BETHEL – Given the potency of the two offenses, Chris Henderson didn’t think his two-run homer in the first inning of Sunday’s Zone III American Legion championship would stand up. Neither did his coach, or virtually anyone else at Telstar High School.

Corey Tielinen had other ideas.

The tall, wiry right-hander tossed a four-hit complete game shutout to give Bessey Motors its second zone championship in a row with a 2-0 victory.

Henderson lined an 0-1 pitch from Locke Mills starter Cory Wing over the right-field fence with two out in the first.

“The first pitch was a pretty good curve that caught the outside corner and then he just threw me a fastball right down the middle,” said Henderson, who had two of Bessey’s four hits. “He kind of tipped the pitches off a little bit so I had a good idea it was coming.”

“They usually hit the ball pretty well, so I was surprised it did stand up, but Corey pitched a great game,” he added.

Wing and relievers Richie Ross and Karl Olson held Bessey in check from there, but Tielinen (eight Ks, one walk, one hit batsmen on 95 pitches) got stronger as the game went along.

“The biggest thing was I could put the ball where I wanted to today,” Tielinen said. “When you can place the ball well, you’re not going to have many problems.”

Another key for Tielinen was his change-up, which has given him problems this year. He kept the pitch down and got 14 ground ball outs as a result, with the help of some solid Bessey defense.

“He was changing speeds and hitting his spots and kept us off balance,” said Locke Mills coach Chris Olson. “We didn’t do much offensively, for sure. He controlled us.”

Locke Mills, playing without catcher and cleanup hitter Anthony Liberti, who hit the game-winning homer in Saturday’s semfinal against Andy Valley, squandered three early scoring chances. A single by Wing (2-for-4) and a dropped third strike put two on with two out in the first, but Tielinen got Quinn McAllister to ground out to short to end the threat.

An August Reiss double and a hit batter put two on again in the third, this time with one out, but Tielinen got Wing swinging and induced a ground out to first by Olson.

Locke Mills’ last and best chance came in the fourth. With one out, Ross reached on an error by Henderson at third. Shawn Marr followed with a single, but Henderson made up for his miscue by fielding Kyle Kipikas’ grounder to him cleanly, tagging third and quickly throwing to first for the 5-3 double play.

“I knew I needed a ground ball and my change-up had been getting it all day so I just threw a change-up to the kid and he rolled over the top of itand Henderson turned the nice double play to get me out of that inning,” Tielinen said.

He was virtually unhittable from there, setting down the next 12 in a row on just 31 pitches before Wing grounded a single up the middle to lead off the ninth. Tielinen closed it out with two more ground outs and and fly out to right.

“I didn’t think Corey was going to go nine innings,” said Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer. “My original plan was five, then he had like 45 pitches through five innings and 74 after seven. I thought, going nine innings with two pretty good hitting teams, we’d both have to go to the bullpen, but Corey controlled the game.”

Both teams now move on to the state Legion tournament in Augusta, which begins Wednesday. Bessey Motors will play Zone II runner-up Monmouth. Locke Mills will face Zone II champion Gardiner.