Senior lefthander Gabe Gifford tossed a two-hit masterpiece and senior third baseman Lucas Moore singled home the game’s only run in the sixth inning as Old Town won its second Class B state championship in three years with a 1-0 win over Yarmouth.
Yarmouth’s Liam Hickey also pitched a gem, allowing five hits. The only run was unearned.
Gifford’s shutout was his third of the playoffs.
Old Town wound up 17-3 after winning its seventh straight game while Yarmouth finished at 14-6.
The University of Maine-bound Gifford struck out six and walked one. He threw just 80 pitches, 54 for strikes.
His teammates played flawlessly behind him as the only errors were on Gifford’s errant pickoff throw and a catcher’s interference call.
The Clippers had only one baserunner advance beyond first base.
“This was probably the most efficient game I’ve had all year. I’m usually close to being pitched out by the seventh inning,” said the 5-foot-10, 180-pound Gifford, who had shut out Mount Desert Island 8-0 and Ellsworth 5-0 in the Class B North playoffs.
“My fastball was working. I was pumping that in and my slider worked really well. That threw them off balance,” said the 17-year-old Gifford. “They’re a good fastball hitting team so it was good to mix that in.”
He said he also mixed in a two-seam fastball to go with his four-seamer.
Gifford had averaged more than 15 strikeouts per game but credited the Clippers for putting the ball in play against him.
“I haven’t seen any team put the ball in play against me like they did. Shout out to them. But our team made the plays,” said Gifford, who induced 10 ground ball outs and five fly ball outs to go with his six strikeouts.
He came into the game with a 9-0 record and a 0.88 earned-run average with 137 strikeouts in 55 ⅔ innings.
“He was pretty good,” said Yarmouth junior left fielder Sam Bradford, who grounded out, lined out and walked in his three at-bats. “He was pretty fast. Mid-80s. He was crafty. And he located his pitches pretty well.”
James Dumond opened the decisive sixth inning for Old Town by reaching on the shortstop’s throwing error and went to second on Nathan Baker’s perfectly placed sacrifice bunt before scoring when Moore lined his two-out single to left center on an 0-1 pitch.
“I didn’t really want to go an extra inning,” said Moore, whose RBI was his team-high 18th of the season. “I just wanted to put the bat on the ball and hope for something good to happen.”
“I think I threw him a curveball,” said Hickey. “I left it a little high and he took a good swing. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap and say good hit.”
Gifford said he thought Moore was going to come through with a hit.
“He has been a great hitter for us all year. There was no doubt in my mind he was going to get a base hit,” Gifford said.
The game got off to an auspicious start for the Coyotes when junior catcher and No. 3 hitter Jackson Lizzotte sustained a hand injury in the top of the first inning and had to leave the game.
On a 1-2 pitch, Andrew Cheever swung at a Gifford delivery and he caught the glove and hand of Lizzotte, resulting in the catcher’s interference call.
The next hitter grounded out on the first pitch but, before the next hitter, the coaching staff and trainer were summoned to evaluate Lizzotte’s hand and he wound up leaving the game.
He was replaced by sophomore Baker, who received a ton of praise from Gifford.
“He had only caught one bullpen session for me all year and that was when Jackson wasn’t there. He did a great job. You couldn’t ask for anything better,” Gifford said.
In addition, Baker had a single and the vital sacrifice bunt in his three at-bats.
Senior righthander Hickey struck out 10 and walked one. He threw 89 pitches, of which 63 were strikes.
“I’m definitely not happy with the loss but our team fought hard and I felt good on the mound. All of our guys played great,” said Hickey, who is going to attend St. Lawrence University in the fall.
“He pitched great,” Gifford said. “His fastball had a nice sink to it.”
Old Town had a glorious opportunity to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Gifford led off with a double that eluded the center fielder, who had a shot to make the catch but couldn’t.
But two strikeouts sandwiched a grounder to second and he was stranded at third.
The Coyotes had another chance to break the deadlock in the third inning when Gifford grounded a sharp single through the box and stole second.
Following a strikeout, Baker blooped a single into left center, sending Gifford to third.
But Brendan Mahaney’s liner down the first base line was snared by first baseman David Swift, who then stepped on the bag to complete a double play.
The Clippers had their only good scoring chance in the fourth when Sam Lowenstein grounded a single to center with two outs and scampered to third on Gifford’s low pickoff throw to first that skipped into foul territory.
But Bradford ripped a line drive to left that was caught by Dumond for the final out.
“If that liner gets down, we score a run and it’s a different ballgame,” said Yarmouth coach and former Orono High multi-sport standout Mark Halstead, who went on to play baseball at the University of Maine.
“I was proud of our guys and proud of the battle,” Halstead added. “We hit four or five balls hard that would have fallen in on another day.”
Gifford was the game’s only repeat hitter with a double and single.
Preston Vose also had a single for Old Town along with Baker and Moore.
In addition to Lowenstein’s base hit, Matt Gautreau had the other hit for Yarmouth, a ground ball single down the third base line in the third.