GORHAM – It may have represented the ultimate in growing pains for a baseball team playing in its first-ever state Class D championship game.

But for Central Aroostook of Mars Hill, Saturday’s 18-1 loss to undefeated North Yarmouth Academy at Gorham High School offered a glimpse of the possibilities for any program willing to put in the requisite effort.

“Today was tough, but we can grow from this, definitely,” said Central Aroostook coach Jon Codrey.

“More than grow, we can improve if we work in the off-season. These guys definitely have a great program at North Yarmouth,” he added. “This is the first year we’ve done this well. I’m hoping this generates a lot of interest in the community for baseball, and maybe we can get a good program going in the summertime to improve on what we have now.”

While Central Aroostook brought five freshmen and just 11 players overall to its first state final, NYA showed its big-game experience from the outset, erupting for 16 runs in the bottom of the first inning to win its second straight state title and third in four years.

“It’s the best team I’ve had here,” said fifth-year NYA coach Bruce Poliquin, whose team finished the season with a 19-0 record and now holds a 23-game winning streak. “These kids are very sound, they’re well-drilled and they know what to do. They’re matter-of-fact, and they know how to handle these types of situations. They don’t just go out and swing the bat, it’s a thinking person’s game and that’s the way they play.”

Central Aroostook surely wouldn’t argue with those sentiments, given NYA’s initial outburst.

What began with two bunt singles evolved into a 16-run, 13-hit, 22-batter marathon against four Central Aroostook pitchers that lasted nearly 40 minutes. By the time the first out was recorded, 16 batters had already come to the plate and 14 runs had scored.

“We like to rattle teams early in the game, and we laid down a couple of great bunts,” said Poliquin of the rally-starting hits by Matt Curran and Luke Welch, the first two batters in the NYA lineup. “We knew they had a long bus trip down here, and I thought if we got a couple of hits early it might cause them some problems.”

Five different NYA players wound up with two hits in the opening inning, including center fielder Tim Lachance, who had a three-run double and an RBI single.

“It was tough,” said CA junior first baseman Bryan Grew. “You try to keep your head up, but it’s tough with them scoring runs the way they did without even making an out. They’re a good ballclub.”

The rest was left to NYA senior righthander Ben White, who retired the first six batters he faced before Eric Grivois doubled to center to lead off the third inning. Central Aroostook ended White’s shutout bid an inning later, as Eric Martinez hit a leadoff double, went to third base on Kyle Larrabee’s groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Grew.

White finished with a two-hitter with four strikeouts and one walk in this contest, halted after 41/2 innings by the 10-run rule. “We’ve got a lot of firepower on this team and Ben knows he’s got a great defense,” said Poliquin. “These pitchers know to keep the ball near the plate and let the defense do the work.”

Central Aroostook, which finishes its season with an 11-6 record, graduates only Larrabee from this year’s team.

“I told the kids to keep their heads up,” said Codrey. “They worked hard to get this far. This is the first time in school history we made it to a state game, so they have nothing to hang their heads about. They’re a good team, and they didn’t beat themselves, they only made two errors.

“Give North Yarmouth all the credit. They pounded the ball. Honestly, we’ve seen teams all year long and they were nothing like this. We’ve seen Class A teams, B, C and D, all the way down the line and haven’t seen a team anything like this.”

NYA Panthers 18, CA Panthers 1

Central Aroostook (11-6) North Yarmouth (19-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Clockedile, ss-p 3 0 0 0 Curran, ss 3 0

Martinez, 2b 2 1 1 0 Pierce, ss 1 0 0

Larrabee, cf-p 2 0 0 0 Welch, 2b 3 1

Grew,1b-p-ss 1 0 0 1 Bartlett, c 3 2 2

York,p-1b 1 0 0 0 White, p 3 2 1

B. Hallett, lf 2 0 0 0 Deluca, 3b 1 1

Grivois, c 2 0 1 0 Stoddard, 3b 1 0 0

Richardson, 3b 2 0 0 0 Griswold, rf-cf 3 3

McLaughlin, dh 1 0 0 0 Lachance, cf 3 5

R. Hallett, rf 1 0 0 0 Austin, rf-2b 1 0

Moss, lf 3 1 2 1

Fears, lf 1 0 0 0

Mangini, 1b 2 1 1 1

Connors, 1b 1 0 0 0

Totals 17 1 2 1 Totals 29 18 17 15

Central Aroostook 0 00 10 ? 1

North Yarmouth Academy (16)20 0x ? 18

E?York, Richardson, Martinez; Pierce; LOB? CA 3; NYA 7; 2B?Lachance, Griswold, Bartlett, Martinez; SF?Grew

Cent. Aroostook IP H R ER BB SO

York (L, 4-1) 3 7 6 6 1 5

Grew 0 3 4 4 1 0

Larrabee 0 2 6 6 4 0

Clockedile 1 5 2 2 0 0

NYA IP H R ER BB SO

White (W, 5-0) 5 2 1 1 1 4

HBP?Bartlett by Clockedile; WP?York 2; BK?York; T?1:35; ATT?450