Jesse Burkett Little League all-star team manager Wayne Loomer knew what brought his team to the brink of the Massachusetts state championship.

"We focus on pitching and defense. That's what is going to win games," explained Loomer, whose team allowed only four runs in five post-district contests coming into a state championship game matchup with Wakefield National Little League.

Jesse Burkett added a new ingredient to its formula in the state championship game: the long ball. A trio of two-run homers provided all of Jesse Burkett's offense as the team from Worcester's West End defeated Wakefield National 6-1 at Middleboro Little League's Field of Dreams.

With the win, Jesse Burkett claimed its second Massachusetts championship in three years, and advanced to the New England Region tournament in Bristol, Connecticut.

Cory Loomer, Stephen Wyman, and Michael St. Martin each homered for Jesse Burkett in the title game. After Wakefield failed to score in the top of the first inning, Cory Loomer drove a high fastball into the woods beyond the left field fence to score special pinch runner Alex Cellucci and give Jesse Burkett an early 2-0 lead. Wyman drilled a pitch into the same area with St. Martin aboard in the third inning, and St. Martin added a two-run homer of his own in the fifth.

The offense was more than enough for Jesse Burkett pitcher Tom Cheffers. The Jesse Burkett ace threw a complete game and allowed only four hits while earning his second victory of the tournament. Cheffers struck out eight batters and was in trouble only once, when Wakefield loaded the bases with one out in the fourth inning. The right-hander induced an infield grounder that resulted in a force at the plate, then retired the next Wakefield hitter on a fly ball to right field.

"Tommy is as solid as a rock on the mound," said Loomer of his pitcher. "He might get behind and put a couple of runners on, but he doesn't flicker. He continues to throw hard and throw well."

Wakefield's Tom Tracy spoiled Cheffers' shutout bid with a sixth inning home run.

Cheffers' strong performance was a reprise of his two-hitter in Jesse Burkett's 4-2 opening round win over North Medford Little League. North Medford struck first in the game, scoring a pair of unearned runs in the second inning when a Jesse Burkett outfielder misplayed Alex Krasco's fly ball. Cheffers kept the District 4 champions in the game by retiring ten of the next eleven batters he faced, and Burkett broke through on Cory Loomer's two-run homer in the fourth. Cheffers then doubled and scored the go-ahead run on Pete O'Donnell's single up the middle.

Wyman later provided an insurane run with an RBI double down the left field line in the fifth, and Cheffers escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the top of the sixth by registering his eighth strikeout and inducing a comebacker that ended the game.

"Cory really picked us up," said Wayne Loomer of the game-tying homer. "Fortunately, we are used to playing under pressure and playing (from) behind."

Playing from behind was not a concern for Jesse Burkett in their next game, a 7-1 win over Auburn Little League. O'Donnell pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the bottom of the first inning -- right fielder Aaron Chaffee ended the inning by reaching over the fence to snare a potential grand slam -- and Burkett then struck for four runs with a two-out rally in the following inning. Eighth-place hitter Ryan Dawidjan opened the scoring with an RBI double to center field before later scoring on St. Martin's single. After Matt Higgins walked to load the bases, Wyman drove a double to left-center field that scored Chafee and St. Martin.

"They played our game today," said veteran Auburn manager Jim Hannon. We've had three or four two-out rallies, but today we just didn't play our game."

"Ryan really got things rolling for us," said Wayne Loomer of Dawidjan's second inning double. "His hit really broke it open."

Jesse Burkett added two more in the third when O'Donnell's RBI single plated Cheffers and Dan Webber later scored on Steve Petry's bunt. Joe Mastrorio added a solo home run in the fifth inning. Auburn's run came on Greg Giard's bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the fifth.

"Everything just clicked for us today," said Wayne Loomer. "We focused and did the job we came to do."

"We had our chances," said Hannon, pointing to his team's missed opportunity in the first inning. "We had the meat of our order up with the bases loaded and no outs and didn't come through."

The win moved Jesse Burkett into a championship game matchup with Wakefield National. The District 13 and Section 4 champions dropped their opener to Auburn, but rebounded with wins that eliminated North Medford and Auburn.

Wakefield's first victory came in a 3-2, seven inning decision over North Medford. Wakefield built a 2-0 lead on Ashleigh Vargas' RBI single and Shane Taylor's home run, but North Medford pushed across a run on a bases-loaded walk in the third and tied the game on Dan Gunn's run-scoring single in the fourth. In the seventh, Wakefield's James Federico -- who struck out eleven batters over the course of the game's first six innings -- drilled a one-out solo home run to put his team in front for good.

"Give him credit," said North Medford manager Dave Sencabaugh of Federico's blast on the 0-2 pitch. "He hit the ball a ton, and that turned out to be the difference."

Federico was the difference the next night, as his three home runs helped Wakefield National avenge their opening round defeat with a 5-1 win over Auburn.

"We just didn't play good baseball the first time," said Wakefield manager Cy Bode, referring to Auburn's 6-3 opening round win.

Federico, who had been hitless in Wakefield's loss to Auburn, enjoyed a 4-for-4 performance in the rematch. He drove a two-run homer over the center field fence in the first inning, then followed with a solo shot to right-center field in the fifth and an opposite field blast in the sixth.

Vargas, who surrendered a back-breaking grand slam to Auburn's Jimmy Germain on her first pitch in relief during the teams' first meeting, gained revenge with a complete game four-hitter. Vargas stymied the Auburn offense, striking out four batters and inducing eleven infield outs to lift her team into the title game.

"It was just an amazing effort from Ashleigh," said Bode. "We were praying she could get us three or four innings, maybe five. For her to go six innings in her first start, giving up just one run was beautiful."

"Ashleigh Vargas is the best female baseball player I have ever seen in 26 years of coaching," said Hannon. "Give her credit. We wanted to drive her pitch count up and try and get her tired, and she never lost her fastball."

The next day, Cheffers was equally effective as Jesse Burkett claimed the state championship.

"Every single day, the kids pick it up," said Wayne Loomer. "They work together. I've never seen such a dynamic team where it isn't just about pitching, defense, or hitting. It seems like together, they've got a good mixture of stuff going on."

The mixture is well-established for Jesse Burkett, which in an eight-year span has won six district titles and reached the state championship game three times.

At the New England Region tournament, Jesse Burkett split its four pool games before falling to eventual Little League World Series qualifier Lincoln (Rhode Island) Little League in the semifinal round.