Stilphen, LaVallee carry Gardiner to crown

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BANGOR – The last time Gardiner High School won a state championship in baseball, gas cost 15 cents a gallon and a loaf of bread was 13 cents.

It was 1947.

That championship drought finally ended Saturday.

The Tigers continued their torrid postseason hitting as 2008 Gatorade Player of the Year Kyle Stilphen singled three times and drove in four runs to spark a 12-hit attack that powered Gardiner to a five-inning, 10-0 win over Cape Elizabeth in the Class B chamstate pionship game at Mansfield Stadium.

Senior righthander Mike LaVallee pitched five shutout innings to pick up the win, allowing just two hits and walking four while striking out four.

Gardiner, which outscored its three opponents in the Eastern Maine playoffs 30-4, parlayed six hits into three first-inning runs and never looked back.

Jim Palmer’s Tigers, who finished 17-3, received at least one hit from the first eight hitters in their order. Seven Tigers scored at least once.

“The bats have really come around at the end of the year,” said Stilphen, a Mr. Baseball finalist. “I was slumping [at the end of the regular season] as were a couple other seniors but we all clicked once the playoffs started.

“I’m seeing the ball great right now and hitting the ball where it’s pitched,” added Stilphen.

“They’re a good hitting team,” said Cape Elizabeth starter Ryan Boyington, who absorbed the loss. “They have a lot of upperclassmen who hit the ball real hard and they hit it where we weren’t. There weren’t any weaknesses in their lineup. They’re the best team we’ve played, easily.”

One-out singles by Forrest Chadwick and Stilphen ignited the first-inning rally and Chadwick scored on a an errant pickoff throw with two outs.

Alex Wheelock followed with a run-scoring triple, a sinking liner to left.

“[Boyington] threw me a curve and I waited on it and drove it to left,” said Wheelock.

Nick Maschino’s RBI single capped the rally.

Stilphen ripped a two-run single off the mound in the fourth and Roland Kennerson singled home another run that chased Boyington in favor of Conor Moloney.

Two hitters later, Maschino belted a two-run double over center fielder Zach Breed’s head to make it 8-0.

Stilphen ended the game and ignited the celebration with a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth to invoke the 10-run rule.

LaVallee was sharp, allowing just two runners to reach second.

“I came into the game knowing we’ve got incredible defense and we can score runs. My mind-set was to keep the ball low and throw strikes and, hopefully, let my defense make the plays for me,” said LaVallee, who threw 74 pitches, 43 for strikes. “I located my fastball really well today and my curve worked real well.”

“[LaVallee] was good,” said Breed. “He threw a lot of strikes and he had good location on his curve. He pitched really well, fundamentally.”

LaVallee said being staked to a three-run lead in the first inning was “very important.

“I knew if we got a few runs and I had a solid first inning, we’d do really well,” he said.

“We carried over the momentum from the last game,” said UMaine-bound Stilphen, referring to the 13-0 Eastern Maine championship-game win over Old Town that he ended with a fifth-inning grand slam.

Maschino’s double and single and three RBIs and Kennerson’s two singles and RBI complemented Stilphen’s three-hit, four-RBI day.

Breed and Kyle Piscopo each singled for Western Maine champ Cape Elizabeth, which wound up 13-8.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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TIGERS 10, CAPERS 0

(5 innings)

Cape Elizabeth (13-8) Gardiner (17-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Breed, cf 2 0 1 0 Abbott, 3b 4 1 0

Piscopo, 2b 2 0 1 0 Chadwick, 2b 2 2 0

Macdonald, rf 0 0 0 0 Stilphen, ss 4 4

Guay, dh 3 0 0 0 Kennerson, lf 3 1 1

Rand, ss 0 0 0 0 Wheelock, c 2 1 1

A. Danielson, rf 2 0 0 0 Maschino, 3b 2 3

Pierce, 1b 2 0 0 0 Cray, cf 3 0 0

St. Germain, 3b 0 0 0 0 Howe, rf 2 0

Boyington, P 2 0 0 0 LaVallee, p 1 2 0

Laflin, 2b 0 0 0 0

Wolfinger, c 1 0 0 0

Moloney, lf-p 2 0 0 0

Totals 16 0 2 0 Totals 23 10 12 9

Cape Elizabeth 000 00 – 0

Gardiner 300 52 – 10

E- Pierce; LOB- Cape Elizabeth 6, Gardiner 7; 2B- Maschino; 3B- Wheelock; S – Maschino;

Cape Elizabeth IP H R ER BB SO

Boyington (L, 5-4) 3 1/3 10 8 8 3 0

Moloney 1 2/3 2 2 2 2 2

Gardiner IP H R ER BB SO

LaVallee (W, 6-0) 5 2 0 0 4 4

PB- Wheelock; T- 1:40; ATT- 300 (est.)