights, including singles by Connor Plourde, Taylor Thibodeau, Brad Doody, Jillian Flynn and Kyle McCullough. Brian Corbin was the winning pitcher.
    Jacob Burby of Maine Bag hit a bases-clearing home run in the top of the fourth to tie the contest. Edwin Walker, Kyle Tibbetts and Tyler Raymond also hit safely for Maine Bag.
Sleepers 21, Knights of Columbus 0
    Sleepers scored 10 runs in the first inning and never looked back, as strong pitching and solid defense kept the Knights off the base-paths.
    For the victors, Connor Thibeault pitched the first four innings, allowing no hits, four walks and striking out seven. Brendan Cyr pitched an inning, allowing only one walk and striking out three. Mason Huck pitched the final inning with one hit, one walk and two strikeouts.
    Mason Huck provided strong play at first base by putting out two runners at first with assists from Justin Ouellette and Michael Hunter. Huck added to his tally by feeding the ball to Thibeault, who came off the mound to cover first. Hunter stopped two base stealers with an assist from Thibeault at home and throwing to Alec Cyr at second for the tag.
    Brendan Cyr, Michael Hunter and Justin Ouellette all posted two singles and a double and three RBIs, to lead the winning offense. Coming back from an early-season injury, Cole Jackson collected his first two Little League singles, had an RBI and scored three runs.
    Taylor Thibodeau, Kyle McCullough, Devin Martin and Connor Plourde all pitched for the Knights, combining for seven strikeouts, with Martin getting a 1-2-3 fourth inning.
    Devin Martin had the first K of C hit and Connor Plourde got the second and also stole two bases.
Sleepers 4, Key Bank 3
    In a well-matched pitcher’s duel, with great defense played by both teams, Sleepers was able to pull out the win.
    Justin Ouellette and Michael Hunter combined on a three-hitter for Sleepers, with Ouellette notching eight strikeouts during his 3-2/3 innings on the hill. Connor Thibeault made a great throw to second base to catch a base stealer after a Ouellette strikeout for a double play to end a Key Bank rally in the third inning.
    Hunter had two  hits, while Thibeault and Huck added one each for the American Division’s first-place team.
    Ryan Washington pitched four innings, giving up just two hits while striking out eight. Dustin Bouchard pitched the final two innings, giving up two hits and fanning five.
    Nick Frost banged out two singles and scored twice for Key Bank.
K of C 13, Maine Bag 4
    Taylor Thibodeau homered over the center field fence in the third inning and also added a triple as the Knights posted the win over Maine Bag.
    Brian Corbin connected for a pair of triples and a single, while Jillian Flynn had a pair of singles and seven K of C players added hits. Kyle Soetart-Beaulieu, Corbin and Thibodeau limited the Maine Bag offense to two hits.
    Justin Reiff and Ricky Sheldon had singles for Maine Bag.
Key Bank 11, Shop ’n Save 6
    Ryan Washington came in as a relief pitcher in the first inning with only one out and his team down by three runs, but went the distance for Key Bank, allowing only three more runs in the fifth. Washington had eight strike outs but Key made several great defensive plays behind him to stop any chance for rallies by Shop and Save.  
    Noah Frost, Scott McCrossin, Dustin Bouchard and Nick Frost all made run-saving plays in the field.  Key’s offense was led by Nick Frost with three hits and Casey McCrossin’s two hits.
    For Shop ’n Save, Colby Holdsworth had two hits and Kameron Manter had a single. Manter also pitched and was relieved by Adam Collins in the fourth inning. Key Bank picked up its seventh victory while Shop ’n Save lost for only the second time all season.
S.W. Collins 14, North Stars 1
    The Collins team took an extra trip to Woodland in a rescheduled matchup against the American League Tigers. The Tigers got their bats going early as the heart of their order managed to reach base. Zach Connelly had a single in both the first and third innings and cleanup man Dylan Conroy went 1 for 2 with a run scored. Matt Manter also had a hit.
    Collins would strike back immediately, having eight of their nine batters reach a base in the first inning.  Donovan Savage went 1 for 2 with a walk and 2 runs scored, Zach Wright went 2 for 2 with two walks, a triple and two runs. Dayne Savage and Nate Wyman both had triples while combining to go 3 for 3 with four runs and four RBIs.
    First-year player Cory Jandreau reached base on two walks and scored two runs and second-year outfielder Gabe Massey went 3 for 3 with a double, a stolen base, two RBIs and a run scored. Andrew Geer went 2 for 2. The only thing faster than the base running was the lightning strike that cut the game short at four innings.
    On the mound for Collins was the elder Savage, who pitched like a machine. Savage went four innings while giving up four hits and striking out nine. Pitching duties for the Tigers were handled by Dylan Conroy, Carson Doody and Adrianna Bither.
Woodland Tigers 12, North Stars 6
    Matt Manter pitched 5-2/3 innings, striking out 14 batters, and Dylan Conroy struck out another to help the Woodland Tigers gain the victory over the North Stars.
    Pitchers Shane Landeen, Glen Peterson and Kevin Bither of the North Stars combined to strike out 11 batters. Offensively, Devon Chamberlain, and Peterson each had singles and Elliot Landeen hit a double for the North Stars. Bither got two putouts as catcher.
    For the Tigers, Manter had a single, a double and also hit one out of the park for a homer. Conroy had two singles and a double and Dylan Theriault added a single. Liza Durrette got two putouts playing first base.