Gardiner players rushed the field in celebration after shortstop Kyle Stilphen’s walk-off, 2-RBI single secured the school’s first state baseball championship in over 60 years.

The ecstasy of long-awaited victory was certainly there. The drama, however, was a bit lacking.

Stilphen’s third hit and third and fourth RBIs of the contest triggered the 10-run mercy rule as the Tigers (17-3) continued their playoff dominance and topped Cape Elizabeth 10-0 in five innings in Saturday’s Class B state championship played at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.

The Western Maine champion Capers, seeded ninth in the region entering the playoffs, wrapped up the year at 13-8.

After defeating No. 7 Mattanawcook Academy 7-4 in the Eastern Maine quarterfinals, the No. 2 Tigers crushed their next three opponents, all via the 10-run rule, en route to their first state championship since 1947. They topped No. 3 Ellsworth 10-0 in six innings in the regional semifinals then eliminated No. 4 Old Town 13-0 in five innings on a walk-off grand slam by Stilphen for the East championship.

“They hit the ball hard,” said Cape second-year coach Chris Hayward. “They’re a lot bigger and a lot stronger than us. They played aggressive. We were hoping to score a few runs and try to hang on but it didn’t work out.”

Gardiner got to Cape starter Ryan Boyington early on as Forest Chadwick singled with one out in the first. Stilphen, recently named the Gatorade Player of the Year for baseball in Maine, followed with a single. Boyington’s errant pickoff attempt to first allowed Chadwick to score and sent Stilphen to third. After a foul out, Alex Wheelock’s fly to left dropped under the glove of the diving Cape outfielder and rolled to the wall for an RBI triple. He scored on Nick Maschino’s single to make it 3-0. Gardiner had two more hits in the inning but Maschino was thrown out trying to score for the third out.

Gardiner starter Mike LaVallee befuddled the Cape hitters as he pitched a complete game, striking out four and allowing only two hits, a solid single to left by Kyle Piscopo in the first inning and an infield single by Zach Breed in the third. LaVallee also walked four.

“He had a late-breaking slider that was tough for us to handle,” Hayward said. “We were pretty opportunistic through the playoffs. We’d get men on base and get most of them across. It didn’t happen today.”

Boyington settled in to hold the Tigers scoreless in the second and third, but the wheels came off in the fourth. After getting the first out, Boyington allowed the next five batters to reach, three on singles and two on walks. All five would score. Conor Moloney replaced Boyington with one out and the score 6-0 and struck out the first batter he faced, but Maschino’s double to the gap in left-center scored Stilphen and Roland Kennerson to make it 8-0.

“We were seeing the ball great,” Stilphen said. “We have a bunch of confidence hitting the ball.”

Moloney hit a batter and walked two in the fifth to set up Stilphen’s game-ending hit.

Stilphen, who signed to play baseball at Maine next season, said one thing was on his mind when he stepped to the plate: “Just get a base hit to end it and celebrate.”

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