BANGOR — There was some drama as the elimination game in the senior American Legion baseball tournament between Augusta Summit Real Estate and Bangor began. For a few minutes, at least.
And then the nuttiness began.
Suddenly, Augusta couldn’t make an out, and Bangor was powerless to stop it. Augusta’s hitters found every hole in the infield, and every gap in the outfield. They hit the ball on the barrel, they hit it on the end of the bat, they hit it on the ground, they hit it in the air, and no matter how they did it, the result was the same: Another hit, another run, and another instance of the onlookers at Husson University wondering what the heck they were watching.
“That was crazy. It was just infectious,” Augusta catcher Kyle Douin said. “Once we got those first couple of batters on, the ball just kept rolling.”
The final tally was 11 runs, nine hits and 16 batters, — all in the first inning — giving Augusta all the breathing room it could ask for and more in what became an 13-2 victory. The momentum from the win carried the team through the night, which also included a 6-2 victory over Bessey Motors that sent Augusta to a Wednesday matchup with either Central Maine or Motor City.
It all started with that first inning, however, and its craziness went beyond the recap. Augusta was up 7-0 before there was an out recorded. It was 9-0 before Bangor got the second one. Bangor’s first two pitchers went a combined one-third of an inning.
“That was a shock. I was as shocked as they were, most likely,” Augusta coach Jason Douin said. “I did not expect us to come out (that way). It was a put the bat on the ball, ‘hit it where they ain’t’ kind of scenario.”
Fast starts happen in baseball, but this was absurd, and almost comical. I know I had never seen a game disintegrate so rapidly, going from in contention to completely over in a matter of minutes. The entire Augusta lineup was in the zone. It was as if Bangor were playing a video game and had seen the difficulty setting ratcheted up to unfair levels.
“I’ve never been a part of anything like that,” Kyle Douin said. “It was just our day today. That game was just, we were catching all the little breaks, and everything was going our way.”
Asked if he had seen anything like it, center fielder Colby Emery thought for a moment.
“Only one other time,” he said. “I was on an AAU team, and we scored, I believe it was 26 runs in an inning.”
Fair enough. But three pitchers required to get one out?
“I’ve never seen that before,” Emery said. “We just exploded.”
The start of the inning gave little indication of the zaniness that was to come. Akira Warren reached on an infield single, Kyle Douin walked and Kam Douin was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with no outs. A jam, for sure, but nothing out of the ordinary.
And then Augusta brought the blows. Brayden Barbeau drove a two-run double to deep left. Emery dropped a blooper into no man’s land in center field, loading the bases again. Josh Nadeau laced a double down the first base line, scoring two more. Bobby Stolt became the seventh straight Augusta hitter to reach with a single to left, making it 5-0.
Bangor’s Gavin Young (25) has to come off first base as Augusta’s Akira Warren (10) dives safely in the first inning during a state tournament game at Husson University in Bangor. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
After Kris Hinckley drew a walk and Davis Kibler reached on a fielder’s choice, the lineup turned over and the rally continued. Warren singled to center, scoring Stolt. Kyle Douin chopped a single behind Warren to right, scoring Hinckley. Kam Douin then grounded a single through the exact same hole, scoring Kibler and Warren.
The last hit of the inning summed everything up: Emery got a pitch away and, looking just to get a bat on it, instead dropped a soft double down the left field line, scoring two more.
“It was a curveball, and I just wanted to foul it off,” Emery said with a grin. “It ended up landing fair.”
Hey. When you’re on, you’re on.
“It was crazy,” said Barbeau, who pitched all five innings. “Everyone’s hitting, and you want to be at the box. Next man up.”
The frenzied hitting was so fun, Augusta kept it up in the nightcap. After Bessey Motors went ahead 2-0 in the first, Augusta, powered by back-to-back triples from Kam Douin and Barbeau, answered with three runs in the bottom half, and then added another pair in the second when Kyle Douin cranked a two-run home run to right.
“I was looking for one pitch,” Kyle Douin said. “He threw me that pitch, and I just unloaded on it. I just put the best swing that I possibly could on it.”
Augusta, led by five strong innings from Stolt and two scoreless frames from Emery, was able to hold it from there, putting just the ending it was hoping for on an afternoon with a beginning it could never have seen coming.
“It’s really the energy,” Emery said. “Once a guy gets a hit, then another guy gets a hit, you just keep going, keep getting runs. And you saw what happens.”
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