STANDISH — The way the game began for Lyndsay Merrill epitomized things for the Telstar softball team Wednesday.

So did the way it finished.

Merrill had two costly mistakes in the first inning while her Rebels stumbled and bumbled their way to an early deficit in the Western Class C championship game against Georges Valley.

“I was really nervous,” said Merrill, who dropped a third strike and had a passed ball that led to early runs. “It was the first time I was catching in a big game. I was really nervous, and I kept messing up.”

Merrill got past the nerves, and the Rebels settled down as well. Redemption soon came for both as Telstar rallied for a 5-4 victory over the Bucs. Lyndsay Merrill delivered the game-winning hit in the fifth with a two-run single.

It is the third consecutive year the Rebels have beaten Georges Valley in the regional final.

“We were a little scared, but we fight” senior pitcher Kayla Merrill said. “We’re a fighting team, and we fought back.”

The defending Class C champs advance to Saturday’s state championship at Coffin Field in Brewer.

“We hung in there,” Telstar coach Jim Lunney said. “To fall behind these guys twice, this is a good team with good pitching and good defense. We hung in there and got good hits.”

Telstar and Georges Valley have met five consecutive times in the regional final. The Rebels have won the last three, including last year’s come-from-behind victory. Telstar also won the MVC championship game this year, 1-0.

“I’m very pleased with our comeback,” Lunney said. “Kayla settled in and the team settled in.”

Trailing 4-2 in the fifth, the Rebels rallied to take the lead. Victoria Forkus walked and Autumn Berry singled with one out. When Sarah Averill tried to move them over with a bunt, Bucs pitcher Rachel Frye threw the ball away, allowing Forkus to score.

“If you make mistakes, you usually pay for it,” Georges Valley coach Rusty Worcester said. “That’s what it boils down to. It was a mistake we made, and it cost us. That’s part of softball.”

Lyndsay Merrill then came to the plate. She had struggled offensively in her first two appearances, but had put the early mistakes behind her.

“It definitely did take me out of my game a little bit,” said Merrill, who was an all-star shortstop last year but moved to catcher to help fill the void behind the plate. “As soon as we scored the two runs back, it made me feel a little better.”

Frye  was ahead in the count with two strikes, but Merrill found a pitch she liked and drilled it into the gap. Both Berry and Averill came in to score for a 5-4 lead.

“I knew it was 4-2, and I knew I had to get a hit,” Merrill said. “I had two strikes and I just choked up on the bat. It was an outside pitch and tried to step into it and tried to drive it.”

Kayla Merrill found her groove and allowed just three hits over the last five innings. She finished with seven strikeouts and also received some help in the field. Though Telstar made three errors in the first two innings, Hannah Morin made a nice catch in center field and third baseman Katie Sumner made a crucial grab of a Katlyn Rich liner in the sixth that certainly would have scored the tying run.

“I was pretty much just protecting myself,” Sumner said about one of the hardest hit balls all day.

Georges Valley got a two-out hit from Jill Bradbury in the seventh, but Natalie Russell grounded back to the pitcher to end the game.

“We got some good hits, but couldn’t seem to get that extra hit,” Worcester said.

The Bucs scored two runs on an error in a very uncharacteristic first inning for Telstar.  Bradbury led off with a walk. After a sacrifice by Russell, the dropped third strike on Kennadi Grover prompted a throw to first. The throw was errant, allowing Bradbury to score. Grover later came around to score on a passed ball.

Georges Valley wasn’t without issues in the bottom of the inning. Kayla Merrill and Nicena Walker each drew one-out walks. Then with two outs, Morin’s shallow fly dropped between three fielders, while both runners scored to tie it.

“That was just a tweener, ” Lunney said. “I could see it was going to fall.”

The Bucs regained the lead in the second thanks to two Telstar errors. After Rich and Kristen Sawyer reached on mishandled bunts,  Bradbury followed with a hard hit single to plate both for a 4-2 lead.

“We planned that for some time,” Worcester said of his team using a bunt game to force the action. “We wanted to throw a surprise in there and cause some problems. It worked the way we wanted it to work.”

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