For just the fourth time, Maine is sending a team to the Little League World Series.
The Gray-New Gloucester/Raymond Little League team will play their opener against the Northwest titlist, Northeast Seattle LL from Washington, on Thursday at 3 p.m. in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
The state and New England regional champs haven’t lost, with Gray-New Gloucester/Raymond going 12-0 in District 6 play, the state tournament in Hermon, and the four-team Northeast Regional involving teams from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont, in addition to Maine.
Gray-New Gloucester/Raymond has outscored its opponents 79-9 en route to its World Series berth.
Gray-New Gloucester joins the 2005 Westbrook team, the 1971 Augusta East team and the 1951 Suburban club with players from Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Windham and Falmouth as the only four to reach the Little League World Series.
Head coach Brad Shelley’s team has only given up more than one run in a game once and that came in a 10-5 win over defending state champion Bangor, which was one win away from going to the World Series last season.
“They have three or four really good arms,” said Bangor coach and former Husson University of Bangor coach Jason Harvey. “And they have five or six hitters who can really swing it. The top four or five guys in their order are athletic and can run and put pressure on you.”
Harvey said that when he first saw Gray-New Gloucester/Raymond, he told his wife Kristin that the team could win a regional.
Gray-New Gloucester has shut out seven of its 12 opponents and Kayden Oliver pitched two no-hitters, one in the district tournament and one in the state tourney.
Oliver pitched 5 ⅓ innings of five-hit, one unearned run ball in the 2-1 regional championship game win over Canton, Massachusetts. He struck out 10 batters before exiting the game for exceeding the pitch count (85). Caleb Barker came on and issued a hit before striking out the final two hitters with runners on second and third to earn the save.
OIiver had pitched 6 ⅓ scoreless innings in a 3-0, seven-inning win over Salem, New Hampshire, in the regional opener and Barker broke a scoreless tie with a two-run single.
Oliver had pitched against Bangor in the state tournament and Bangor has been the only team to rough him up a little bit.
“A lot of our kids also play travel ball so they had seen that velocity. He throws hard, he has a good breaking ball that he can throw for strikes and he has great command of his pitches,” Harvey said.
Barker has also been a stopper on the mound, along with Mason Amergian.
The Maine champs’ staff will be challenged by a Northeast Seattle team that outscored its opponents 85-4 in five state tournament games and three regional contests.
Offensively, the catalysts for the Maine titlists have been right fielder Grant Brann, catcher-pitcher Amergian, third baseman-pitcher Barker and shortstop Gage Rioux.
Amergian had a grand slam and RBI double in a 7-1 win over Canton early in the New England regional.
This was Gray-New Gloucester/Raymond’s first state title.
Shelley is assisted by Mike Amergian and the team includes eight players from Gray and six from New Gloucester. There aren’t any players from Raymond on the roster.
The players from Gray are Oliver, Amergian, Barker, Alex Hanlon, Chase Pacanza, Mason Westcott, Zac Feehan Jr. and Nathan Shelley.
The New Gloucester representatives are Rioux, Anthony Piccone, Brann, Ben Gilmore, Ivan Deemer and Cam Beckwith.
The field at the Little League World Series expanded from 16 to 20 teams a year ago and there are 10 regional champions from the United States and 10 International teams.
Following the 2021 season, the Connecticut and Rhode Island state champs were moved to the Metro Region. Smithfield, Rhode Island, is representing the Metro Regional at the World Series.
The World Series is a double-elimination affair and all 20 teams are guaranteed to play at least three games.
There will eventually be championship games with the two American survivors in one game and the two remaining international teams in the other. The two winners will then meet for the title.
A third-place game will determine the runners up.
Honolulu, Hawaii, beat Curacao 13-3 in the final last year, with the game ended by the mercy rule after four innings.
