SOUTH PARIS — With one week left in the Zone 3 American Legion regular season schedule, virtually everyone has gone from trying to play catch-up with front-running Bessey Motors to jockeying for position in order to avoid the zone favorites for as long as possible in the playoffs.

Unbeaten Bessey created more distance between itself and the the rest of the zone with a 10-4 win over William J. Rogers Post 153 on Thursday. Despite missing two starters, Bessey showcased its depth and opportunism, exploiting three errors and 10 walks by Rogers to improve to 11-0.

“We’re just on a roll,” Bessey coach Shane Slicer said. “We’re deep in our pitching staff. No one’s been throwing no-hitters or anything like that. But defensively we’re making plays. Our catcher (Matt Smith) is as good as there is in the league. We’ve been opportunistic with our hitting. Not everybody’s on fire, that’s for sure. But we throw strikes and defend.”

In addition to his usual fine work behind the plate, Smith was the most opportunistic of Bessey’s hitters Thursday. His two-run single was the key hit in its six-run third inning. He followed that with an RBI single the next inning.

“My first at bat (a groundout in the second), I was way out in front,” Martin said. “The second at bat, I was waiting back a lot looking for something on the outer half to try and drive to the other side or up the middle possibly. I got a pitch about middle-in, knee high, and I just went with it.”

That two-run single tied the game at 4-4. A bases-loaded walk to Riley Chickering put Bessey in front, then a throwing error by the third baseman added two more runs. Chickering scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-4.

Staked to the lead, Chickering ( 7 IP, 3 H, 10 K, 5 BB) settled in on the hill after a rocky first three innings. He allowed all four runs in the second, all unearned. Mike Hammond’s bases-loaded walk and Brandon Varney’s bases-clearing double gave Rogers a 4-2 lead.

Chickering yielded back-to-back two-out singles to Evan Raymond and Kyle Karkos in the third but shut down Rogers from there, allowing just one walk and hold them hitless 4 1/3 innings.

“He was rusty. He hadn’t pitched in awhile and he was floating his curve ball a little bit early. I just don’t think he had good command of it,” Slicer said. “Once he started throwing that for strikes, he’s a different pitcher.”

“Early on he was really wild. We talked and decided to throw more off-speed and he started hitting the zone and just fell in a groove,” Smith said.

Smith’s RBI single and Chickering’s second bases-loaded walk made it 10-4 Bessey in the fourth. Elijah Roe didn’t allow a hit in 2 1/3 innings of relief, but Rogers couldn’t close the gap on Chickering.

“We made some mistakes,” Rogers coach Troy Crane said. “We stayed with them early in the game and then when we started to make mistakes we decided that we’d better regroup, throw some guys we haven’t thrown a lot and prepare ourselves for next week.”

Rogers (6-6) finds itself in a scramble for playoff positioning with a doubleheader at Locke Mills and home games against Brunswick and Highland Green remaining.

“It’s not just us. Everybody in the zone right now is jam packed,” Crane said. “It is coming down to crunch time.”

Nick Attaliades-Ryan had an RBI double and Brady LaFrance an RBI sacrifice fly for Bessey.

Pastime prevails

LEWISTON —  Pastime scored six times in the bottom of the first inning which saw three walks and a hit by pitch as Pastime rolled to a 7-4 victory over Andy Valley.
Caleb Dostie had a two run triple in the first inning for Pastime (10-3).
Josh Daigle relieved Andy Valley (1-12) starter Tyler Vallee in the second inning only giving up one run the rest of the way.
Caleb Banker had a two run double in the top of the sixth inning for
Andy Valley.