STANDISH – On a team led by its talented cast of juniors, Brad Shafran used his final senior moment Saturday to deliver another state title to the Deering of Portland baseball team.

Shafran, the No. 9 hitter in the Rams’ lineup, beat out an infield single as pinch-runner Travis Wade scored from second base with two out in the bottom of the eighth to give Deering a stunning 8-7 victory over Brewer in the Class A state final at Mahaney Diamond.

This game had it all – walks, errors, home runs, comebacks, and a 1-hour, 20-minute lightning and rain delay in the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded, two outs and a 2-1 count on Deering batter Jack Heary with the game tied 5-5.

Brewer led by two runs entering that half-inning, and also held a two-run lead going into the bottom of the eighth, but Deering persevered to win its second straight state title and seventh in the last 10 years.

“I don’t think I’ve been involved in a state championship game that intense and with that much excitement,” said Deering coach Mike D’Andrea. “They’re all special for the kids, but those other ones don’t compare to this as far as the roller-coaster ride [Brewer] put us on.”

The win capped off an undefeated season for the 20-0 Rams, while Brewer finished 17-3 in its quest for the program’s first state championship.

“That’s a tough one to swallow,” said Brewer coach Dave Morris. “Give credit to Deering. They hit the ball when they had to and came back and made those plays, but I’m awful proud of our kids. Our kids showed a lot of character.

“We just took one on the chin in a good baseball game.”

Deering scored two unearned runs – its fourth and fifth unearned runs of the game thanks to five Brewer errors – to tie the game just before the rain delay.

But with the game on the line, Witches’ reliever Chase Daniels got Heary to fly out to center on the first pitch after the delay, and Brewer countered with two runs in the top of the eighth for a 7-5 lead.

Daniels drew a one-out walk and back-to-back singles by Eric White and Prentiss Swett loaded the bases before Jon Thoms was hit by a pitch to force home the go-ahead run.

White scored on Kyle O’Connell’s fielder’s choice to give Brewer its third two-run cushion of the game.

But Deering refused to go away, as Regan Flaherty hit a one-out single in the bottom of the inning and scored when Taylor Candage drilled a game-tying two-run homer to right.

With two out, Joe Gildart walked and Dan Brown was hit by a pitch. Shafran then hit a soft grounder toward first base, and Swett fielded the ball and flipped it to Daniels covering the bag, but Shafran just beat the throw with a head-first slide while Wade scored the winning run ahead of the throw home.

“I felt like I had my arms wrapped around the base before the pitcher got there to cover,” said Shafran, a senior center fielder. “But it was close. It was definitely a bang-bang play.”

And while both sides reacted to the close call at first, Wade never stopped.

“Natural reflexes are going to see what the call is and you’re going to burn a couple of seconds,” said D’Andrea, also Deering’s third-base coach. “I just wanted to force one more throw home on what’s going to be a tough play.”

Brewer trailed 2-0 through two innings despite loading the bases with no outs in the first and getting back-to-back singles by Billy Bissell and Mike Kotredes to open the second.

The Witches broke through in the third to take a 4-2 lead. White lined a two-run homer to left to tie the game, and Candage – who had come on in relief after Flaherty walked the first two batters of the game – and Matt Powers combined to issue five walks in the inning.

A bases-loaded walk to Kotredes forced home Thoms with the tying run, and Brewer starting pitcher Greg Higgins scored on a groundout by Caleb Smith to give the Witches their first two-run lead.

Deering crept within 4-3 in the fourth on an RBI infield single by Heary, but White cut down the potential tying run at the plate in the fifth with a perfect throw from left field that beat pinch-runner Sam Balzano, who was trying to score on a single by Marc Ouimet.

Brewer got its lead back to 5-3 in the sixth when White hit a two-out single to the shortstop hole and scored when Swett doubled to left.

But Deering rallied again in the seventh. Candage reached on a passed ball after a third strike that would have produced the second out, and after Daniels got Cameron Sprague to pop out, Ouimet doubled to right for his third hit of the day.

Dan Brown was hit by a pitch to load the bases before pinch-hitter Nick Bartlett hit a line drive to shortstop that wasn’t caught, scoring both Candage and pinch-runner Andrew Stewart to tie the game.

Matt Powers was hit by a pitch to re-load the bases, then Heary was batting when the game was delayed. When play resumed, Daniels got Heary to fly out to center to send the game to extra innings.

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RAMS 8, WITCHES 7, 8 INN.

Brewer (17-3) Deering (20-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Sasaki, cf 4 0 1 0 Powers, ss-p 4 1 0

Daniels, dh-p 2 2 0 0 Heary, 2b-ss 4 1 1

Hutchins, 2b 0 0 0 0 Watson, c 5 0 0

White, lf 4 3 3 2 Flaherty, p-1b 4 1 1

Swett, 1b 4 0 2 1 Candage, 1b-p 4 2 2

Thoms, c 3 1 0 1 Balzano, pr 0 0 0

Burnham, pr 0 0 0 0 Sprague, lf 4 0 0

Higgins, p 2 1 0 0 Ouimet, rf 4 1 0

O?Connell, 2b 1 0 0 1 Hardy, pr 0 0 0

Bissell, rf 4 0 2 0 Stewart, pr 0 1 0

Kotredes, 3b 2 0 2 1 Gildart, rf 0 0 0

Smith, ss 4 0 0 1 Wade, pr 0 1 0

Brown, 3b-2b 3 0 0 0

Colucci, pr 0 0 0 0

Shafran, cf 4 0 1 1

Bartlett, ph 1 0 0 0

Totals 30 7 10 7 Totals 37 8 10 5

Brewer 004 001 02 ? 7

Deering 110 100 23 ? 8

E?Kotredes, Higgins, Bissell, White, Smith; LOB?Brewer 12, Deering 14; 2B?Swett; Ouimet; HR?White; Candage; DP?Deering 1; S?O?Connell; SB?Heary 2

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Higgins 4? 5 3 0 3 3

Daniels (L, 5-2) 3? 5 5 3 1 1

Deering IP H R ER BB SO

Flaherty 0 0 0 0 2 0

Powers 3? 4 1 1 1 4

Candage (W, 10-0) 4? 6 6 6 6 5

Two outs when winning run scored.

HBP?Kotredes (by Powers), Thoms 2 (by Candage); Heary (by Higgins), Brown 2, Powers (by Daniels); WP?Higgins; Candage; BK?Daniels; PB?Thoms 2; T?2:35; ATT?800 (est.)