Gorham’s 10-under Cal Ripken baseball players endured a double header and a rain delay to finally put away Messalonskee, winning the Maine state championship in Fryeburg last week. Messalonskee was the defending state champion.

Next up for the Gorham kids is the Northeast Regional in Marlborough, Mass., where they will battle teams from New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusettes, and Rhode Island. That tournament starts Saturday, July 23. The prize for winning there is a trip to Arkansas for the World Series.

Gorham’s hitting was its backbone as the team won 6-3 last Wednesday after dropping the opener earlier in the afternoon, 6-5. But the team also benefited from strong, complete-game pitching by Damon Wallace, who won the championship game, and Kyle Curley.

In game two, the clincher for Gorham was a six-run fifth-inning. Spencer LaPierre started it off with a two-run single (scoring T.J. Daigler and Connor Reagan). Alex Yankowsky followed with an RBI-hit, then Curley socked a run-scoring triple and later scored.

Then pitcher Wallace finished his effort with a pair of scoreless innings to secure the championship.

The victory came after Gorham lost the first game, then started slow in game two, trailing 2-0 when play was stopped in the fourth inning for a torrential downpour.

“I think the rain delay inspired them a little bit,” said Gorham manager Joe Wallace. “It woke them up. We were a little dead after that first loss.”

Also in game two, Chris Hardy and Yankowsky finished the game with a pair of hits each to lead the Gorham squad.

In the first game, Hardy, the centerfielder and leadoff man, was three-for-three with a pair of runs scored and a triple to spark the offense.

Gorham erupted for three runs in the first inning, thanks to consecutive game-opening singles by Hardy, LaPierre and Yankowsky and Wallace’s two-run single.

Yankowsky also had three hits in that game. LaPierre added an RBI-single in the fourth and Wallace led off the fifth with a hit and later scored.

But Messalonskee had a big second inning, scoring five runs that frame to build a 6-3 lead.

Gorham pitcher Curley settled down and blanked the Messalonskee hitters for the final four innings (striking out eight in the game), but it was not enough.

“They battled back to beat a strong Messalonskee team in the second game,” said manager Wallace, who said his team’s hitting was impressive all season. “This is one of the best hitting teams I’ve ever seen at this age.

“We’ve got a great bunch of kids and we’re really looking forward to going to the New Englands,” he added.