Maine wins national title in Legion baseball

Wednesday, August 25th 2004, 10:25 am

By: News On 6

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) _ Nova Seafood has won the American Legion World Series, ending its Cinderella season with a 2-0 shutout against Kennewick, Wash., in the championship game.

Mike Powers and Ryan Reid combined on a three-hitter in the victory Tuesday in Corvallis, Ore., that gave Maine its first Legion baseball title.

``They deserve all the credit, these kids,'' said Nova manager Mike D'Andrea. ``They're resilient and they have a tremendous amount of character in them.''

Nova, made up of players from Deering High School's state championship team, completed a 37-4 season that included a five-game world series sweep over teams from Colorado, Oklahoma, Florida, Pennsylvania and Washington.

Nova got the only run it needed in the second inning when Reid doubled to left, took third on a sacrifice and scored on a groundout.

Ryan Flaherty doubled home an insurance run in the seventh after Chris Burleson hit a two-out infield single and stole second.

Nova's Scott Brown was named the tournament's most valuable player.