Zone III in American Legion baseball welcomed Cole Farms last year as its newest member.

The team from Yarmouth and Gray thanked the league, and promptly stole the title from New Auburn. This season, with a strong, deep pitching staff, Cole Farms may well be the team to chase again.

“We lost a couple of key players,” said first-year coach Aaron Tolan, “but we still have a lot of talent.”

Tolan’s team has five quality starters that all pitched well during the high school season, including Shane Corcoran. That should be their strength.

“I don’t see us getting into too many slugging matches this season,” said Tolan. “I think you’ll see a lot of 4-2, 5-3, 3-1 games out of this team.”

New Auburn, of course, isn’t about to lay down that easily. After taking first place in the regular season, New Auburn got bounced in the Zone playoffs by Cole Farms. Both teams advanced to the state tournament last year.

“This is a very different team from last year,” said New Auburn coach Brian Flynn. “We have a core of kids that have been here for a while, and that really don’t know what it’s like to not make the state tournament, and that will help.”

Jay Verrill, Derek Miller, Joey Dumont and Nick Lawler lead a group of players back to the field that may be hard pressed to continue its recent string of success.

“For the first time in a while, we very well may be considered underdogs,” said Flynn.

Rory Flynn begins the season sidelined with a sprained ankle, and veteran starting pitcher Todd Gamache missed returning to the team by two days after the league voted to extend the eligibility window by six months.

“The new players are going to be a big factor, and hopefully their arms and their fielding will be at the point to make us a contender,” said Flynn. “We’ll contend, we want to contend, but it’s going to be a matter of how the new players adjust.”

The rest of Zone III is a muddled mess. Mid Coast, with four players from Class A state finalist Mt. Ararat and several more from Bath and Brunswick, should also be a factor. Mark Rogers, on any given day, can beat any team in the state from the pitcher’s mound.

Bessey Motors, invigorated by new head coach Shane Slicer, will look to rebound after a couple of years of apathy and injuries forced them to the back burner in the conference.

“I think it’s important to have the same coaching staff,” said Slicer. “We had a volunteer coach last year, and he did a good job, but it seemed like the fire was gone from the players. With the same staff from the school year out there, it seems to them like it matters more, I think.”

Oxford Hills High School lost a tight game to Mt. Ararat in the Eastern Class A Regional finals, and will be hungry to get a measure of revenge during the summer.

“We know we played well this year, and that loss kind of stung,” said Slicer. “They’ll be ready to go this time around. We had a full tryout and have a full squad this summer.”

Gayton Post 153, drawing from Lewiston and St. Dom’s, should be an intriguing team. The Turgeon brothers and Jack Lavoie from St. Dom’s join three returning college players, Sean Sabine, Ryan O’Hara and Jared Jalbert, and a solid core of Lewiston High School players to form a team that, if it plays well, could win a lion’s share of its games. Defense has always been the bane of this team in the past, and if they can resolve that issue, they have playoff potential.

Andy Valley will draw several players from Class C state finalist Jay, as well as Livermore Falls and Leavitt, and should do well, depending on who takes the mound and who decides to hit on a given day.

Locke Mills, drawing from Telstar and Gould Academy, is a very young team. Eleven of the 18 members are first-year players.

“It will be an interesting season,” said Locke Mills coach Bob Remmington. “It’s all going to depend on how we can develop as a young team.”

Poland return most of its players from last year. The catch is that they are all still relatively young.

“We only had four seniors on the high school team this year,” said coach Charlie Green. “We’ve improved enough this year to be able to play with most of the teams in the zone now, it’s going to come down to defense.

With a pitching staff that includes Nick Berube, Alex Smith, Kyle Purrington and Eric Piper, among others, the Poland team should fare well.

“This is a really tough zone,” said Green. “It’s one of the toughest zones, and I think the challenge is going to be good for our team. We are going to surprise some people, I think.”

[email protected]