LEWISTON — Todd Cifelli figured he had a seven-year shelf life as head coach when he took over the Lewiston High School baseball program.

Like many of the moves he made to turn the program around, Cifelli’s calculations turned out to be correct.

After seven years, Cifelli announced Wednesday he is stepping down as coach for both Lewiston and the Lewiston-based Pastime Club American Legion team he led to back-to-back state titles.

“It was a tough but necessary decision,” Cifelli said. “Having a young family at home, I can no longer put the time I feel is necessary to coach the way I want to. Also, I feel it is time the current players and parents have a new voice leading the baseball program.”

“Seven years is a long time in respect to baseball, especially with how much baseball we played within those seasons,” he said.

Indeed, Lewiston played in more postseason games under Cifelli than it did under any other coach in a seven-year span.

In 2007, the Blue Devils made their first playoff appearance since 1989 and won a prelim game against Cony. They would go on to win back-to-back Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference titles in 2011 and 2012 and an Eastern Maine championship in 2011 before falling to Cheverus in their first state championship game since 1950. The Blue Devils returned to the Eastern A championship game in 2012 and lost to eventual state champion Messalonskee.

“He’s taken our program to new heights,” Lewiston athletic director Jason Fuller said. “Under his direction, we’ve steadily improved each year.”

“There’s not enough that we could say to quantify what he’s done to this program,” Fuller added. “He has built a culture around the game of baseball in this community, especially with high school kids.”

In addition to their high school accomplishments, Cifelli’s American Legion teams, which also included players from St. Dom’s, Lisbon and Edward Little high schools, enjoyed more success than any Lewiston-based team since the 1930s.

Known initially as Gayton Post, Cifelli’s teams reached the state final four times, winning twice in 2010 and 2011.

This past year, with a new sponsor, Pastime Club, it narrowly missed a third consecutive trip to the Northeast regional, losing to First Title (Cheverus) in the ninth inning of the championship game. Between the 2011 and 2012 seasons, they won 29 consecutive games in Zone 3 and won zone titles in 2008, 2011 and 2012.

Cifelli attributed his success to his players as well as support from his coaching staff and Fuller and principal Gus LeBlanc.

“We won because we had talented players that were committed to the vision of the program,” Cifelli said. “Players like Eddie West, Alex Wong, Scott Ouellette, Luke Cote and the Hyde brothers (Mekae and Corbin) were talented, high character players that tried to improve every day.”

“We were able to accomplish a lot on the field, but what was most important was seeing players grow as people,” he said. “I feel our teams competed hard and were mentally tough. I was so proud of my players that consistently grinded every day. I love the fact that over the past few years we have had many players go on to play at the college level.”

Cifelli teaches government at Lewiston High School and said the long hours between teaching and coaching took away from time with his family. He and his wife, Christina, have a one-year-old girl, Sienna.

Cifelli, who played baseball at Edward Little and the University of Maine, plans to remain involved in the game. He has been an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds the past four years and will expand that role. He also plans on returning to individual instruction.

“I miss being able to work one-on-one or small groups with youngsters trying to improve as players,” he said.