BREWER – It’s not often that Central pitcher Alyssa Libby has a poor start to a game as she did Tuesday night in the Eastern Maine Class C final at Coffin Field.

But Libby recovered quickly enough and the defense and hitting for the defending state champion No. 2 Red Devils came alive as they beat No. 5 Sumner of East Sullivan 7-2 for another trip to the Class C state championship game.

“It was a stressful game,” Libby said. “I just didn’t have my control. But this is unbelievable. I’m glad we got through it.”

Central rallied with at least one run in each of the first three innings and two more in the sixth thanks to a two-run double by Chantel Randall.

Central will face Telstar of Bethel for the state title at 11 a.m. Saturday at Saint Joseph’s College in Standish. Telstar shut out Sacopee Valley of Cornish 1-0 to win the Western C crown.

Libby gave up a single and a double and committed an error in the first inning to give Sumner a 2-0 lead. Sumner’s Nicole Sargent hit the double, a rope to deep center field that plated Hollie Stanwood.

“I just went through with it,” Sargent said. “It felt good.”

But it didn’t take the hot-hitting Devils long to rally.

Hilary Haney led off the bottom of the first with a single and eventually scored on a Kara Voisine single to cut it to 2-1.

In the second, Central again got a leadoff base runner as Libby singled, advanced to third on a Brooke Washburn double, and scored on a Sami Morin single for the tying run.

Washburn moved to third on Morin’s hit and was ruled safe at home later in the inning when Haney ran to first on a dropped third strike. After forcing Haney out, first baseman Morgan Traxler fired the ball back to catcher Kayla Higgins, but Higgins was called for interference. Washburn was given the run and a 3-2 lead.

Morin eventually scored on an error. An Erica Brownell groundout plated Voisine in the third.

Randall, the No. 3 hitter who had gone 0-for-3 earlier, smacked her two-run double with two outs in the sixth.

Central tallied 10 hits.

“It was a good hitting speed for our team and we were just hitting it through,” Libby said of Sumner pitcher Whitney Page. “They’re a solid defensive team and we had a lot of good hits that they got. Credit their defense.”

Libby allowed two hits and two walks after taking the lead. Central’s defense committed an error in the sixth but redeemed itself in the top of the seventh, throwing a runner out at second for the second out.

“She was frustrated, but she calmed down out there and we played good defense for her, too,” Central coach Durice Washburn. “[The seventh-inning defensive play] was huge. It’s little things like that that helped.”

The Tigers weren’t supposed to get this far this season, with just two seniors on the team and three freshmen in the starting lineup. Despite its youth, Sumner was appearing in its first EM final since 1992.

“It was supposed to be a working season, but we came together really fast,” Sargent said.

RED DEVILS 7, TIGERS 2

Sumner (14-5) Central (18-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

L. Sargent, 3b 4 0 1 0 Haney, lf 4 0

Higgins, c 4 0 2 0 Underhill, ss 3 1 1

Stanwood, lf 1 1 0 0 Randall, c 3 0 2

N. Sargent, ss 3 1 1 1 Blackwood, pr 0 0

Traxler, 1b 3 0 0 0 Voisine, 3b 3 1 1

A. Leach, rf 3 0 0 0 Collins, 1b 3 0 0

N. Leach, cf 3 0 1 0 Libby, p 1 0 0

Page, p 3 0 0 0 Speed, pr-ph 1 1 0

Shanahan, dh 2 0 0 0 Brownell, cf 3 0 1

St. Claire, 2b 0 0 0 0 Washburn, 2b 3 0

Johnson, ph 1 0 0 0 Morin, rf 3 2 1

Totals 27 2 5 1 Totals 27 7 10 6

Sumner 200 000 0 – 2

Central 131 002 x – 7

E-L. Sargent, St. Claire; Libby, Brownell, Washburn; LOB-Sumner 6, Central 5; 2B-Higgins, N. Sargent; Randall, Washburn; DP-N. Sargent-Traxler-L. Sargent; SB-Haney

Sumner IP H R ER BB SO

Page (L, 14-5) 6 10 7 6 2 3

Central IP H R ER BB SO

Libby (W, 18-1) 7 5 2 1 2 3

WP-Page; T-1:16; ATT-200 (est.)