Hampden’s Mailloux makes ESPN’s “Top Plays” with diving catch at Senior League World Series

Ever since it arrived in Bangor in 2002, the Senior League World Series has put the Queen City on the international baseball landscape.

The local entries from Maine District 3 have always fared well, with the 2010 Bangor team advancing to the world championship game.

Maine’s 2016 District 3 champs from the Bronco-Hermon Senior League got its World Series run off to a great start Sunday evening, defeating the Capitol Park Little League from San Antonio in a 9-8 thriller.

That contest saw San Antonio, the U.S. Southwest champions, erase an 8-1 deficit before the local team won it with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Perhaps lost in all that shuffle was that Bronco-Hermon’s Mark Mailloux made an outstanding catch that was good enough to make ESPN’s Top Plays for Monday night.

San Antonio had threatened to take an early lead with runners on first and third with two out in the first inning, but Mailloux chased down a fly ball at full throttle and extended fully to make the catch in foul territory and get the Maine District 3 champions out of that early jam.

To see Mailloux’s catch, captured by WVII-TV’s Jon Alba, scroll to about the 1:30  mark on the video below. It was an outstanding effort in front of a packed grandstand at Mansfield Stadium.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU8xMZqxJy8&feature=share&app=desktop

The Maine District 3 champs return to action on Tuesday night against the U.S. West champions from Wailuke, Hawaii. First pitch is scheduled for 8:00.

It’s plays like the one Mailloux made that truly make the Senior League World Series the remarkable event that it is.

From a baseball perspective, Mailloux’s play was large in the context that it prevented San Antonio from gaining any early momentum, even though the play was made in foul territory.

If the Maine District 3 champs go on a run similar to Bangor’s in 2010, Mailloux’s play will be looked back on as huge cog in Bronco-Hermon’s World Series run.

Ryan McLaughlin

About Ryan McLaughlin

BDN sports reporter Ryan McLaughlin grew up in Brewer and is a lifelong fan of the New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins. In "The Boston Blitz" he'll be sharing his perspective with BDN readers about what's happening on the Boston professional sports scene.