BREWER – Kayla Higgins just knew, immediately, that the ball she hit in the third inning of Wednesday night’s Eastern Maine Class C title game was gone.

“It was one of those hits where you don’t even have to try and it just goes,” she said. “It felt good.”

Not only did the bomb hit by the Sumner junior more than clear the Coffin Field fence, but two more of her Tiger teammates hit home runs out of the park, too, as the No. 5 Tigers rolled to a 10-4 victory over No. 2 Penobscot Valley of Howland.

The three homers and a three-hitter from Nicky Sargent boosted Sumner (16-3) into the Class C state final Saturday at 2 p.m., also at Coffin Field, The Tigers, who are coached by 1973 Sumner graduate Elwood “Bimbo” Pinkham, will face No. 2 Georges Valley of Thomaston, which won the Western Maine title Wednesday.

Sumner, which hadn’t won a regional title since 1980, fell to Central of Corinth in the 2006 EM final.

“We were the runner-ups last year so winning this year is pretty awesome,” said senior Hollie Stanwood, who hit a solo homer in the third.

Regular softball-watchers at Coffin Field, which is 200 feet around, couldn’t remember the last time a team had so many balls go out of the park in one game.

The Tigers were a little surprised, too, but they’ve relied on their power all year.

“Hollie, Morgan [Traxler] and I have all hit home runs this year,” said Higgins, who had four RBIs. “I’ve been a little off lately and I was hoping I’d come back in this game. And I did.”

Sumner had a 1-0 lead with one out in the top of the third when Higgins blasted a two-run home run over straightaway center field. After another out, Stanwood followed with a solo shot over the left-field fence.

“It was the inside pitch,” said Penobscot Valley pitcher Casey McCloskey, who finished with seven strikeouts and one walk. “It was low enough so they could get it. Towards the end I was throwing mostly my riseball because they seemed to have trouble hitting that.”

The Howlers (16-3) countered with three runs in the bottom of the third as the Tigers committed four errors, all with two outs.

McCloskey, who reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced on a Lexi Thurlow single and got around on two errors. Thurlow advanced and scored on an error that allowed Kelsy Lavertu to reach. Mindy Dolley plated Lavertu with a line-drive single to right-center.

“That’s just how we play,” McCloskey said of the Howlers’ ability to take advantage of errors. “It worked for a little bit.”

PVHS couldn’t get anything else going in the middle innings as Sargent retired nine of 10 batters.

Meanwhile, Sumner’s Lona Sargent hit a homer to center in the sixth and the Tigers piled on five more runs in the top of the seventh. Higgins had a two-run double in the inning, while Nicky Sargent had an RBI single and Lona Sargent had an RBI double.

The Howlers managed one more run in the bottom of the seventh when Lyndsay Drost reached on a hit-by-pitch and eventually scored on an error.

Nicky Sargent had eight strikeouts and two walks. She threw her fastball all game with just one changeup.

“They just weren’t getting on the fastball,” she said. “So I stuck with those.”

TIGERS 10, HOWLERS 4

Sumner (16-3) Penobscot Valley (16-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Pennartz, 2b 4 2 1 0 McCloskey, p 4 1 0

Higgins, c 3 2 2 4 Thurlow, 1b 4 1 0

N. Sargent, p 4 0 1 1 Lavertu, c 2 0

Johnson, pr 0 1 0 0 Dolley, ss 2 0 1

Stanwood, rf 4 1 1 1 Milton, 3b 3 0 0

L. Sargent, 3b 4 3 2 2 Cyr, 2b 3 0 0

Traxler, 1b 4 0 0 0 Drost, cf 2 1 0

Daley, ss 4 0 1 0 Dawson, lf 2 0 0

West, dh 2 0 0 0 Whitten, pr 0 0 0

Leach, lf 1 0 0 0 Thompson, rf 3 0 0

Robinson, cf 3 1 1 0

Totals 33 10 9 8 Totals 25 4 3 1

Sumner 013 001 5 – 10

Penobscot Valley 003 000 1 – 4

E-Pennartz, Traxler, Leach, Robinson; Cyr 2, Lavertu, Dawson; LOB-Sumner 3, Penobscot Valley 4; 2B-Higgins, L. Sargent; HR-Higgins (6), Stanwood (2), L. Sargent (2); SB-L. Sargent; Dolley 2

Sumner IP H R ER BB SO

N. Sargent (W, 11-3) 7 3 4 1 2 8

Penobscot Valley IP H R ER BB SO

McCloskey (L, 9-1) 7 9 10 8 1 7

HBP-Lavertu (by N. Sargent), Drost (by N. Sargent); WP-McCloskey; T-1:26; ATT-700 (est.)