LEWISTON — Corbin Hyde knew he was pitching in relief Saturday afternoon. He just wasn’t expecting it at the moment it happened.
With some steamy temperatures and laboring arms, Pastime Club was planning on using a variety of hurlers in its American Legion Zone 3 doubleheader showdown with previously undefeated Windham.
“I was actually supposed to come on in relief in the first game,” said Hyde. “Once I didn’t come in, I knew I’d probably come in the second game.”
After Pastime won the opener, 6-5, Hyde was already warming up during the second game. He was expecting to be summoned in the top of the fifth inning, but that call came early.
With Pastime hold a slim one-run lead and the tying run at third, Hyde was called in to escape the jam in the fourth.
“I was kind of surprised,” Hyde said. “I’d only thrown like seven pitches in the bullpen. They said I was coming in the next inning. So when they called me in, I was a little surprised, but was ready to go.”
Hyde struck out two of the next three batters he faced and ended the Windham threat. Pastime went on to complete the sweep, 5-1.
“To beat a team of that caliber, they’re a very strong team,” said Pastime coach Dave Jordan. “The talent they have has the potential to make a run not only in our zone but in the state tournament.”
Between Hyde escaping that threat in the fourth in the second game and Luke Cote ending a Windham rally in the seventh of the first game, Pastime rose to the occasion several times.
“If you look at the body of work the full 14 innings, we did have some mistakes here and there, but we also had a lot of resiliency,” Jordan said, noting the play of catcher Alex Small, who was behind the plate for all 14 innings Saturday.
“We had battles. I didn’t know how many time we got behind in the count and battled to a full count. We either won the battle or even if they got us out, we made them work.”
Pastime (9-3) got early leads in both games and forced Windham to rally. In the first game, the lead was 5-1 after two innings.
Ryan Riordan, Cote and Hyde each drove in runs in the first. Then Michael Wong singled in a run in the second for the early lead.
Pastime upped the lead to 6-2 in the sixth when Cote doubled in a run. It nearly had more, but Windham escaped the threat with a nice inning-ending double play that cut down another runner at the plate.
In the seventh, Windham scored three and had runners in scoring position.
“They had the bases loaded pretty much that whole inning,” said Cote. “I was getting a little nervous. I knew we had some good defense behind us.”
Cote got one out with a fine effort on a pop near the Windham dugout. Then a grounder toward first eluded the diving Brian Wigant. Second baseman Caleb Dostie fielded the ball and fed a hustling Cote at first, just in time to beat the runner and prevent the tying run.
“I saw him moving,” Cote said. “He’s a pretty aggressive first baseman. So I knew I had to bust it over there and beat the runner.”
In the second game, Pastime grabbed the early lead on a Hyde double that scored Cote. Then in the third, a Hyde grounder to first plated Cote for the 2-0 lead.
Wigant pitched well through the first three innings. Windham got a one-out walk and a triple by Joey Francoeur in the fourth.
That’s when Hyde got the call.
“Brian did a great job,” Jordan said of Wigant, who allowed just one hit. “I knew with this heat there wasn’t going to be two complete seven-inning games. We came into the games essentially with the full staff ready to go.”
Hyde struck out a batter for the second out. After a walk, he struck out another to end the inning. Hyde struck out seven overall and allowed just two more hits the rest of the way.
“That was huge,” Hyde said of the sweep. “We had a couple of losses already. They’re a good team. If we lost two more, it would be a struggle the rest of the season, so we knew we had to buckle down and get the wins.”
Pastime added two in the fifth when Hyde singled in a pair. Then in the sixth, Small walked with the bases loaded to plate a run.
Windham threatened in the sixth with a single and two errors to load the bases, but Hyde struck out the next two to end the inning.
“They’re definitely one of the best teams in the state,” said Cote. “We knew they had probably the best pitching staff in the state. We did everything. We were fielding and we hit.”
kmills@sunjournal.com
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- The ball flies past Windham’s Ethan Petty for an error as Pastime’s Nick Perrault makes it safely to first base during the first game of a double header Saturday in Lewiston. Pastime ended up winning 6-5 in the first game and 5-1 in the second.
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- Windham’s Zach Conley tries to protect third base form Pastime’s Carter Chabot during their first game their doubleheader Saturday in Lewiston. Chabot was safe and Pastime went on to win both games.
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- Luke Cote winds up for a pitch during the first game their doubleheader Saturday in Lewiston. Pastime won both games against the formerly undefeated Windham.
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- Windham’s Zach Conley gets back to first safely past Eddie Emerson during an attempted pick-off Saturday in Lewiston.
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