Westbrook jumped ahead early, but couldn’t hold on against Deering in last Thursday’s SMAA conference title game played at Hadlock Field in Portland.

The Blue Blazes scored in the top of the first, but the Rams countered with a run in the second and two in the third on their way to a 3-1 victory.

Lance Ludka started Westbrook off with a single to center in the first inning. After a fly out, he advanced to third on Scott Heath’s single. Christian Hamilton followed with a fielder’s choice that forced Heath out at second. Hamilton was safe at first as the Rams tried to turn the double play. Ludka, who held up initially on Hamilton’s grounder, slid safely into home as the throw from first was off the mark. Hamilton was thrown out attempting to advance to second.

Deering tied the score in the second when Dan Brown’s single to left brought home Taylor Candage, who reached on a walk and stole second.

Matt Powers began the bottom of the third for Deering with a triple to center. He scored on Jack Heary’s infield single. Heary stole second. Hamilton, the Westbrook starter, retired the next two batters via strikeout, but Candage smacked a two-out single to plate Heary.

Jack Young started and pitched four innings for Deering. After giving up a leadoff single in the second to Shawn McAlpine, he retired nine of the next 10 batters he faced. Ludka reached on a walk in the third, stole second and advanced to third on Matt Foye’s sacrifice fly, but was stranded there when Heath grounded to first.

Candage relieved Young in the fifth, when Westbrook had its best chance to get back in the game. Candage walked three to load the bases with two outs for Heath, who clubbed an 0-2 pitch to deep center field. The fly ball resulted in nothing but a long out in the spacious Hadlock outfield.

Candage settled down to retire the Blue Blazes in order in the sixth. He got the first two outs in the seventh before Taylor Clouatre kept Westbrook’s chances alive with a standup triple to the gap in left-center. Nick Finocchiaro, pinch hitting for Ludka, walked to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. But Brown tracked down Foye’s foul ball before tumbling into the stands on the third-base line for the final out.

Hamilton worked all six innings for Westbrook, allowing five hits while striking out seven. He walked three.

Deering, the defending state champion, defeated Westbrook 3-2 when the team’s met last month during the regular season.

The SMAA tournament includes the top four teams in the conference. No. 3 Westbrook (12-4) defeated No. 2 Thornton Academy (12-4) last Tuesday to earn a spot in the championship. No. 1 Deering (16-0) topped No. 4 Biddeford (10-6) to reach the finals.

The conference playoff games have no bearing on the teams’ regular-season records or the Western Maine Class A Heal Points. The Western A tournament began this week, with quarterfinals scheduled for Thursday (after the American Journal’s deadline) and semifinals on tap for Saturday.