SOUTH PARIS – It was an inning that nearly ended three times. It was also an inning in which Bessey Motors got 75 percent of its hits for the game, and one that Gayton pitcher Ryan Turgeon would probably like to have back.

There would be no turning back time for Post 31 on Saturday, nor would there be a comeback despite three quality opportunities.

Bessey Motors scored five runs on six hits with two outs in the bottom of the second inning, and Andrew Stacy pitched effectively for eight innings to lift his team to a 5-2 win over Gayton in the Zone III American Legion semifinals at Gouin Athletic Complex.

“We’re finally starting to hit the ball well,” Bessey coach Shane Slicer said. “(Friday) we hit the ball well and we did for a little while (Saturday), too.”

After the second inning, Turgeon went to the dugout, asked for an aspirin and returned to the mound a different pitcher. Over his final six innings of work, Turgeon allowed just two hits, struck out five, and did not walk a single batter while throwing 108 pitches.

“I was able to mix up the pitches pretty well, I thought,” Turgeon said. “You take that inning out, and that was a great game.”

After two quick outs in the second, Turgeon ran the count to 1-2 on one of Bessey’s more dangerous hitters, Corey Tielinen. Then, Turgeon made a mistake.

“He had pitched me two straight curve balls away,” Tielinen said. “I didn’t expect a fastball, but I got one. It kind of jammed me but I put it in play.”

Two batters later, catcher Russ Estes executed a perfect hit-and-run when he slapped the ball to the left side of the infield while Tielinen broke for third. With the third baseman covering the bag, the ball stayed on the ground two seconds longer, allowing Estes to reach safely.

“I saw him moving and knew it had a chance,” Estes said. “It was a good thing that Tielinen was moving on the pitch.”

Brent Grenier drove in one run with another single, and Chris Jennings followed with a two-run single. Kyle Kenniston cleared the bases with a two-run triple to deep right-center and just like that it was 5-0.

“At that point, your mind automatically starts to think it’s going to be at least close to a blowout,” Slicer said. “I think as the game went on, we lost a little bit of a mental edge. Honestly, they outplayed us over the last half of the game.”

Gayton managed two runs in the fourth when Luke Potter led off with a double off of Stacy, followed by a Ryan Turgeon walk. Jack Lavoie singled home one run two batters later, and John Emerson hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Turgeon. From there, Stacy shut Gayton down.

“He was throwing a lot of off-speed stuff, and I think the guys were expecting to face Tielinen today,” King said. “They were way out in front of a lot of the pitches.”

Gayton left eight runners on over the final four innings, including the bases loaded in the seventh, but couldn’t come up with a clutch hit to drive in any more runs. Luke Potter finished the day with two hits and reached base all five times he came to the plate. He was the only hitter on either team with more than one hit.

Post 31 finishes its season at 13-10. Bessey Motors will face Locke Mills in the Zone III title game on Sunday.