PARIS — Dozens of softball players gathered on the fields at the Dennis Rugg Complex on Saturday to play in a 12U and 10U Babe Ruth League all-star softball tournaments, something that didn’t happen last summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Teams from all over Maine traveled to Paris — from Winthrop to Auburn, Lewiston to Lisbon, Brunswick to Bethel — with players ready to play ball. 

After the opening games at 8 a.m. in the 12U tournament bracket, a bracket that had to be adjusted after a Friday rainout, Lisbon took on Lewiston, while Winthrop faced off against Andy Valley, a team composed of players from Paris and some adjacent cities. While Andy Valley selects players from multiple towns, Lewiston, Lisbon and Winthrop pick from players from one town. But with so many travel teams, rec teams and now the All-Star team, the girls don’t have to work on chemistry. 

“They play year-round,” Andy Valley 12U coach Jess Campbell said. “They cheer each other on, they’re great to each other, and that’s probably what has stood out to us today is how good they’ve done and how good they’ve been to each other.”

Campbell said that last year her players were able to play on a travel team but couldn’t have tournaments and had to wear masks.

“It wasn’t the same,” she said. 

“It was really boring,” 12-year-old player Jenni Campbell of Paris said. “I was excited to play for (travel team) Maine Pride this summer.”

Jenni Campbell’s teammate, Harrison’s Cameron Mayhan, said she was just excited to be on the field with her friends. 

“I was excited,” Mayhan said. “I was excited about pitching because I love pitching. I know every single person on my team from other teams, from school ball, travel.”

In the 12U tourney, Lewiston and Lisbon’s 10:30 a.m. matchup went down to the wire, with Lisbon eking out the win, 14-11, out to move onto the next round.

Sportsmanship was at a maximum in the high-five line after the game brought out smiles from every participant.

“It’s awesome and it’s great to be back out on the field, for sure,” Lisbon coach Chris Bickford said. “… Just to be able to walk down the line and high-five is great. What we were doing before was a wave, we’d line the girls up and then we’d do a wave down and then back.”

Both Lewiston and Lisbon had chants being belted out from each dugout when their respective teams were at the plate, another sign that things were getting back to normal. 

“They watch videos and make chants, there are so many chants that they have,” Bickford said. “They probably have 30 different chants that they have. This level, it’s weird because you go to 10U and they chant, chant, chant all day long, and then you come to 12U and they’re in that teenage stage where they don’t know if they want to chant, then in the high school level they chant again.”

Lisbon’s Alivia Saunders, who is in her first year of softball, said she has “no idea” where the chants come from, but she’s enjoying them, still. 

“It’s awesome, I love my team and they’re great,” Saunders said. “Hitting is my favorite. It’s fun, it’s motivating.”

Lewiston coach Eric Ashton was happy with how his team played, and chanted, on Saturday. 

“They did great, they worked as a team and they were ready to play and they hit the ball hard,” Ashton said. “The girls start the chants, each one of them has their own chant and they just yell them together. It’s a good team thing. It’s a great group of girls.”

Winthrop has been practicing for four weeks and coach Chip Shaw was pleased with what he saw from the players on the field. 

“They’re pretty excited because we haven’t played any tournaments and last year we didn’t play any, so we are excited to come out and play in an All-Star tournament,” Shaw said. “Learning stuff, getting better at certain things and smartening in places we’ve been getting better at. We went over relays more this week, and we had a relay today and got a girl out at third.”

The 10U tournament started up Saturday evening. Both tournaments will finish on Sunday. 

Brunswick and Lisbon will play at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, and the winner will play Andy Valley at 4 p.m. in the 12U tournament final.

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