STANDISH — Today pigs can fly, Hades is a bit cooler and Charlie Brown finally kicked the football.

Anything and everything seems possible after the Biddeford baseball team, the No. 7 seed, defeated Westbrook 4-2 in eight innings to win the Western Maine Class A title Tuesday night at St. Joseph’s College in Standish.

The Tigers were on the brink of not even making the playoffs until picking up a 2-1 upset win over Bonny Eagle on the final day of the season. No one saw this day coming. Not even the Tigers.

“We haven’t said the word states since we beat Windham last week (in the semifinals),” Tigers rightfielder and captain Travis Vigneault said. “Now, I don’t even know what to say. No one expected this. We’re here, and just going to play like we have been on Saturday.”

Biddeford will play against Oxford Hills on Saturday at noon for the Maine Class A title, which will also be played at St. Joseph’s College. The Tigers are the first York County representative in the state title game since Sanford in 2002, who defeated Oxford Hills 9-1. If the Tigers win, it will be the second state title in school history, following the 1984 Biddeford squad that beat Brewer 10-2.

Masterful pitching, and just a little bit of luck on the offensive end, provided the Tigers with their third regional crown in school history, its first since 1996.

Biddeford and Westbrook were tied 2-2 heading into the top of the eighth inning. Westbrook pitcher Scott Heath plunked Tigers first baseman Tyler Audie with a pitch to reach first base. Third baseman Tyler Parker followed by hitting a routine fly ball to center field, but because of lack of playing time in night games, centerfielder Joe Quinlan lost the ball in the lights and it fell 10 feet in front of him, allowing Audie to reach third and Parker to reach second for a double.

With Vigneault at the plate, Heath threw a wild pitch, giving Audie the opportunity to score. Racing down the line, Audie beat the throw of catcher Tom Lemay, who bounced his throw off of Audie’s shoe, knocking the ball away, allowing Parker to score. After a quick conference between the umpires, Audie’s run was allowed, but Parker was sent back to third as it was determined his run couldn’t score on what was considered a kicked ball.

“Coach (Casey Roy) said, a passed ball, anything we can, we’ve got to get a run this inning,” Audie said. “The ball scooted away, and I just took a chance. Right when it got loose, I just hustled and got dirty, and it was awesome.”

The ruling to send Parker back to third didn’t matter however, because one batter later, second baseman Chris Jones hit a drive into the right-field gap, past the diving attempt of Westbrook rightfielder Tom Pratt, for an RBI double, and a 4-2 lead.

The true story of the game however, was pitcher Trevor Fleurent, who pitched the game of his life, striking out 10 batters to ensure the win for the Tigers.

“I’m all pitched out,” Fleurent said. “That was a (heck) of a game. We were underdogs throughout this whole playoffs, so congratulations to our whole team, we all contributed.”

The Travis Roy award winner fooled the Blue Blazes throughout the night with his herky-jerky delivery, curveballs in the dirt, and his fastball, which thanks to the curveball, made the pitch seem faster to Westbrook hitters, who routinely were late on swings.

“I was trying to keep them off-balance, let my defense work,” Fleurent said.

Fleurent pitched all eight innings for Biddeford. After a base hit by Quinlan in the bottom of the eighth, Vigneault, who was also struggling with the lights, made a diving catch on a fly ball by Sam Stauble to save the lead.

“[The lights] were pretty tough,” Vigneault said. “What you’ve got to do on this field is just wait until the ball gets below the lights and just drift to where you think the ball is, and then when it gets below the lights, just make the catch, which is what we had to do tonight.”

Fleurent then struck out Heath and made the final out of the game when Zach Collett bounced a grounder back to the mound, which Fleurent easily tossed to first to end the game, a la Keith Foulke tossing the final out of the game-clincher against the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series.

And really, isn’t this baseball season just as improbable?

— Contact Staff Writer Dave Dyer at 282-1535, Ext. 318.