It turns out she was right.

Making their first state championship game appearance, the Clippers put up seven runs on 12 hits in a 7-5 victory over Hermon on Saturday at St. Joseph’s College.

“These kids deserve every ounce of credit they’re going to get,”  Ashley said. “It’s such a great step for this program. The community here is behind us and I’m just so happy to be their coach.”

Colleen Sullivan — Yarmouth’s No. 9 hitter — provided more than half of her team’s offense on the biggest stage. She went a perfect 3-for-3 with a triple and four RBIs. The junior center fielder also scored a run in the fifth.

“I’ve never felt this way before,” Sullivan said. “I’m so incredibly proud of our team. I never thought we were going to get here and here we are.”

Sullivan plated the game’s first run in the bottom of the second on an RBI single through the left side on the first pitch she saw from Hermon pitcher Karli Theberge. She added two more RBIs with a two-out single with the bases loaded, scoring Eleanor O’Gorman and Cate Ralph for a 4-0 Yarmouth lead through three innings.

The Clippers compiled five hits and five RBIs with two outs.

The Hawks fought back in the fourth with three runs to climb back within 4-3. Kylie Kennedy’s RBI single to center snapped Yarmouth’s shutout streak at 24 innings. Mari Cooper hadn’t allowed a run in the circle throughout the postseason.

“We have a very good hitting team and we know that,” Hermon coach Megan McCrum said. “We weren’t too hot early on. We weren’t being aggressive as we like to. We talked about that and made a difference and came back and scored some runs, but she’s a great pitcher. She battled up there. She works the corners really well.”

Cooper settled down after that, keeping the Hawks off the board in the fourth and the fifth, including taking a comebacker off her leg for the final out of the fourth. She stayed in the game and went the distance, allowing five runs on seven hits, striking out seven and walking three in 112 pitches.

“She’s a competitor,” Ashley said. “She’s the full package. A little scary moment there when she get hit, but I told her that that was a huge out and we knew that she was bouncing back. There was no way I was taking her off the mound.”

Sullivan provided her pitcher with some more run support in the fifth with her third hit of the afternoon. She blooped a hit into right field that stretched into a triple after right fielder Alexis MacManus and second baseman Claire Petersen collided in the outfield. Sydney St. Pierre scored from first on the play.

“She was batting .400 coming into this game,” Ashley said. “I just love her in that spot. I told her all season as the No. 9 hitter that you’re going to see great pitches so you have to make sure you put the ball in play and she shined. She had the game of her life.”

Sullivan touched home on an RBI single by Kallie Hutchinson two batters later to give Yarmouth a 7-3 lead after five.

Sullivan’s performance surprised even herself as she was just a flex player last year and never saw the batter’s box.

“Obviously I didn’t picture myself where I am today, but I think hard work and dedication really propelled me to where I am,” Sullivan said.

Those runs proved vital as Hermon plated two in the seventh on a two-run double by Hailey Perry. But Perry was doubled off second on a Kennedy fly ball to second. Sydney St. Pierre made the catch and flipped the ball to shortstop and sister Andrea St. Pierre at second to seal Yarmouth’s state title.

Theberge suffered the loss in the circle for the Hawks, surrendering seven runs on 12 hits, striking out eight and walking one. She tossed 103 pitches over six innings.