Westbrook’s pitching struggled early Tuesday, much as it had struggled late the day before, allowing their opponents to sweep a pair of games in the 14-year-old Babe Ruth District 4 tournament at Windham.

South Portland – at least that’s who the uniforms said they were; players from Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough and Falmouth were also on the team – took an early lead and held on for the 6-4 win and district title.

Westbrook, however, is still in the mix at the state tournament, which was scheduled to start Wednesday.

“We played this a little different based on the fact that we’re in the states anyway because we’re hosting,” said coach Steve Marchant. “We feel pretty confident that we’re ready to go.”

Marchant brought in Tom Pratt to pitch midway through Tuesday’s game and the righthander shut down his opponents, but South Portland had scored six runs already and that would prove to be enough.

“They battled back,” said South Portland coach Andrew Dickey. “Luckily we got enough of a lead to hold on, because we didn’t do anything the last three innings.”

Six singles and eight walks in the first three innings catapulted Dickey’s crew. They had come back with four runs on six walks and one hit in the last inning Monday for a 4-1 victory to set up the final in the double-elimination tournament.

Down by six going into the fourth, Kevin Moody led off with a single to left field and the Pratt was hit by a pitch. Travis Jordan’s grounder went under the first baseman’s glove, bringing home Moody.

When Andrew Beckwith walked, the bases were loaded, and Pratt came home on a wild pitch.

In the fifth, Lance Ludka reached on an infield hit and eventually scored on Jordan’s infield hit. Then, when Jordan drew a throw as he stole second, Moody, who was on third after reaching on a fielder’s choice, bolted home.

Despite loading the bases in the sixth, Westbrook couldn’t add any more runs.

“We struggled with pitching a little early,” Marchant said. “Once we found the right mix, we came back and fought hard.”

The coach added that the luxury of having an automatic berth at the states allowed him to try some different pitchers, which will help the team in the next round. He dismissed any worries about losing momentum going into states.

“I think their confidence level is where it needs to be.”