SOUTH PARIS – They’ve picked the right time to play their best baseball of the season.

The Andy Valley American Legion Baseball team is picking up steam in the final weeks of the regular season and making a mad dash to the finish line for an improved seeding in the upcoming tournament.

Andy Valley won its third straight game Thursday night, beating Bessey Motors 3-1.

“We’ve been scrambling,” said Andy Valley coach Jeff Gilbert. “It takes awhile to figure out a team. The kids now understand what their roles are. They’ve been making the plays. They understand each other, and they’ve been playing well.”

Andy Valley (9-8) got a solid pitching performance from Dustin Gilbert, a sound defensive game and some clutch hitting in the fourth inning that broke a scoreless tie.

“We’re growing into a better baseball team,” said Gilbert.

Andy Valley only had seven hits in the game but produced four of them in the same inning. The biggest blows came from Tony Pirruccello and Justin Dodge. Pirruccello delivered a two-run single and Dodge followed with an RBI single.

“They strung some hits together,” said Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer. “That’s the whole key to the game. We had our opportunities. We put ourselves in position to win the game, but we didn’t come through.”

Bessey Motors (13-5) left nine runners on base, including the bases loaded in the first and fourth. Gilbert allowed just four hits overall.

“It was that way all night,” said Slicer. “We had first and second with no outs three times, I believe. We did get one run out of it, but our inability to hit the ball really killed us.”

Bessey Motors had two runners on in the first with no outs and ended up stranding three runners. A strike out and two unassisted plays at first and third nixed that threat.

“We needed to score in the first inning,” said Slicer. “That was key, and it didn’t happen.” The game remained scoreless until the fourth. Andy Valley had two runners on when Pirruccello singled in a pair. After a double and two outs, Dodge followed with a single that scored Pirruccello.

Bessey Motors threatened in the bottom of the inning. Chris Jennings doubled and Kelvin Decato was hit by a pitch with one out. Russell Estes followed with a run-scoring single, but that was all Bessey Motors could muster. It left the bases full as two fly ball outs ended the inning.