The Gorham Little League All-Star team is trying to recover after being suddenly disqualified from the state tournament this week.

Gorham coach Todd Bacon says they’re devastated after playing so well and dedicating so much time to be successful.

“You know, the boys have put in all the hard work and all the blood, sweat and tears, and we’re, you know, five or six days a week with practices leading up to this,” said Bacon “I mean, the sacrifices that were made by every family on this team with work and other commitments.”

Bacon said parents had canceled summer and soccer camps they’d paid hundreds of dollars for in order for their kids to continue in the Little League playoffs.

The team had a historic season, winning 10-0 against York in their previous game before the sudden disqualification.

Another team in the state tournament, Medomak Valley, reported the technical infraction which disqualified Gorham.

It turns out the Gorham All-stars were disqualified because not all of the teams in its division played the Little League required 12 games during the season.

The requirement was especially difficult to meet because of an unusually high number of rainy days this spring.

Coach Bacon says they filed an appeal to get a waiver from the rule because of the unusual circumstances with the rain, but were quickly denied

“I’ve said this…100 times in the last few days,” Bacon said. “There was no malicious intent here for us to deceive anybody, or the boys to cheat in any way, shape or form. It really just boiled down to a paperwork issue and a filing of a waiver or that kind of thing that ultimately ended their run.”

The Gorham team is especially disappointed because they knew they had the talent and ability to advance further into the Little League playoff, perhaps to the reginal level or beyond.

“The thing is, we have, out of 12 kids, I think we had 10 pitchers,” said Bacon “Legitimately, we had so much depth. And these kids, from top to bottom, were all hitters a lot of times.”

Gorham also had player Liam Norton, who pitches at 70 mph, an unusual feat for a 12-year-old boy.

The Gorham team appeared on the WGAN Morning News with Matt Gagnon Thursday.