BREWER – All season long and especially in the postseason, the Winslow softball team has relied on its short game.

The No. 3 Black Raiders went the opposite route Thursday night against No. 1 Bucksport in the Eastern Maine Class B final – and it took 11 innings to do it.

Winslow’s Rachel Boutin drove the ball to right field, allowing Jill Smith to score on an error for the winning run, and Katie Caron hit a two-run triple to provide the insurance runs in a 4-1 victory over the Golden Bucks at Brewer High’s Coffin Field.

“It can’t get any better than this,” said senior catcher Brittany Morin, who had a key defensive play in the seventh. “This is awesome.”

Winslow, the defending state champion, faces Western Maine champ Gorham, which beat Cape Elizabeth 3-2 Thursday. The 16-3 Black Raiders meet the 15-4 Rams Saturday at noon at Saint Joseph’s College in Standish.

Bucksport finished another fine spring with a 16-3 record. The Golden Bucks were playing in their 11th EM final in 15 seasons.

With pinch runner Jill Smith at second base and one out in the 11th, Boutin flared a shot to right field. The ball tipped off the fielder’s glove, allowing Smith to score.

Brynne Davis, who had bunted earlier and got to third on the error, was put out at home when she tried to score on a Liz Cheesman fielder’s choice, but Boutin and Cheesman provided the insurance when they scored on Caron’s triple to right.

“Katie can hit the ball hard,” Winslow coach Terry Parlin said. “That was her chance and I told her to focus and hit the ball as hard as she could and it worked out for us.”

Bucksport had runners at second and third with two outs in the bottom of the 11th but Davis, who earned the win in relief of starter Janelle Sylvester, induced a flyout to end the one-hour, 53-minute game.

After dropping down nine bunt singles in the semis, the Raiders got two bunt singles, two sacrifice bunts and tried at least six more against the Bucks, who were ready for “small ball.”

“They’ve beat teams with the bunt all year long and that’s what we wanted to shut down and we did,” Bucksport coach Mike Carrier said. “We were playing them shallow and we hadn’t had any reports of any long hitters, but [Boutin] just killed us.”

Davis started out a bit shaky when she entered the game in the seventh, but she’d been in a high-pressure situation before as she picked up a relief win in the semis. Still, with a runner at first she walked the first batter she faced and then threw a wild pitch that allowed the runners to advance with no outs.

That’s where Morin’s defense was key. Junior Katie Allen laid down a bunt, which Morin picked up. The catcher then faked a throw to first, luring the runner at third off the base, and threw over to third baseman Liz Cheesman for the out.

“I knew we had to get her out so I faked the throw to first and luckily she fell for it,” Morin said. “That was the important run right there. That fired us up.”

The Bucks, who stranded 11 in the game, never got anyone else past second base in the seventh.

“Great play by the catcher,” Carrier said. “… They had quite a few people on base and we did, too. That inning where we had Kristi [Allen] on third with no outs, [if we] would have pushed her across we would have had it.”

The first seven innings took just over an hour to play as all three pitchers and both defenses were sharp. Hall retired eight in a row in the late innings while Sylvester set down eight in a row through the middle innings.

Both teams scored in the third. Winslow struck first as Smith singled in Morin and Bucksport tied the game a Terren Hall RBI single that plated Kayla Allen.

Hall allowed nine hits and one walk, which was her first of the playoffs and just her sixth this season.

BLACK RAIDERS 4, GOLDEN BUCKS 1

(Thursday Night, 11 innings)

Winslow (16-3) Bucksport (16-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Morin, c 5 1 1 0 Richards, ss 5 0 0

Sirois, lf 5 0 1 0 Adams, 2b 5 0 0

Smith, cf-pr 3 1 1 1 Hall, p 4 0 2 1

Shorette, cf 1 0 1 0 Hurd, c 4 0 1 0

Davis, ss-p 5 0 1 0 Winters, 3b 5 0 0

Boutin, 3b-ss 5 1 3 0 Kr. Allen, 1b 4 0

Cheesman, rf-3b 5 1 0 0 Kat. Allen (so.), rf 0

Caron, dh 4 0 1 2 Hutchins, pr 0 0 0

Sylvester, p-rf 0 0 0 0 Kat. Allen (jr.), lf 0

Kriegel, 2b 3 0 0 0 Kay. Allen, dh 3 1 0

Turner, ph 1 0 0 0 Murauckas, cf 0 0 0

Albert, 1b 3 0 0 0

Cormier, ph 1 0 0 0

Totals 41 4 9 3 Totals 39 1 8 1

Winslow 001 000 000 03 – 4

Bucksport 001 000 000 00 – 1

E-Kr. Allen, Kat. Allen (so.); LOB-Winslow 7, Bucksport 9; 2B-Hall; 3B-Caron; S-Smith, Caron; SB-Morin, Albert

Winslow IP H R ER BB SO

Sylvester 6* 5 1 1 2 1

Davis (W,7-1) 5 3 0 0 3 2

Bucksport IP H R ER BB SO

Hall (L,9-2) 11 9 4 2 1 3

*-faced one batter in the seventh

WP-Davis; T-1:53; ATT-400 (est.)