STANDISH — Yarmouth High entered the Class B South baseball tournament as the ninth seed – exactly where the Clippers wanted to be.
“We love being the nine seed,” said pitcher Dom Morrill. “We can go and just play our game.”
And despite the seeding, that game is pretty good. The Clippers won their first Class B South baseball championship Tuesday, scoring four runs in the third inning and holding on to beat second-ranked York 5-3 at St. Joseph’s College.
Morrill pitched the final 21/3 innings in relief of starter Luke Waeldner, getting out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the fifth.
The win lifted the Clippers to their first state championship game since 1995, when they won the Class C state title.
“It’s like a dream come true,” said Jack Romano, a sophomore center fielder who had a two-run double in the third inning. “This team has been working so hard all year.”
Yarmouth (15-5) will play Old Town (16-3) for the Class B state championship at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Joseph’s College.
York (15-4) had its season bookended by losses to Yarmouth.
“When you run into (Yarmouth Coach) Marc Halsted and his kids, they put pressure on you,” said York Coach Chuck Chadbourne. “Our league is pretty darn good. That’s evident of what (Yarmouth) did in the tournament. There’s a reason they’re in it every year.”
It was 1-1 entering the fourth when the Clippers got four runs off York starter Andrew Rodrigues. Waeldner, Chris Romano and Gibson Harnett singled to load the bases with no outs. Jack Romano fell behind 0-2 but worked the count full and lashed a two-run double to left to give Yarmouth a 3-1 lead. James Waaler followed with a squeeze, scoring Harnett. Joe Coyne followed with a looping single to right-center, scoring Jack Romano to make it 5-1.
“That’s who we are. It’s my mentality, it’s the kids’ mentality,” said Halsted of the aggressive baserunning. “It’s the way Yarmouth kids are. They want to compete, they want to play for championships. They want to control the tempo. You can control the tempo in baseball.”
The Clippers didn’t score again. Chris Nielson, who had pitched only two innings all season for York, came in with strong relief pitching.
York got an RBI single from Rodrigues with one out in the bottom of the fifth and another run on a sacrifice fly by Trevor LaBonte. When Riley Linn walked to load the bases with two outs, Halsted brought in Morrill. Three fastballs later, the Clippers were out of the inning with a 5-3 lead.
“When I’m on the mound I honestly don’t even think, I just pitch,” said Morrill. “I get the ball back and I want to go. I just want to get back in the dugout.”
When it was over, the Clippers threw their gloves into the air and jumped all over each other on the infield.
“A big key to our success this year is that we have so much fun on the field,” said Jack Romano. “Everybody loves to be here and that’s the attitude that’s carried us.”
Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or:
mlowe@pressherald.com
Twitter: MikeLowePPH
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