STANDISH – Hollywood couldn’t have scripted a better ending to the Western Class A finals as Scarborough’s Joe Cronin stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Cronin, who pitched a complete game on the mound, had just given up the tying run to Cheverus in the top of the inning, and the tension was palpable at the field at St. Joseph’s College.

Louis DiStasio, the Cheverus ace, had also pitched a complete game. He had struck out Aaron Ravin to start the inning before walking Sam Terry with one out. After Greg Viola struck out, the stage was set for Cronin.

Cronin, who surrendered his first hit of the postseason to DiStasio – a solo homer – in top of the third, got his revenge when he laced a walk-off two-run homer over the wall in left to propel his team to the state championship on Saturday against Messalonskee, to be held at noon back at St. Joe’s.

While there was obvious physical skill involved, it was Cronin’s mental awareness that allowed him to gear up for DiStasio’s fastball.

“If it was me in his spot in a 2-2 count, I would go fastball and try and throw it as hard as I can. I knew he would,” said Cronin. “If he threw me a slider, my front side would have been facing the batting cages.”

But Cronin guessed right, and now his team sits one win away from a state title.

“I wanted the strikeout (in the top of the seventh) just to eliminate some drama,” said Cronin. “Either way, this is crazy.”

It was a quick turn of events for the Scarborough star.

Cronin entered the top of the seventh inning with his team leading 5-3. After the Stags loaded the bases with two outs, Cronin had Harry Ridge down to his final strike and, for a moment, thought the game had ended.

“I honestly thought the curveball dropped in there,” said Cronin, who momentarily erupted in celebration before receiving the bad news from the home plate umpire. “It was probably a little high,” he admitted.

With the count 2-2, Ridge roped a fastball to right center to that brought in two runs, tying the score 5-5.

Cronin stranded the go-ahead run on third by striking out Mitch Powers to retire the side and send his team into the bottom of the frame with a chance to end the game with a run. He then headed back into the dugout before heading to the plate for his date with destiny.

The Red Storm erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 and had to overcome the shock of being within one strike from a trip to the state championship to pull off the incredible victory. If you ask Scarborough coach Mike Coutts about the resilience his team showed, he would admit that it wasn’t a surprise.

“Take a punch and you’re going to come back,” said Coutts. “That’s our team right there. … We’ve talked about it all year. We talked about being strong and grinding and not getting down and knowing that if we are not out of outs we still have a chance. It’s overcoming adversity.”

After tying the game in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Ravin, scoring Ben Greenberg, who lead off with a triple, the Red Storm quickly fell behind again in the top of the sixth.

After Nick Melville and Ridge lead of the top of the sixth with consecutive singles, Ryan Casale brought home the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to left field to score Melville, who advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Cronin lead off the bottom of the sixth with a walk, but looked as if he was going to be stranded on first after Brendan Hall popped a bunt to third and Ben Wessel struck out. Coutts, however, gambled and had Cronin steal second on Wessel’s strikeout. Cronin just beat the tag, setting up Connor McCann with a runner in scoring position.

McCann hit a routine grounder to Melville at second, but Melville rushed the throw. Ridge was unable to scoop it and Cronin – hustling all the way – scored from second as McCann reached.

Nick Bagley followed with a two-run homer to left to give the Red Storm their first lead of the game.

Despite the drama that unfolded as the rain fell steadily at St. Joe’s, Coutts and his team know that they still have work to do. And despite being on an emotional high, Coutts believes his team will be ready come Saturday.

“That’s my job, I’ll get them back grounded again,” said Coutts. “They’ve been pretty grounded. They know where they want to be. I don’t think we’re going to go into Saturday still on a high from this game.

“We’ll enjoy this for a couple of day but come Thursday and Friday we’ll practice and get ready to play.”