It certainly got a little dicey in the last inning, but Central Maine stayed alive in the New England Babe Ruth regional 13-15-year-old tournament with a 12-11 win over Towns of Hampton (N.H.) on Sunday afternoon at Gill Stadium in Manchester, N.H.

In an elimination game, Central Maine led 12-5 entering the bottom of the seventh inning. Towns of Hampton scored six runs and had runners on second and third with two outs.

“With their No. 4 hitter up, who was their home run derby guy,” Central Maine coach Tom Bell said. “He was 3 for 4 at that point.”

Asked if he gave any thought to an intentional walk, Bell said, “No. We wanted to end the game.”

So Bell turned to Josh Joy, who was scheduled to start Monday. Joy ended the game on two pitches with a groundout to first base, but under tournament rules, that counts as a full inning, and he can pitch only six innings on Monday.

“It was one of those situations where I was trying to save my pitching,” Bell said.

Connor Garland pitched the first four innings to get the win and also went 3 for 3 at the plate. One of his hits was a double, and another was a single that scooted past the right fielder on the Gill Stadium turf, allowing Garland to circle the bases.

Joy and Colby Dexter each added two singles for Central Maine, and Dalton Wood tripled. Shea McCann also added a double and single. Central Maine had 10 hits overall.

“Just about everybody for our team hit today,” Bell said.

Kolby Lawrence pitched two scoreless innings of relief for Central Maine.

Central Maine has another elimination game at 5 p.m., Monday, against a team from Plymouth, Mass. Plymouth lost 13-2 to Waterford (Conn.) in a winner’s bracket game on Sunday.

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