SOUTH PORTLAND — Todd Cifelli knew it.

The Gayton Post 31 coach looked into Alex Parker’s eyes, saw the expression on his face, and had no doubt that his shortstop was the right guy for the job.

The pitching job, that is.

Gayton starter Joe Sullivan gave up a double to Dan Place, the first batter in the bottom of the seventh inning for Bessey Motors, and Cifelli trotted out to the mound.

“He competes,” Cifelli said of the soon-to-be senior at St. Dom’s. “You could tell from his demeanor, he was going to give it all he had, and in the end, that’s all you can do.”

Parker allowed the inherited runner to cross the plate, but otherwise shut down one of the more potent offensive lineups in the state, allowing Post 31 to record a 9-8 win over Bessey in the Maine State American Legion Tournament at the Wainwright Athletic Complex on Saturday.

The win — Gayton’s third tight finish in four games at the tourney — kept the Lewiston-based squad unbeaten and landed the team in the final, and in the driver’s seat.

“It was a nip-and-tuck slugfest today,” Cifelli said. “Bessey has too much pride, too much talent and the team is coached too well to think it’s going to be easy.”

After winning three of its first four games in come-from-behind fashion, Gayton bolted out to an early lead Saturday, trailed only briefly, and had the luxury of a lead in the final inning — a lead that nearly disappeared.

Parker struck out Evan Humphrey to start the final frame, but a Dan Place single and a walk to Ethan Davidson put a pair on and the winning run at the plate for Bessey with just one out. D.J. Croy then hit a slow grounder to third, where Luke Cote — Parker’s substitute at that position — fielded it cleanly and flipped to defensive substitute Chris Jacques at second for one. As Jacques turned to throw to first, Davidson barreled through him on the slide, and Croy beat the throw at first.

But the second-base umpire ruled that Davidson deliberately slid out of the base path to disrupt Jacques, ruled Croy out a first, and ended Bessey’s bid to move on to a semifinal matchup with Augusta on Sunday.

“It was a tough call, and you never want to end the game like that,” Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer said. “But they’re a tough team, and it was another epic battle with them. Ultimately, it was nice to see three KVAC-based teams as the final three teams in the tournament. It’s something that we needed as a region and as a zone.”

Slicer also coaches the Oxford Hills baseball team, which won the Class A state title in the spring. The majority of the Bessey roster includes players from that squad.

“That senior class had a heck of a run this year,” Cifelli said. “They have nothing to hang their heads about.”

Nor does Cifelli’s squad, which bolted out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning behind five hits and an error. Corbin Hyde led the attack that inning with a two-run home run that looked at first to be a routine fly ball to center that caught the wind and carried past the 400-foot sign.

Bessey got one back in the bottom of the second, and took the lead with a four-run inning of its own in the third that began with a Matt Verrier solo blast to left. Starting pitcher Evan Humphrey, Place and Davidson all followed with singles, and Croy delivered a double to give the home squad the lead.

But Gayton charged back in the top of the fourth, rattling Humphrey for four more runs on five singles and a walk. The Bessey starter lasted just the four innings, allowing eight runs (six earned) on 12 hits while throwing 115 pitches.

“Part of the strategy in this tournament is to get into the other team’s bullpen,” Cifelli said. “If you can force teams to throw guys they weren’t planning to throw, it throws things off a bit.”

“We ended up scoring three or four runs because we were running, too,” Lewiston center fielder Alex Wong added. “We were active; we forced them to throw the ball around.”

Wong was 4-for-5 with a double, a walk and a run scored Saturday to lead Gayton.

“We always have that mentality to make the pitchers come out and throw strikes, and we did that to Humphrey. We got base runners, we got base hits and we got up early. That was big.”

Gayton forced in another run — the eventual difference-maker — with a walk, a ground-out, and error and a single from Trey Ouellette as Greg Labonte scampered home in the sixth.

Then, Bessey went to pitcher Erik Henderson, who struck out six of the first eight hitters he faced, including three in a row with the bases loaded and no out in the seventh.

“Knowing he was an option, where he’s just so good, that lead was big,” Cifelli said.

Bessey clamored for two in the fifth and one more in the eighth before Parker shut things down.

 Augusta ousts Nova Seafood

 Augusta earned a berth in Sunday’s final with an impressive display of hitting in support of a gutsy pitching performance by Jake Beland.

Beland scattered 11 hits and allowed seven runs, but Augusta scored 11 in the first two innings and tacked on five more late in the game to run away with a 16-7 victory over Zone IV champion Nova Seafood.

Cory Clarke, the reigning 100- and 200-meter dash state champion who did not play for Cony in the spring, capped the offensive outburst with a two-run blast in the eighth inning, two pitches after showing bunt.

Augusta pounded out 18 hits, and will face Gayton in Sunday’s final at noon at Wainwright. If Augusta wins the game, a second game between the two teams will begin at 4 p.m.