- Dale Duff Reporting ([email protected])
For the second time in the last three years of American Legion baseball, the Queen City Athletics Riverdogs are Maine state champions and will move on to play in the Northeast Regional Tournament in Massachusetts next week.
The team is made up of players from Hampden Academy and Brewer. The tournament was played at the Winkin Complex at Husson University in Bangor.
The RIverdogs entered championship Wednesday needing to beat Bessey Motors from Oxford Hills twice in order to win the title. After a 5-3 win in extra innings in game one, the Riverdogs took down Bessey Motors 4-1 in game two. They finish the eight-team tourney with a 4-1 record and an overall season record of 17-3.
Anthoney Chiappone drove in the winning run for game one with an eighth inning double and then pitched the final three outs to earn the save. He had a double, scored a run and had another save in game two. He was named the Legion Tournament MVP.
The Riverdogs head to Shrewsbury, Massachusetts to play in a double elimination, eight team Northeast Regional tournament next Wednesday with the winner of that tourney moving on to the American Legion World Series in North Carolina. The opponent in game one is the Rhode Island state champ.
