STANDISH — The third-base dugout was ill-equipped to handle a celebration. As Telstar’s players milled about in the euphoria of the school’s third state softball title, the team’s seniors searched in vain for a cooler full of Gatorade.

There wasn’t one, so they improvised. They popped five bottles of water, tossed the caps aside and, while coach Jim Lunney spoke to members of the media, started dumping the ice-cold bottles — all of them — all over the unsuspecting coach.

“Usually I have my manager empty out all the water, so this doesn’t happen,” Lunney said, smiling as water dripped off the frames of his glasses and from his white moustache.

His Seattle Supersonics t-shirt, which has drawn much attention after he declared it his lucky shirt, was soaked through.

“I almost brought another shirt, too, just in case,” he said.

The Rebels defeated George Stevens Academy 5-1 at Ward Park on the campus of St. Joseph’s College on Saturday to earn the Class C state softball crown. And for Lunney, it was easy to forget that he couldn’t just run home to grab another shirt.

You see, Ward Park is like home for these Rebels. Telstar’s win Saturday ran the team’s record to 6-2 in its last eight visits to the neutral site, home to Western Class C regional championships and to the Class C state title game in even-numbered years.

“It’s definitely our second home field,” Telstar senior TJ Cowin said. Cowin has started each of the last four years for the Rebels. The team last won a state title in 2006, when Cowin and fellow seniors Sam Largess and Lindsey James were in the eighth grade.

“We know the field well, and that definitely helps when you first get here,” Cowin said.

“I love this field, we all do,” James said.

Since the Rebels began their run of six consecutive trips to the Western Class C regional final in 2005, they’ve earned six wins against just two losses at Ward Park — one in 2005, two in 2006, one in 2009 and two this season. The two losses came back-to-back in 2007 and 2008 in the regional final.

“The kids like this ballpark, they’ve played here enough,” Lunney said. “It’s a shorter ride for us, too. They’re comfortable here.”

It didn’t take long for the casual observers in the crowd to catch on to that fact, either. Junior Kayla Merrill, Telstar’s starting pitcher, mowed down the first batter she saw on three consecutive pitches.

Her next six pitches also went for strikes.

“I pitched here last year in the Western Maine game, and it helps to know where you are and how it feels,” Merrill said. “It was important to get ahead early, and you can do that when you’re relaxed.”

At the plate, even small advantages like knowing how the ball is going to roll on a bunt can turn into bigger advantages at key moments in the game. James has had plenty of experience to that end. With Lyndsay Merrill up in front of her sporting high on-base percentage, James is used to seeing the bunt sign.

“I like to go to the right side when I bunt,” James said. “And here, it rolls to the right, and it goes foul. (Lunney) keeps telling me to bunt toward second base and it will go toward first, but it’s something I’ve learned to do, and that’s one of the reasons I hit second.”

Comfort level aside, it still took Telstar three innings to push any runs across. But when the Rebels struck, they struck for three. That big cushion only served to make things even more comfy.

“Those runs, I felt so much better, and we all hit so much better after we got those first ones,” James said. “Our nerves were down, it was just so much better.”

And with just the three seniors in the starting lineup, Telstar wouldn’t be out of line to foster the belief that it could make a return trip to Ward Park again next season, for another crack at the Western Class C title.

This time, maybe Lunney will leave a shirt behind, stashed away somewhere, just in case he forgets to have his manager empty all of the water bottles — again.