The Boothbay 36ers may be down, but they are not out of the Maine State American Legion tournament. Skowhegan defeated Boothbay, 4-3, on July 22 in the Maine State American Legion Senior Baseball tournament. Skowhegan earns the No. 1 south seed in this weekend’s state tournament in Bangor. Boothbay will be the No. 2 south seed. The 36ers will play at 4:30 p.m. on July 27 at Mansfield Stadium. Each of the four state tournament participants also play a Sunday game.

Skowhegan previously defeated the 36ers in both regular season matchups. Pitcher Silas Tibbetts carried a no-hitter against Boothbay in one of the games and pitched another gem in the southern zone final. Tibbetts threw a complete game allowing six hits, three earned runs, struck out five and walked none. 

“What can I say, we played a great game and Skowhegan is an outstanding team,” 36er coach Adam Harkins said. “It’s baseball the way it is supposed to be played. We did everything well, but came up a little bit short.”

The loss didn’t dampen Harkins’ excitement about his team’s performance. “We are hitting better at the plate and our pitchers are walking fewer batters. That has been the biggest improvement this season,” he said.

Skowhegan broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth inning scoring twice and added one in the fifth. Boothbay rallied with two in the sixth, but finished one run short. On offense, 36er hitters had six hits. Finn Harkins had two singles. Other batters with singles were Brady Brann, Aidan Sanborn, Owen Cotta and Shawn Gamage. Brann had one run batted in. Harkins had two RBI. Liam Jacobs pitched four innings allowed two earned runs, on four hits, walked five and struck out one. In relief, Sanborn pitched two innings, allowed no runs on two hits, walked two and struck out three.

Two wins in the southern zone tournament earned Boothbay a berth in the state tournament. Boothbay (7-9-1) beat Central Maine Hamnond Lumber (6-8) of Oakland 4-2 at Messalonskee High School July 19. On July 20, Boothbay beat No.2 Capital Area Senior Legion, 8-5. No. 2 Capital Area is now 8-5. Skowhegan (9-6) beat No. 1 Franklin (10-3) to advance to the southern zone final.

“It’s a spectacular feeling,” Harkins said after beating Capital Area. “Our hitting has really turned our season around. Our fielding has improved too, but the hitting has made up for mistakes in the field.” On July 23, Harkins said the team batting average has risen from .165 earlier in the season to .225. “It’s made all the difference for us,” he said. 

On July 19, Boothbay pitcher Jacob Watkinson pitched 6.2 innings, allowing two hits, no earned runs, striking out four and walking two. Sanborn pitched a third of an inning and struck out one and allowed no runs. Boothbay scored twice in the top of the first and two more in the sixth. Boothbay had four singles:  Brann, Dom Frisone, Bryson Mattox and Watkinson. Mattox also had a run batted in. 

On July 20, Boothbay won 8-5 aided by six Capital Area errors. Harkins pitched 4.1 innings, allowing four earned runs, six hits, striking out three and walking two. Gryffin Kristan pitched 2.2 innings in relief. He allowed no runs and no hits. Kristan struck out three and walked none. 

Boothbay banged out seven hits against Capital Area. Taygen McAllister tripled, scored two runs and had one run batted in. Sanborn went two-for-four with a single and a double. Sam Markowitz singled and had an RBI. Frisone also had an RBI. Kristan singled. 

Harkins hasn’t decided on a pitcher for Saturday’s game. “It’s up in the air. We are watching past northern zone games to see who matches up the best against our opponent,” he said.