AUBURN — St. Dom’s has reached the last seven Western Class C championship games by making the most of the least, so what the Saints did in Saturday’s regional semfinal against Livermore Falls wasn’t all that surprising.

For the Andies, though, it was the wrong time to make the least of the most.

Second-seeded St. Dom’s made more of its scoring opportunities to knock off No. 3 Livermore Falls for the second straight year, 3-1, and advance to its eighth consecutive regional title game. The Saints will face top-ranked Dirigo at 3 p.m. Tuesday at St. Joseph’s College.

“We got hits when we needed to and executed when we needed to,” said St. Dom’s junior lefty Kurt Johnson, who got the win and the save Saturday.

Indeed, the Saints (15-3) scored their first baserunner, Alex Parker, whose one-out double led to an RBI single from Joe Bryant and a 1-0 first inning lead. That immediately put the pressure on Livermore Falls (13-5), which had already squandered a scoring chance in the top of the first when it loaded the bases with two out against Saints starter Chris Bryant.

The Andies, who scored their only run on a balk, ended up stranding nine baserunners, including at least one in scoring position in each of the first six innings. The Saints left just four runners on.

Livermore Falls hit several bullets but too often at a perfectly positioned fielder, and occasionally to disastrous results. They had a chance to tie the game in the third when Willie Brown hit a one-out double and Chandler White was intentionally walked, but a soft line drive to right by Bryan Maurais hung up long enough for Jimmy Theriault, who was able to double-up White at first.

“We hit a couple of balls right on the button,” Andies coach Brian Dube said. “If they get through, we’ve got a tie ballgame. But like I told the kids, you score one run, you’re not going to win many ballgames.”

The Saints doubled their lead off Andies starter Derek Castonguay in the fourth when Chris Bryant reached on a two-out single and scored when Garett Darnell singled in almost the exact same spot in center.

“I went up there with the right frame of mind, just trying to get a single, not trying to crank it or anything,” Darnell saidf.

Johnson, who relieved Chris Bryant to start the second, yielded an unearned run in the fourth. Brandon Hodges reached to start the inning when Parker’s throw from shortstop skipped into the dirt at first. Tom Ventrella’s sacrifice fly moved pinch-runner Andre Uter to second and Uter alertly tagged up for third on Shawn Whiting’s fly ball to center.

With an 0-1 count on Alex Rose, coach Bob Blackman called the Saints’ infield to the mound for a conference. The plan was to have Johnson try to pick off Uter at third, but Johnson was called for a balk in the attempt, sending Uter home to make it 2-1.

The Saints caught a break to score their insurance run in the fifth. Will Desmarais led off with a triple. Shayne Curtis walked, chasing Castonguay in favor of Brown, then stole second. After Brown got Parker to ground back to him for the first out, the Saints tried a suicide squeeze. Joe Bryant couldn’t get a bat on the ball, but Browns’ curve ball in the dirt squirted by Hodges, allowing Desmarais to score anyway.

The Saints tried their luck again on the next pitch, but failed to get the bat on the ball again, and the Andies retired Curtis on a rundown scored 2-5-1-6.

In the Andies’ sixth, two walks and a sacrifice bunt put the tying runs in scoring position with two out, but James McLamb laced a ground ball right at Parker for the harmless third out.

That was their last chance. Johnson, whose pitching was limited to just 12 1/3 innings this year due to shoulder problems, returned for the seventh and got three straight fly balls to Darnell in center for the Andies’ only 1-2-3 inning on the day.

“Our fielders played exceptionally well,” said Johnson, who allowed three hits, fanned two and walked one intentionally in four innings of work. “I knew, especially in the last inning, to let them hit the ball and my guys would pick me up.”

“This is the first time we’ve really had to tell Kurt, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get on your shoulders a little bit today to give us an opportunity to save Chris for Tuesday,'” Blackman said. “He threw strikes and that was key.”