Last spring, then junior Nicky Sargent was the starting shortstop for a Sumner of East Sullivan softball team that got as far as the Eastern Maine Class C championship before falling to Central of Corinth.

Near the end of the season Tigers head coach Elwood “Bimbo” Pinkham got Sargent started on pitching.

“She was very close to taking over the pitching duties,” Pinkham said. “But she just wasn’t quite there.”

Ten months later, after weekly sessions with local pitching coach Bob Mercer, Sargent has led Sumner to its first regional title since 1980 after tossing a three-hitter in a 10-4 win against Penobscot Valley of Howland Wednesday night at Coffin Field in Brewer.

The 16-3 Tigers will return to Coffin Field, where they hit three home runs over the 200-foot outfield fences Wednesday night, for Saturday’s 2 p.m. Class C state championship game. Sumner will face 16-2 Georges Valley of Thomaston, which knocked off defending state champ Telstar of Bethel for the Western Maine title Wednesday.

Sumner lost to York 7-1 in the 1980 state final.

Sargent, a Penobscot Valley Conference first-team all-star, has had a stellar postseason. She threw a two-hitter with 13 strikeouts against previously undefeated Calais in a 4-0 win in the semifinals, which followed a five-hitter in a 6-4 quarterfinal victory over 2006 EM champion Central.

Sargent knew she would likely have to pitch this season as Whitney Page, a 2006 PVC second-team all-star, graduated last year.

“It was something I was going to have to think about,” Sargent said. “My dad, he told me I could go to a pitching clinic. So I went.”

She also knew it would be a big change from playing shortstop. That position comes with a lot of pressure, but pitching is a whole other level.

“It’s all mind games in softball, pitching and batting,” Sargent said. “You just have to keep it in your head, I want to do this, I want to do that, and just do it.”

Sargent’s repertoire is limited to a fastball and a changeup, but the fact that she has learned to throw both with accuracy so quickly isn’t a surprise to Pinkham.

Neither is the fact that Mercer got Sargent throwing so hard, so fast.

“When we were working with her at the high school she was throwing about 50 [miles per hour],” Pinkham said. “Her accuracy wasn’t there but it was coming. She was fierce about it, she loved pitching, and I said I’m gonna send you to somebody that really knows what he’s doing.”

She threw all fastballs against the Howlers with the exception of one changeup. Sargent’s fastball has been clocked at 56 miles per hour.

“Most times when she throws her fast pitch, that’s all she needs,” said Sumner junior catcher Kayla Higgins, who also travels to Mercer’s clinics to work with Sargent. “Some people just can’t get around on it. … We really have a bond together and that helps when it comes to game time.”

That’s what Pinkham saw Wednesday, which is why he had Sargent stick with her fastball against the Howlers.

“She’s got a very good changeup, but Nicky was pretty well getting the ball by them,” he said. “They were hitting little grounders, so we said, just keep pouring it on.”

The Tigers are hoping Sargent can shut down the Buccaneers Saturday.

“She’s got a good work ethic, she’s a strong, rugged girl, and I think those are the reasons she’s progressed so fast,” Pinkham said.