BREWER – Another late-inning rally, another trip to the Eastern Maine Class A final for the Brewer softball team.

Jordan McLain and Christine Thoms combined to provide both offense and defense as the No. 1 Witches earned a 2-1 victory over No. 5 Messalonskee of Oakland.

Brewer, which has saved its best for last in recent games, advances to the regional championship game for the second year in a row. The Witches, now 16-2, will face No. 3 Brunswick (15-2).

The game will be Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Brewer’s home Coffin Field, the site of all four Eastern Maine regional finals.

Brewer lost to Leavitt 3-1 in last year’s EM final.

“This is very exciting,” said Thoms, a sophomore. “It’s awesome to be back.”

McLain drove in Thoms for the winning run in the bottom of the sixth, while Thoms had an RBI single in the third to plate Kate Hanlon.

McLain’s game-winning single came with one out in the sixth. Thoms hit a line-drive single to reach and advanced on a wild pitch to put herself in scoring position. McLain’s groundball single to center allowed Thoms to scramble home and break a 1-1 tie.

“I didn’t have any pressure,” McLain said. “I knew we could get it done.”

The Witches took a 1-0 lead in the third when Hanlon reached on a fielding error, stole second, advanced on an Amy Freeman single and scored on Thoms’ first hit of the day.

“We knew we had to hit the ball and adjust to the pitcher,” said Thoms, who hit .448 in the regular season and is 3-for-6 in two postseason games. “We knew what we had to do and we came out with a win.”

Messlonskee tied the game in the top of the fourth on a single by Marilyn Perry and an Ashley Currier triple.

Brewer looked shaky early as McLain gave up a leadoff single, a walk and another batter reached on an error to load the bases, but the Witches got out of the jam unscathed.

“We just stayed strong for the late innings and knew something good was going to happen,” Brewer coach Kelly Cookson said. ” … We got through that first inning. Nothing could be as tough as that.”

The Eagles stranded eight and left runners in scoring position in five innings.

“I think it was just the timing,” Messalonskee coach deb Cormier said. “They had the timely hit and they made a couple of nice plays defensively that kind of took us out of it. But we did a good job today.”

Brewer’s Anna Corey and Vanessa Michaud also singled. Messalonskee’s Megan Goodrow tripled.

Freshman McLain outdueled senior Clarice Pepper in the circle.

McLain (7-1) looked strong into the late innings, retiring eight in a row at one point. She finished with four strikeouts, two of which came with two outs and a runner on third.

“A lot was working, a lot wasn’t,” McLain said. “I just had to adjust to what was.”

Pepper recorded six of her eight strikeouts in the first three innings.

WITCHES 2, EAGLES 1

Messalonskee (15-4) Brewer (16-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Blake, 2b 4 0 1 0 Freeman, ss 3 0 0

Corbett, cf 4 0 1 0 DeFilipp, rf 3 0 0

Pepper, p 3 0 0 0 Corey, cf 3 0 0

Goodrow, ss 3 0 1 0 Thoms, 3b 3 1 1

Holmes, 1b 3 0 0 0 McLain, p 3 0 1

Suttie, lf 3 0 0 0 Michaud, lf 3 0 0

Bouchard, 3b 3 0 0 0 York, lf 0 0 0

Perry, rf 3 1 1 0 Foster, dh 3 0 0

Currier, c 3 0 1 1 Bennoch, c 0 0 0

C. Barker, pr 0 0 0 0 Quimby, 2b 2 0

Hanlon, 1b 2 1 0 0

Totals 29 1 5 1 Totals 25 2 6 2

Messalonskee 000 100 0 ? 1

Brewer 001 001 x ? 2

E?Freeman, Thoms, Hanlon; LOB?Messalonskee 8, Brewer 5; 2B?Currier; 3B?Goodrow; SB?C. Barker, Corbett; Hanlon, Freeman

Messalonskee IP H R ER BB SO

Pepper (L) 6 6 2 1 0 8

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

McLain (W) 7 5 1 1 1 4

WP?Pepper; T?1:14; ATT?150 (est.)