GORHAM – All Brewer softball coach Kelly Cookson wanted was for her Witches to hit the ball as they faced Portland for the Class A state title Saturday afternoon at Gorham High’s Robie Field.

Brewer did hit the ball hard – the Witches hit the ball on the ground, in the air, back to the pitcher and down the left-field line.

But when a Bulldog fielder got in front of almost every ball Brewer put into play, it led to plenty of struggles at the plate.

Portland had no such problems. The ‘Dogs pounded out 12 hits, including a 4-for-4 effort from Keri Foley, en route to an 8-4 win and the program’s second state title since 2001 and seventh overall.

“You do that in a state championship softball game, because you’re playing caliber softball, that’s quite a feat,” Portland coach Robbie Ferrante said of his team’s offense.

Portland scored in every inning, including three runs in the first to put it away early. Foley had an RBI single in the first.

She added an RBI triple in the third, a single in the fifth and an RBI double in the sixth. She also scored three runs.

“Mentally I just stepped it up and told myself I needed to get base hits and help out the team,” she said.

Foley, the third baseman, also snagged two hard-hit line drives for outs. The Witches only struck out once, which meant the Portland defense had plenty to do.

“We hit the ball hard and they made some great plays,” Cookson said. “We missed some opportunities early that we could have scored some runs. We haven’t faced a team like that. Everyone can hit and they have some very good athletes in the field. We don’t go up against that during the year.”

The Witches stranded a runner on third with one out in the first inning and missed another chance in the third when Amy Freeman and Sarah DeFilipp hit back-to-back singles with two outs. Foley made one of her catches to end the inning.

Brewer, which seemed to have a trademark on come-from-behind wins this season, tried for another in the fourth.

Portland starter Kate Brown gave up a leadoff walk to Christine Thoms, who advanced to second on a Jordan McLain single. Vanessa Michaud walked to load the bases and a Kim Foster sacrifice fly to left field allowed Thoms to score.

Katie Quimby stepped in and hit a ball in the air to right. The fielder misplayed the ball, allowing it to roll toward the fence. McLain and Michaud came around and Quimby hustled home, too, hurting her shoulder as she slid in (she was fine and played at second the rest of the game).

Ferrante then lifted Brown in favor of Katie Hutchins, and she didn’t allow a Brewer baserunner the rest of the game.

“I was warming up before the game,” said the sophomore, who earned a save in the Western Maine final. “I was prepared but I was still a little nervous.”

Cookson has been using both DeFilipp and McLain as pitchers this year. Cookson started DeFilipp because she felt the junior would adjust better away from Brewer’s Coffin Field. DeFilipp went two innings and McLain finished the game. But the Bulldogs hit both pitchers.

“[Portland was] that good,” Cookson said. “It didn’t matter who started. They were going to hit.”

BULLDOGS 8, WITCHES 4

Brewer (16-3) Portland (17-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Freeman, ss 4 0 2 0 Prior, c 4 1 1

DeFilipp, p-rf 2 0 1 0 Caron, 2b 3 0

Corey, cf 3 0 0 0 Allen, cf 4 1 0

Thoms, 3b 2 1 0 0 Anderson, ss 3 2 1

McLain, rf-p 3 1 1 0 Foley, 3b 4 2 3

Michaud, lf 2 1 0 0 Senore, lf 4 0 1

York, lf 0 0 0 0 Hutchins, dp-p 2 1 0

Foster, dh 2 0 0 1 True, rf 3 1 0

Bennoch, c 0 0 0 0 Werner, 1b 2 0 0

Quimby, 2b 3 1 1 1

Hanlon, 1b 3 0 0 0

Totals 24 4 5 2 Totals 29 8 12 6

Brewer 000 400 0 ? 4

Portland 311 111 x ? 8

E?Freeman, Quimby, Hanlon; True; LOB?Brewer 3, Portland 8; 2B?Foley; 3B?Foley; DP?Brewer; S?DeFilipp; Werner; SF?Foster; Anderson; SB?Hutchins, True, Caron

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

DeFilipp (L,9-2) 2 5 4 4 0 1

McLain 4 8 4 2 2 2

Portland IP H R ER BB SO

Brown 3 1/3 5 4 1 2 1

Hutchins (W,7-1) 3 2/3 0 0 0 0 0

WP?DeFilipp, McLain; Brown; T?1:37; ATT?200 (est.)