BANGOR — Yankee Ford’s Adam Peterson was wondering when his chance to pitch was coming in the American Legion state baseball tournament.

The response he kept receiving was, “Adam, your turn’s coming.”

Saturday Peterson got his chance — and he made the most of it, allowing just two hits in nine innings as Yankee Ford defeated Bessey Motors, 9-0, to advance to the final day of the tournament.

“What a job,” Yankee Ford manager Al Livingston said. “He got some quick innings and threw strikes and that’s the key to these games, throw strikes. I can’t say enough good things about his performance.”

Peterson came out of the gates on fire, striking out the first batter he saw and then went until the fourth inning without allowing a Bessey hit.

On the offensive side, Yankee Ford started its attack early. Nate Ingalls led off the bottom half of the first with a single up the middle, which Riley Hassan followed with a single of his own. Two straight fielder’s choices moved the runners up, scoring Ingalls. A D.J. Shea single scored Hassan, and Shea was hit home from a Marshall Peterson single to make their first-inning lead 3-0.

Yankee Ford tacked on another run in the second when Alex Livingston hit a single to left to lead the inning off. A sacrifice bunt and an infield single gave Yankee Ford runners on the corners with two outs. Catcher Wyatt Williamson made a throw on a pitch-out to second which was cut off by the second baseman Rodney Bean and thrown back home to get the tag on a running Livingston. The throw came in time, but after the tag and an initial “out” call by the home plate umpire, the ball was dropped and the call was subsequently changed to safe.

In the sixth, Ben Conti reached to lead off the bottom-half when the grounder to shortstop was bobbled. Conti stole second and was batted home off a Shea single to make it 5-0 in favor of the South Portland side.

Peterson gave up his second and only hit in the sixth inning, which impressed Bessey Motors manager Shane Slicer.

“He kept us off balance, he pitched well,” Slicer said. “I don’t know if it was tired bats by us, or he just pitched really well, but I gotta take my hat off to him. He did a nice job.”

Yankee Ford added to their lead in the seventh when Arlo Pike started the inning off with a walk, followed by a Shea single, who went three for five on the day. Two fielder’s choices and a Matt Riggle single added two runs to make it 7-0.

Meanwhile, Peterson kept getting quick innings on the mound, with single-digit pitch counts in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

“We were gonna be happy if we got five out of him,” Livingston said. “This is a five-six day grind. As each day went on, he was wondering what was going on and I’m going, ‘Adam, your turn’s coming.’”

Yankee Ford added two more runs in the eighth inning, and with Peterson shutting down the Bessey bats in order in the ninth, Yankee Ford completed the 9-0 win.

Slicer was proud of his team in defeat.

“What a great season we’ve had,” Slicer said. “It stinks that you’re out of the tournament now, but the fight in them was there all along. Zone tournament, regular season, we won the championship and they’re growing.”

Yankee Ford will now face Coastal Landscape at 1 p.m. Sunday, and the winner will face Bangor Coffee News at 4 p.m. for the state title.

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