OLD TOWN — The Saco Little League 8-10 year old All-Stars found themselves in a three-run hole after the top of the first inning of Sunday’s state championship game against South Portland American, but the local standouts were not going to go away quietly.
Saco battled throughout the game and put plenty of pressure on South Portland, but it wouldn’t be enough as they dropped a 4-2 decision at Old Town Little League.
Saco manager Brian Thompson was thrilled with his team’s effort — both in the state title game and throughout the season.
“That’s the thing, these kids don’t quit. They’re a great group of kids. They’ll pick each other up and they fight,” said Thompson.
Sunday’s final was the third time these two teams faced off in the state tournament. South Portland took the first game on Wednesday before Saco got some revenge on Saturday to force a winner-take-all game.
South Portland manager Peter Lewis knew Sunday’s final was going to be a dogfight from start to finish,

“I knew it was going to be a battle. That’s a really great team right there,” said Lewis of the Saco All-Stars. “We stayed right in it, worked hard and hats off to Saco, they were right there. We knew it was going to be tight.”
Hudson Iacuessa scattered eight hits on the mound for South Portland with two runs allowed and three strikeouts. It was the second time this season that Lewis turned to Iacuessa with a title on the line.
“Hudson got us here. In our District 6 championship, he threw the whole game and he did the same thing today. He was awesome,” said Lewis of his ace.
Iacuessa gave credit to his teammates for helping him get the win on the hill.
“I couldn’t have done it without them hitting the ball and getting runs for me,” Iacuessa said.
South Portland took advantage of back-to-back walks to open the game as Caiden Johnson and Hudson Iacuessa both accepted the free pass. Johnson scored on an RBI single from Parker Reny and Iacuessa followed him home when the throw back to the Saco pitcher wasn’t on target to make it 2-0. Reny scored the third run of the inning on an RBI groundout from Kason Lewis.
“That’s huge to get to their pitcher early and work him out of the game. It was good stuff,” said Lewis of his team’s three-run first inning.
The South Portland lead expanded to 4-0 in the top of the fourth when Ben Morin was hit by a pitch and scored on an error off the bat of John MacLean.
Saco started to claw back in the bottom of the fifth. Brennan Tabor started the rally with a single up the middle and Beck Edgerly followed with a single of his own to put runners on first and second with no outs. Dominic Hussey would then smash a grounder that the South Portland shortstop couldn’t handle to load the bases and a walk to Noah Fullerton would bring in the first run for Saco.
The South Portland lead would shrink to 4-2 later in the inning when Edgerly scored on a wild pitch, but Morin would come on in relief of Iacuessa and get a groundout to get out of the inning with the bases loaded.
Morin worked around an error in the bottom of the sixth as he ended the game with a strikeout to secure the state title for South Portland.
“This was by far the best team we’ve seen in the couple months that we’ve been at it. We knew we were going to have to be almost perfect to beat them and we came close,” said Thompson. “We played some of the best baseball that we’ve played (all year) these last two games and I’m proud of the guys and really happy for them.”
Cam Barrett, Alex Horton and Jacob Cyr also had hits for South Portland, which was actually outhit by Saco by a 9-4 margin.
Saco was led by Edgerly with three hits. Hussey finished with two hits and Brayden Hooper, Brody Hadiaris and Fullerton all had one hit.
Hussey went 4 1/3 innings on the hill with two strikeouts and four runs allowed on just two hits. Fullerton came on in relief and gave up no runs on two hits with two strikeouts.
Despite the tough loss on Sunday, Thompson was clearly proud of his team and gave credit to every single player for helping the Saco All-Stars make an impressive postseason run.
“I said to the kids after (the game), ‘every kid in here has had their moment. Every (player) has contributed and there’s not one person in here that hasn’t given something to help this team with our success.’ And that’s the truth,” said Thompson.
Thompson is confident that this group of Saco standouts will be back competing for state championships over the next few years.
“We’re going to come back. This group of kids is going to stay together and going forward we’re ready for the battle. It’s tough to swallow, but it’s just more motivation,” Thompson said.
South Portland American will now represent Maine at the Eastern Regionals in Cranston, Rhode Island. The local All-Stars will play Connecticut on Saturday, Aug. 4.
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.