CARIBOU, Maine — The early rounds of the Caribou Little League playoffs were held last week, with the Northstars winning the American League championship and Shop ‘n Save the National League title.
This sets up a best-of-three World Series between the top-seeded teams in each division. Game one was scheduled for Tuesday night, with the second game tonight and the third Friday if necessary. All games begin at 6 p.m. and be played on the Robert P. White Field at Hilltop School.
Scores of the post-season contests are as follows: American League quarterfinals: No. 4 Knights of Columbus 5, No. 5 Woodland Tigers 6; National League quarterfinals: No. 3 Woodland Eagles 9, No. 6 MVH/VFW 0; No. 4 S.W. Collins 13, No. 5 Police 5; American League semifinals: No. 2 Key Bank 7, No. 3 Sleeper’s 6; No. 1 Northstars 15, Knights of Columbus 5; National League semifinals: Eagles 1, No. 2 Machias Savings Bank 0; No. 1 Shop ’n Save 10, S.W. Collins 4; American League finals: Northstars 14, Key Bank 2; National League finals: Shop ’n Save 6, Woodland Eagles 5.
The final regular season standings were as follows:
American League: Northstars (11-3), Key Bank (11-3), Sleeper’s (9-5), Knights of Columbus (4-10) and Tigers (0-14). National League: Shop ‘n Save (11-3), Machias Savings Bank (9-5), Eagles (9-5), S.W. Collins (8-6), Police (3-11) and Maine Veterans Home/VFW (2-12).
As the traditional wrap-up to the regular season, all-star games were held July 6 after being rained out the previous day. Between the games, a special ceremony recognized the 2014 Caribou High School baseball team on its Eastern Maine Class B championship. Every player on the team had played in the Caribou Little League, and each player, coach and manager was presented with a token of congratulations from the league.
Before the games, a home run derby was held, with Wyatt Taggett of the Eagles winning and Parker Deprey of Shop ’n Save the runner-up.
Summaries of the two all-star games are as follows:
9/10 year-olds
National League 15, American League 1
In the game featuring the 9- and 10-year-old all stars, National League pitchers Sawyer Deprey of Shop ’n Save, Caleb Espling of S.W. Collins and Dominick Crouch of the Eagles each threw two innings and combined to allow only one run on one hit to hold down the American League.
At the plate for the NL, Espling had two doubles and 3 RBI, Matt Smith of MVH/VFW had two singles and two RBI and Deprey had a single and a double. Also hitting safely were Sammy Marquis and Zack Madore of Machias Bank, Destinee Goodridge of Shop ’n Save and Landon Thompson of S.W. Collins.
For the AL, Oliver Peterson of the Northstars had the team’s only hit — a single. Gabrielle Sutherland of the Tigers walked and scored the only run. Pitching for the AL were Ari Plante and Ryan Austin of the Knights of Columbus, Alex Levesque and Liam Martin of Key Bank and Peterson.
11/12 year-olds
American League 12, National League 3
In the game featuring the older all-stars, the American League scored four runs in each of the final two innings to break open a close game and defeat the National League.
Hayden Hunter of Sleeper’s had two singles and drove in two runs and Jay Belanger of Sleeper’s had a bases-loaded double to drive in two runs. Owen Martin of Key Bank had a double and Alex Bouchard of the Northstars singled for the AL’s other hits. On the mound, Bouchard went three innings to earn the victory, followed by Jacob Paul and Cullen Caverhill of Key Bank and Hunter.
For the NL, Alex Ezzy of Shop ’n Save had an RBI single and Wyatt Taggett of the Eagles, Brennan Poitras of Machias Bank and Sydney Thompson of S.W. Collins also had singles. Pitching for the NL were Poitras, Ghent Durepo of the Eagles (who allowed only one unearned run in three innings), Thompson, Ezzy, Jacob Berkoski of MVH/VFW and Parker Deprey of Shop ’n Save.
