STANDISH — It was stunning, improbable, but only to those who weren’t standing in the Fryeburg Academy dugout Tuesday night.

Held to two hits in the first six innings, trailing by three runs entering their final at-bat against top-ranked Wells, the third-seeded Raiders scored four runs on six hits to defeat the Warriors 6-5 in the Class B South championship game at St. Joseph’s College.

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Chloe Coen had the final hit, a two-run single down the left-field line that gave Fryeburg the lead in an emotional game with huge momentum swings.

“I just didn’t want the season to end,” said Coen. “I didn’t want to let my teammates down.”

The Raiders (16-3) – the only team to beat Wells (17-2) in the regular season – will play Old Town (17-2) in the Class B state championship game at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Joseph’s.

Fryeburg will make its first state championship game appearance since 2012, when it completed a string of five consecutive regional titles.

“This means a lot,” said Coach Fred Apt. “We’re pretty excited to be going back.”

The game matched two of the best pitchers in the region – Anya Chase of Wells and Nicole Bennett of Fryeburg – but both teams had big innings.

Trailing 2-0 entering the bottom of the fifth, Wells scored five runs on six hits with Chase driving in two with a triple, and Sara Ring and Karissa Kenyon getting RBI doubles.

Fryeburg’s rally came in the seventh.

“I just wanted to get some good at-bats,” said Apt. “We wanted to make it close and then things just happened.”

Bennett led off with a single and was replaced by Alexandria Fraize as a courtesy runner. Fraize advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Makayla Cooper, who was later thrown out at third on a single by freshman Kaylee Emery.

But freshman Paige O’Connell singled in Emery, taking second on the throw home, and it was 5-4. Brooke Juneau, a sophomore, reached on an infield single, moving O’Connell to third, and then stole second.

Coen followed with a line shot down the left-field line that drove in two runs for a 6-5 lead.

“I just went into the box like it was any other inning,” said Coen. “I did what I was supposed to do.”

Wells Coach Kevin Fox said the rally was simply a matter of the Raiders getting hits.

“They did a good job of not giving up and got their bats going,” he said.

“That’s a good team. Those were two good teams there. … I couldn’t ask for a better team. Sometimes you do everything right and you still end up on the short end of things. That’s life sometimes.”

Wells got runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Bennett got the final out with a called third strike – “Inside corner,” she said. “I knew it was a strike as soon as I let it go.” – and the Raiders joined in a joyous celebration on the infield.

“I told the girls coming down, we haven’t made it easy all year,” said Apt. “We haven’t made it easy on us, we haven’t made it easy on our opponents. We always battle back. And we always give it up a little, like we did in that (fifth) inning.

“I’m just so proud of this team.”

Correction: This story was updated at 11:49 a.m. on June 14 to correct a misidentified player in a photo caption.

Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or:

mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH

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