SANFORD — It was the game between two unbeaten teams to decide who gets the automatic bid to get to the Maine District 4 Little League All-Star Championship game.

Unfortunately for Kennebunk, the game didn’t go their way, as they were defeated by South Berwick, 8-0.

However, Kennebunk still has championship hopes, and judging by the reaction of the players in the dugout after the game Thursday in Sanford, the team is aware of its chances as well.

“You can’t even tell they lost the game,” Kennebunk manager Robert Hall said. “They’re energetic. That’s the big thing, getting them ready to play the game, ready to play hard. We practice a lot, but I think everyone here loves baseball. That’s my goal, to get them to love baseball. I think that’s what Kennebunk strives for, is for kids to like the game.”

Kennebunk will now play on Monday and wait for its opponent, which will either be York, Saco, East Biddeford or West Biddeford. York and West Biddeford play today in Waterboro, while York and East Biddeford play today in York. The winners from both games will play against each other in East Biddeford tomorrow for the chance to play against Kennebunk.

If Kennebunk wins its game on Monday, the team will once again play against South Berwick, this time for the District 4 Championship, and the right to move on to the state tournament. Kennebunk already has history with two of the four teams, beating West Biddeford 5-4 on June 26, as well as defeating Saco 3-2 on July 6.

South Berwick came out and scored four runs in the first inning against Kennebunk on Thursday night, including RBI singles by Joe Franciose and C.J. Davis. They added another two runs in the third inning on an error, and plated its final two runs in the sixth inning on an RBI double by Parker Williams, who scored on an error one batter later.

“They played well,” Hall said. “We had a couple of errors that killed us. We led off with walks in the first inning, we couldn’t find the strike zone and that was huge. They didn’t make any mistakes that we could capitalize on.”

Kennebunk could only collect three hits off South Berwick starter Ryan O’Neil, who struck out nine batters. Chris Coughlan, Erik Aiken and Jensen LaPoint each had a single for Kennebunk.

Aiken flashed some leather during the ball game at third base, making multiple defensive plays on ground balls. Though LaPoint took the loss, he was able to strike out four batters in his five innings of work. — Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535 ext. 318.