CARIBOU — Sleepers and S.W. Collins have earned the right to meet in the Caribou Little League championship series.
Sleepers, representing the American League, nipped the Northstars, 12-11, in Friday’s divisional title game. S.W. Collins advanced by beating Shop ’n Save that same evening, 10-4.
The first game of the best two-of-three series was scheduled for Tuesday night. Game two is tonight at 6 p.m., while the “if necessary” game is scheduled for Friday, also at 6 p.m. All the games are being played at the Robert P. White Field next to Hilltop School.
Other playoff scores from last week were as follows: quarterfinals: Tigers 10, Knights of Columbus 8; Bank of Maine 16, VFW 15 (nine innings) and Eagles 18, Police 5; AL semifinals: Sleepers 20, Tigers 4; Northstars 4, Key Bank 1; NL semifinals: Shop ’n Save 11, Bank of Maine 10; and S.W. Collins 4, Eagles 1.
Summaries of Friday’s divisional championship games are as follows:
Sleepers 12, Northstars 11
Hayden Hunter drilled a two-out, two-strike single down the left field line to score teammate Brandon Jalbert for the walk-off win against the Northstars in the American Division championship game.
The hit capped a dramatic comeback for the Sleepers team, which faced a 10-2 deficit in the third inning. The game-winning hit came after Jalbert laid down a perfect bunt to reach base with two outs. Jacob Ouellette (who had four hits and scored four runs) followed with an infield single to set up Hunter’s heroics.
The Northstars, whose only two losses during the season were by a combined total of three runs to Sleepers, scored seven runs in the first two innings off Sleepers’ ace Cam Huck. They added three more in the top of the third to take a 10-2 lead and looked to be on their way to the victory.
However, Huck stroked a three-run home run over the centerfield fence to bring his team to within 10-5 after three innings. Brandon Manter then settled things down on the mound, holding the Stars scoreless over the next two innings, allowing Sleepers to come back and take their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth at 11-10, as they scored three times after a double by Jake Ouellette and single by Hunter.
In the top of the sixth, the Northstars Josh Quist battled back from an 0-2 count to drive a single through the middle. After a stolen base and a passed ball, he scored to tie the game at 11 on Kennith Thompson’s clutch base hit to right.
Sleepers was led by Ouellette, who went 4 for 4 and Hunter, who went 3 for 3. Huck had two hits, including the home run, while Chris Cassidy added a hit.
The Northstars were led offensively by Austin Findlen and Walter Clark, who had two hits each. Noah Hixon doubled and Emily Adler’s notched a hit.
S.W. Collins 10, Shop ’n Save 4
S.W. Collins used a strong pitching effort by Sydney Thompson and posted seven runs in the fifth inning to pull out a 10-4 victory over Shop ’n Save and take the National League championship. With the win, S.W. Collins avenged two regular season losses to Shop ’n Save.
Thompson pitched 5-2/3 innings, scattering nine hits and walking only one batter to earn the victory. Dagan Savage got the final out to preserve the victory. At the plate, Caleb Espling had the big blow, a two-run double for S.W. Collins. Tyler Wright had a single and two RBI and Hope Shea added a single and an RBI.
For Shop ’n Save, Carter Conley had a home run over the left field scoreboard and also tripled to lead the attack. Miles Collier had two singles, Destinee Goodridge had a double, and Sawyer Deprey, Evan Burgay, Tristan Mancos and Alex Picard notched singles. On the mound, Mancos started and went 2-2/3 innings, followed by Burgay, Parker Deprey, Collier and Sawyer Deprey.
