After his Southern Aroostook softball team played and beat Ashland in 12 innings Saturday, coach Jon Porter was asked to write up a couple of lines about the game for a local newspaper.

“I didn’t know where to begin because there were so many momentum-changing plays,” Porter said Monday, two days after the top-seeded Warriors of Dyer Brook edged No. 4 Ashland 7-6 to gain a berth in this afternoon’s Eastern Maine Class D final.

“It certainly was an emotional roller coaster,” Porter said. “We had great chances in all of the extra innings and we kept stranding runners. We just couldn’t push that last runner across. But we finally got one.”

Those momentum-changing plays boosted Southern Aroostook, now 14-3, to the 3 p.m. regional final against No. 3 Lee Academy (14-4) at Brewer’s Coffin Field. The EM Class B title will also be decided when No. 1 Bucksport (16-2) takes on No. 3 Winslow (15-3) at 7 p.m.

Among those key innings in the comeback for the Warriors were the fourth, the seventh and the 12th, during which they made two game-changing defensive plays in the top of the inning and brought across the winning run in the bottom of the inning.

Playing almost three weeks after falling to the Hornets 6-1 in their final regular-season game, the Warriors weren’t concerned about facing Ashland in the semifinal, Porter said.

Ashland was the defending Eastern Maine Class D champion.

“We lost, but we made some errors and to give Ashland credit, they took advantage of that and they hit well,” Porter said. “But the girls weren’t too worried.”

That confidence allowed the Warriors to hold up until the 12th, when Makenzie Hardy scored the winning run on an error.

Left fielder Jordan Sholler helped get SAHS into position to win in the top of the 12th, when she was involved in the two defensive plays. In the first, she got in front of a hard hit by Ashland’s Danielle Long to limit Long to a single. Sholler caught a fly ball off the bat of the next batter, Katie Clark, and then threw to first base to erase Long on a double play.

Porter had started pitcher Raya King, who he said has had the most success against Ashland. In the fourth, the Hornets were already up 4-0 and King had given up a leadoff walk when Porter decided to change pitchers, moving first baseman-pitcher Chelsea Collier to the circle.

Collier responded well with help from Audrey Charette, who threw out the baserunner at second. Collier then struck out the next batter and induced a popup for the final out of the inning.

“I think we really got some confidence from that,” Porter said.

The Warriors came alive with six runs in the bottom of the seventh, powered in part by Amanda Clark’s two-out single that drove in the tying runs.

SAHS outhit Ashland 19-6.

The Warriors seem to making a habit of close games and big innings in the postseason. Southern Aroostook beat No. 8 Jonesport-Beals 6-4 in the quarterfinals after rallying from a 3-2 deficit with a four-run fifth inning.

Lee and SAHS did not play in the regular season but Porter knows a little about the Pandas anyway.

“They’re great athletes and they’re aggressive on the bases,” Porter said.

Cony, Messalonskee in rematch

Even though the Eastern Maine Class A softball final won’t feature any Bangor-area teams, the Cony-Messalonskee matchup has the potential to be entertaining for local fans anyway.

That’s because the two teams’ ace pitchers have been lights-out in the postseason so far – and both pitched well in an extra-innings meeting in the regular season.

Messalonskee of Oakland’s Amanda Barker allowed three hits in a 1-0, eight-inning win over Monica White’s Cony of Augusta team on May 20. White scattered five hits in the loss.

Both pitchers have fared well so far in the playoffs. Barker has tossed two no-hitters for the Eagles while White has logged two shutouts for the Rams.

Barker had nine strikeouts and four walks in a 6-0 semifinal win over Brunswick, while White struck out eight and didn’t allow a walk in Cony’s 8-0 semifinal win over Oxford Hills of South Paris.

No. 8 Cony and No. 3 Messalonskee play in a 7 p.m. game Wednesday, also at Coffin Field in Brewer.

The Rams (14-5) are seeking their first EM title since 1992, while the Dragons (16-2) will be after their first regional crown since 2000 and fifth since 1996.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.