BANGOR – In 1997, there wasn’t enough interest in the sport for Central Aroostook of Mars Hill to even field a varsity baseball team. Six years later, the Panthers are Eastern Maine Class D champions.

Timely hitting – especially in the middle of the lineup – and a solid pitching outing from Bryan Grew were enough to get the third-seeded Panthers past No. 1 Shead of East Machias 6-4 on a comfortable, clear Tuesday night.

Central Aroostook, which was 4-10 last year, made its first trip to the EM finals since 1996 a memorable one as it outlasted the Tigers in a well-played and exciting contest at Mansfield Stadium. The 11-5 Panthers will take on West champ North Yarmouth Academy (18-0) in a noon state title game at Gorham High School Saturday.

“It’s real special because … Uh, I don’t know. I can’t even put it in words,” said Panthers coach Jon Codrey, whose father Rodney helped revive the program in 1998 after moving to Mars Hill from Indianapolis. “Baseball was my sport, but they didn’t have it here so my father took over the team and we put enough guys together to play. It makes it real special to win this after all the hard work and time we’ve put in.”

The Panthers did it the dramatic way with three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Leadoff hitter Jeff Clockedile, who was 0-for-3, started things off with a one-out triple to the right-field corner.

“I was getting a first-pitch fastball and if it was down the middle, I was taking it,” Clockedile said. “I was just trying to put one in play and see if I could get on base because I knew the guys behind me could do it. They’ve done it all year.”

An infield flyout later and three pitches later, Kyle Larrabee ripped a 1-2 fastball to left for a game-tying double. After Grew was intentionally walked, freshman Andrew York delivered his second two-run single to right in the game.

“He was throwing straight fastballs all game, so I was sitting on it and he gave me a perfect one right down the middle,” York said.

That left it up to Grew, who had allowed six hits, four runs, and three walks after throwing 96 pitches in six innings. The junior righthander responded with one of his two best innings as he retired Shead’s 1-2-3 hitters 1-2-3 with 10 pitches.

“I felt pretty good. I had a good rest,” said Grew, who threw 121 pitches five days earlier in a quarterfinal victory. “My arm was a little tender in the beginning, but by the third or fourth inning, I had it all loosened up. I got away with a lot of groundballs. They’re a great hitting club, but we didn’t make one error today.”

Neither did the Tigers, who finish the season 11-4.

“It was just a well-played game both ways,” said Shead coach Ron Sullivan, who graduates six of nine players in his starting lineup. “Until that last inning, I thought the team that batted last would win. It’s hard to take when you’re just one strike away.”

Shead took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first two innings before CAHS scored twice in the third on York’s single. The Tigers’ big inning was the fifth, when Ben Maloney hit a one-out single, stole second, and scored on Derek Maloney single to left. He then scored on Josh Francis’ triple deep to right center.

Ben Maloney was 2-for-4 to lead Shead’s offense and Derek (5-1) took the tough, complete-game loss.

Larrabee, Grew, York, and Eric Grivois all had two hits for the Panthers.

PANTHERS 6, TIGERS 4

Central Aroostook (11-5) Shead (11-4)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Clockedile, ss 4 1 1 0 B.Maloney, ss 4 1 1

Martinez, 2b 4 0 0 0 D.Maloney, p 4 1 1

Larrabee, cf 4 2 2 1 Francis, 2b 3 1 1

Grew, p 3 3 2 0 MacDonald, 3b 2 0 0 0

York, 1b 3 0 2 4 Constant, 1b 3 0 1

Hallett, lf 4 0 1 0 Bones, cf 3 0 0

Grivois, c 3 0 2 1 Ellington, rf 2 1 0

Richardson, 3b 3 0 0 0 Cummings, c 3 0 0

McLaughlin, dh 2 0 0 0 Holmes, dh 3 0 0

Donahue, rf 1 0 0 0 Altvater, lf 3 0 0

Totals 31 6 10 6 Totals 27 4 6 4

Central Aroostook 012 000 3 ? 6

Shead 110 020 0 ? 4

LOB?Central Aroostook 6, Shead 5; 2B?Larrabee; B. Maloney; 3B?Clockedile, Francis; SB?Grew 2, Larrabee; Ellington 2, Maloney

Central Aroostook IP H R ER BB SO

Grew (W,4-0) 7 6 4 4 3 1

Shead IP H R ER BB SO

D.Maloney (L,5-1) 7 10 6 6 2 1

WP?D. Maloney; T?1:30; ATT?352