Yarmouth Little League scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning to outlasted York Little League, 6-3, in the Maine state championship game at Payson Park in Portland.

The win was Yarmouth's third in the six-team tournament, and their second over York. Yarmouth advanced to the New England Region tournament in Bristol, Connecticut.

Yarmouth built an early 3-0 lead in the title game, but York scored once in the fifth inning and twice in the bottom of the sixth to force extra innings.

Reserve Jack Snyder drove in the go-ahead run when his double plated Noah Pellerin. Later in the inning, Bobby Murray's double drove in Conor O'Donnell and Snyder with insurance runs.

"Coming off the bench and hitting that (Snyder's double) was just brilliant," said Yarmouth manager Jay Tobias.

York had forced extra innings when Sam Johnson extended the game with a two-out, two-run double that scored Colby Todd and Peter Solimire in the sixth. The previous inning, Brayton Cheyer walked and later scored on Jonah Mitchell's groundout.

"This was an outstanding Little League game," said York manager Glenn Todd after the game. "Yarmouth in the end deserved to win, but I thought we played really good baseball."

York's pitchers struck out eighteen batters in the contest, and registered all twelve outs through the first four innings via strikeout.

"York's pitching was really good," said Tobias. "Their kids are so strong, and we knew it was going to be a fight."

Yarmouth had earlier sent York to the elimination bracket, when the District 6 champions converted a pair of solo home runs into a 2-1 victory on the tournament's second day. Luke Klenda opened the scoring with a solo shot in the second inning. York tied the game on Trevor La Bonte's run-scoring single in the third, before ninth-place Yarmouth hitter Joe DeFusco delivered a solo home run that cleared the center field fence in the fifth.

"When bats go quiet, gloves come out, and our pitching was just fantastic," said Tobias after the win. "Pitchers kept us in the game, and that's how the kids have been playing. They just have a knack for doing that, and I'm just really proud of them."

"This was a great baseball game, both sides," said Glenn Todd. "I have no regrets there. This is how you play defense, we pitched it well, we hit the ball okay."

The contest, which came a day after York edged Waldo County Little League, 4-3, in the tournament's inaugural game, sent the two sides on very different paths: Yarmouth needed just one win over the next three days to reach the championship game, while York would ultimately end up playing six games in six days and needed three wins to climb into the title game.

Yarmouth secured its berth in the championship game with a 10-0 victory over Old Town Little League in the winner's bracket final. DeFusco ran into trouble immediately on the mound, allowing two singles and a walk to the first three Old Town three hitters of the game, but escaped the threat without allowing a run and then kept Old Town off the scoreboard for the remainder of his outing.

"Joe pitched his heart out and got us out of that jam," said Tobias of his team's rocky start.

Yarmouth scored its first run in the second inning, and a trickle of offense became a flood as the team eventually tallied ten runs. Chris Romano paced the offense with three hits and two runs scored, while DeFusco singled, doubled, and scored three times. Klenda homered in the fifth inning.

"The score definitely doesn't define the quality of Old Town," noted Tobias. "They are a very good team and it felt like they were staying in there through the entire game."

While Yarmouth needed just two wins to reach the title game, York needed three victories in as many days following their second-round loss to earn the berth opposite the eventual champions. York defeated Down East Family YMCA Little League, 11-1, in their first elimination contest, then defeated Waldo County and Old Town by 6-2 scores to earn the rematch. Johnson led the attack against Old Town with a solo home run and two-run double, while Colby Todd, Jonah Mitchell, and Chris Nielson each contributed run-scoring singles.

York used six pitchers in the win, as Glenn Todd needed to reach deep into his roster for available arms due to the volume of games and Little League pitch count restrictions.

"I'm proud of all my guys that pitched for us," noted Glenn Todd. "I can name them, six, seven, eight deep."

The all-hands-on-deck effort lifted York into the state title game for the first time since 1989, but ultimately Yarmouth had just enough to claim the title and earn a bookend to its 2006 state championship in the major baseball division.

"(The coaches) are so proud of these kids, and we aren't just proud to represent Yarmouth, but to represent the state," said Tobias after his team claimed the championship flag. "This is a new frontier for us."