BRISTOL, Conn. — The Saco Little League Major All-Stars dropped their opening game at the 2018 New England Regional Tournament on Monday night as the team from Pittsfield Massachusetts picked up the 9-4 win in Bristol, Connecticut.

The state champions from Massachusetts would get a huge game from Evan Blake as he went 3-for-3 with a home run, two doubles and three RBIs. Owen Salvatore also went 3-for-3 at the plate with a double, triple and three RBIs.

The Saco All-Stars received a bye into the second round of the tournament. While getting a bye is always a positive, it also forced the local squad to wait around for two days.

“We did sit around and we were the last team to play in this tournament so there was a lot of anticipation and you could tell there were a lot of jitters when we went out on the field. We weren’t our normal selves, myself included,” said Saco manager Kirk Purvis.

Massachusetts jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning.

Maine battled back in the bottom of the second when Ryan Camire came through with a clutch, two-out RBI single to score Henry Lausier.

The Pittsfield All-Stars had plenty of opportunities to add to their 2-1 lead early in the game, but Saco’s defense put on a show. First baseman Matt Kimball and catcher Henry Lausier would complete inning-ending double plays in the first two innings and Justin Labelle made a incredible diving catch in right to end the third inning.

“We cut off two runners at the plate on tag plays and that’s not easy to do. We work on that all the time and the kids executed on those plays, so we definitely saved a couple runs that way,” said Purvis.

Massachusetts added two more runs in the top of the fourth and would make it 7-1 after a three-run outburst in the fifth.

The Saco All-Stars kept battling and would score three runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 7-4, but Massachusetts put the game away with a two-run shot by Blake in the top of the sixth.

“We had been down 2-0 in the first inning before. It was nothing we haven’t faced,” said Purvis. “I thought we were in a position to battle back, but we weren’t locating our pitches the way we hoped, we let some runners get on base and they took advantage of it. You have to tip your cap … they played a great game.”

Saco was led by Josh Penney and Lausier with two hits each. Matt Kimball and Justin Labelle added RBI singles in the fifth and Jeremiah Chessie also had an RBI in the inning.

Purvis was proud of the way his team continued to fight back throughout the game.

“The kids are resilient. Despite all the jitters they kept fighting, kept playing, kept their heads in it and they made some good plays out there. It just didn’t fall our way today,” Purvis said.

Mac Lowe got the start on the mound for Saco and would go 3 1/3 innings. Lausier, Kimball and Josh Ney also got the ball on Monday for the local All-Stars.

Saco will now play Fairfield, Connecticut at 1 p.m. today in an elimination game.

Purvis believes the quick turnaround is a good thing for his squad.

“I think that’s good. There’s a lot of hurry up and wait down here at this tournament, but we can wake up in the morning, relax a little bit and then get right back on the field, erase this memory and move on to the next game,” said Purvis.