STANDISH — Runs are a scarcity against Greely ace and John Winkin Award finalist Will Bryant, so top-seeded Cape Elizabeth aggressively tried to score each time an opportunity presented itself in Tuesday’s Class B West baseball championship.
The strategy tanked. The Rangers cut down two runs at the plate and pushed the issue to extra innings at Mahaney Diamond, where Bryant led off the eighth inning with a triple and scored the go-ahead run in a 3-1 victory.
No. 2 Greely (14-5) won its second consecutive regional title and fourth in nine years. The Rangers will host Camden Hills here Saturday in the state game.
Bryant scattered five hits and struck out three over the extended distance. The right-hander retired 10 of the final 11 batters and didn’t surrender a hit after the fifth.
“That’s usually what happens. I was a little scared after the first inning, but once we got going, I felt good,” Bryant said.
The triple was a blast over the center fielder’s head after Cape freshman reliever Brendan Tinsman worked the count to 2-2.
“I was just trying to look for a good pitch to hit,” Bryant said. “With two strikes on me, I was going to swing at anything that was close to the zone. He threw me a good pitch, and I got hold of it.”
Cal Soule’s sacrifice fly, also to center, put the Rangers in front.
Chaz Reade walked and took second on a wild pitch, chasing Tinsman in favor of Bryce Hewitt. Reade advanced to third on a groundout by Matt Pisini and raced home when Hewitt uncorked another wild pitch.
Bryant walked Hewitt with two out in the bottom of the eighth, but he coaxed a comebacker from Mike Best and flipped to first to end it.
“Where there’s a Will, there’s a way,” Greely coach Derek Soule said with a smile. “Will’s done that his entire career. He’s 15-2. That’s Will Bryant.”
Cape Elizabeth (13-6) dared Greely to make accurate throws on a rainy afternoon and ran into multiple outs as a result.
Best led off the third inning with a single with Cape in front, 1-0. Left fielder Austin Nowinski doubled him off first after Nate Ingalls’ low line drive.
Tim Brigham’s double christened the fourth. He went to third on a wild pitch before a Matt Denison popped to shortstop for the first out. Cal Soule, Chris Normandeau and Dylan Fried turned a 6-3-2 double play to douse the threat.
“We came out with a lot of energy, and I felt like we were losing it up to that point,” Derek Soule said. “Once we turned that double play, the energy turned back up to where we were at the beginning of the game. It seemed like that was what gave us the lift to get us through.”
Cape also had a run cut down at the plate in the first and a pinch runner caught stealing in the fifth.
“We had our chances,” Cape coach Andrew Wood said. “That (second double play) was a big momentum swing. When you’re up 1-0, you can definitely be aggressive with that. The catcher made a good play.”
Greely took advantage of two errors with two out to pull even in the fifth.
Justin Leeman hustled out a grounder and was safe when Cape’s throw pulled the first baseman off the bag. Normandeau followed with a single, and Leeman circled the bases when the ball skipped past the center fielder.
“Our defense turned it around,” Derek Soule said. “Early on it wasn’t happening for us offensively. We hit some balls hard, right at them.”
Cape scored its run in the first on a leadoff double from Ingalls, a Tinsman single and a Brigham groundout.
Ingalls pitched into the seventh for Cape. The junior southpaw allowed only three hits.
“That’s a hell of a job pitching for someone who really hasn’t been out there the past couple weeks,” Wood said. “Last year, last game of the regular season he went eight innings with the same team and lost 1-0.”
Greely won its ninth regional title overall. Normandeau (2-for-3) was the lone repeat hitter.
“The Cape rivalry has gotten big over the years,” Bryant said. “This year we split with them, and this game was huge for us. We wanted to take two out of three.”
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