Westbrook’s Trevor Bates and Yarmouth’s Harrison Ridge locked into a classic pitching battle Saturday at Windham in the 11-year-old’s District 6 Little League tournament.

And, though the Westbrook squad battled hard until the end, Yarmouth continued its dominance of the tournament, winning 2-0 to advance to the state tournament.

Yarmouth scratched for a run on an error and Ryan Cote’s RBI-single in the first inning, then added an insurance run in the fourth on back-to-back base hits by Louie Distasio and Ridge. Westbrook catcher Terry Webber gunned down Ridge at second (on a nice tag by second baseman Andrew McCarthy) to stop the rally.

But over the six-inning game, Westbrook couldn’t figure Ridge’s outstanding pitching performance.

The hard-throwing Yarmouth Little Leaguer allowed only back-to-back leadoff singles by McCarthy and Matt Moody in the fourth inning and struck out five over the six innings. That fourth inning looked promising for Westbrook, but Bates’ hard hit ball with the two runners on was caught by the Yarmouth right fielder and Webber’s sharply hit ball up the middle was turned into a double play by Yarmouth shortstop Distasio.

Bates was strong on the mound also and allowed only three hits and struck out five.

“I wasn’t too good at first,” said Bates, “but I got stronger as the game went on.”

“It was a very tough loss,” said Westbrook player Alex Benson. “But we’ll come back and beat them next year.”

Westbrook made it to the championship round by beating Scarborough 2-1 in the finals of the loser’s bracket. In that game, Westbrook scored single runs in the third and fourth innings and hung on as Scarborough managed a run in the top of the sixth, Joe Cronin scoring. Webber, McCarthy and Joe Dvilinsky knocked hits in the game off Scarborough’s ace Connor McCann. Westbrook’s Mike Rioux-Pena allowed only three hits over six innings to earn the win.

The Westbrook coach said he was pleased with his players’ final try.

“We had a much better game this time,” said coach Bob Dvlinksy of the final showdown with Yarmouth. “The last time (earlier in the tournament) they handled us pretty well. But we worked hard in practice and we had a lot of hitting. We made contact all day, but hit it right at people.

“I’m real pleased with the way the team played,” the Westbrook coach said. “We lost to the defending champions. They are a strong team, but we gave them a run. It was a great season and I’m real proud of these kids. And these guys will be back next year.”