SACO — For three innings of Tuesday’s American Legion baseball Zone 5 semifinal, Fayette Staples of Saco and Massabesic played what Fayette coach Ray Petit termed “remedial baseball” ”“ dropped pop ups, missed grounders, cut-off men missed, opportunities thrown away.

Strangely, for a playoff game, the winner wouldn’t be determined by what team was playing at its very best, but what team didn’t completely fall apart.

Fortunately for Petit ”“ who at one point called his team’s defense vomit inducing ”“ it was Fayette that pulled things together, turning a 4-2 deficit into 6-4 lead after three and then consolidating behind starting pitcher Ben Lambert, who threw six strong innings as No. 2 Fayette beat No. 3 Massabesic 14-4 at Thornton Academy

Fayette moves on to face top-seeded Staples Crossing of Eliot, who beat fourth-seeded Noble 12-1 on Tuesday, in the championship game today at 4:30 p.m. at Marshwood High School. The winner automatically qualifies for next week’s state tournament, while the loser will face Bessey Motors of Oxford Hills in a play-in game on Saturday at Husson College.

“It was sloppy, but we won,” Petit said. “When you have some young guys who have never played in a game like this, they’re a little tentative in the field, and then they seemed to settle in. And they were comfortable at bat all the way through.”

While Fayette’s defense was shaky in the first three innings, leading to four Massabesic runs, Massabesic’s defense was sloppy throughout as it committed six errors, virtual hari-kiri as Fayette took advantage to gradually build a big lead.

“We fell apart,” Massabesic coach Jeff Cessario said. “I don’t know how many unearned runs we gave up, but it wasn’t what the score showed. We just could not field the ball cleanly. I don’t know what happened, because we’ve been playing very good defense for most of the year. This is without a doubt the worst game we’ve played all season.”

Massabesic took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to three dropped pop ups and back-to-back doubles by Dawson Renaud and Sean Adams.

Fayette got those runs back in the second thanks to a booted double-play ball and then a throwing error by Massabesic shortstop Matt Allen, but Massabesic went back up 4-2 in the third as dropped catch in center field and then two errors on one play allowed two more runs to score.

“They’ve been making plays all year, and I knew they could make those plays later in the game,” said Lambert. “We just had to keep our heads in the game and work back into it.”

Massabesic starter Weston Bergeron wasn’t having much luck either. After allowing three singles and two walks to let in two runs in the bottom of the third, Bergeron was then done in by some more bad defense as another double play ball misplayed by Allen allowed in two more runs as Fayette took its first lead, 6-4.

“It was just a total mental lapse,” Cessario said. “Sometimes when you make an error and you know it’s a big game, you get in your head and then it just snowballs. Maybe that’s what happened to a few of our players.”

Fayette then added two more to its lead in the fifth as a leadoff double by Devon Ruel followed by a Lambert single made it 7-4 and knocked Bergeron from the game. Remi Gaetjens took over on the mound and gave up a single followed by two walks to make it 8-4 before getting two strikeouts with the bases loaded to keep his team in the game.

Still, even at 8-4 with four innings to play, Cessario said it seemed like his team thought the game was over.

“We were battling and were still in the game, but honestly, I think a lot of our players are used to playing in seven-inning games,” he said. “We were down by two or three runs in the fifth, and they were thinking it’s a big deficit, but when you’re playing nine innings (it’s) not. But all of our energy and all of our momentum just dissipated after the fifth.”

On the other side, Lambert kept Fayette in the lead and Massabesic off the scoreboard, allowing just two baserunners across the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

“Ben pitched really well. He threw about 30 more pitches than he needed to, but he’s tough,” Petit said. “Nothing bothers him, and he did the job and kept playing away.”

“I just kept picking the outside the corner,” said Lambert. “They have some kids who like it inside and can put it down the line, and I was just trying to mix in the curve ball, too.”

Fayette then ended the game two innings early, scoring three times in the sixth, all with two outs thanks to a triple by Lambert, a single by Cam Jackman and two more critical Massabesic errors, and then three more times in the seventh to take a 10-run victory.

It was the third year in a row Fayette has eliminated Massabesic in the semifinals.

“Honestly, it seems like the past five years in a row we’ve come here and lost in the playoffs,” Cessario said. “It’s very disappointing, because we’re a much better team than we showed here today. It’s just very unfortunate.”

And for the second year in a row, Fayette and Staples Crossing will meet at Marshwood High School in South Berwick for the Zone 5 title. Last year, Fayette pulled the upset and won 14-4, history that Petit, whose team was 0-4 against Staples Crossing during the regular season this summer, hopes repeats itself tomorrow.

“That will be a little motivation thing for them tomorrow,” Petit said. “Hopefully we can step it up and go after it.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.