In its six short years, the Beast of the Northeast Little League baseball tournament has grown by leaps, bounds, steals and homeruns.

The 2014 contest, held in Westbrook over the past two weekends, attracted 17 teams from across Maine, elsewhere in New England, and even Canada – Nova Scotia, to be exact. The Mountaineers, who hail from the Casco area, eventually took top honors, defeating the Lightning, mostly from Falmouth, in Aug. 3’s championship bout. Final score: 14-2.

The Beast is the brainchild of Westbrook Little League supporters Dan McCarthy, Donna and John Tibbetts.

“We were getting lights up at the Little League field,” McCarthy says of the moment the idea was born, “and I had gone down to Cooperstown to play in a couple tournaments, and said, ‘Boy, that’d be great to bring back to Westbrook.’

“We had seven or eight teams the first year. It’s fluctuated; it’s grown to 21 teams at times, and next year we’re going to max it out at 24 teams.”

McCarthy hopes the Beast will flourish even to the point a waitlist becomes necessary. “We’ve had teams from Massachusetts, all over Maine, and now it’s exciting to have a team from Canada coming down. They’ve already expressed interest in coming back next year.”

Players from 10-12 years old participate in the Beast (though, since this is Little League, only the upper age limit is set in stone) and proceeds from the event go to three different youth organizations: Westbrook Little League, the Westbrook Baseball Foundation, and the Westbrook Trailblazers snowmobile club.

“Each player pays $70,” McCarthy says. “They’re guaranteed at least four games throughout the tournament, as many as eight, depending on how well they do. They each get two uniforms, socks and a hat. We have two umpires for every game, provide baseballs and everything – it’s a good value for the players, for sure.”

It speaks to the tournament’s escalating appeal that the Nova Scotians made the long trek across the border not once, but twice, arriving to play on the first weekend, July 25-27, before traveling home for the intervening week then returning to play again on the second weekend.

The Canadians bounced out before the contest’s climax, though. Instead, the No. 1 Mountaineers, who ultimately went 6-0, faced off with the No. 2 Lightning, who finished 5-1, at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

The Mountaineers, who ran away with the game, consist of Manager Tracy Allen; coaches Tom Morton, Janek Luksza, and Gary Williamson; and players Charlie Morton, Wyatt Williamson, Janek Luksza, Jonny Pruett, Cody Allen, Cam Phinney, Rodney Bean, Ayden Desanctis, Keegan Chase, Andrew Binnette and Bryce Simpson.

Westbrook itself naturally entered, but fell to Berwick early on. Last year’s champions, the Monsters of South Portland, didn’t enter this year, but are slated to return in 2015.

The Mountaineers, 2014 Beast of the Northeast victors, hail from the Lakes Region.Officials and players – two supporting the American and Canadian flags – line up for the countries’ national anthems prior to a game.