WORCESTER – With two outs and two runners on in the top of the seventh, the only thing separating English High School from a complete game no-hitter was one batter.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, that batter was Ty Southill, and he laced a triple down the right field line that scored the two runners and tied the game 2-2. One inning later, Ryan Skahan delivered a sacrifice fly that gave Georgetown a lead it wouldn’t relinquish as the Royals won 3-2 to claim the MIAA Div. 5 state baseball championship at Polar Park.

“I feel absolutely incredible right now,” Southill said. “There’s not much that can beat this, so I’m pretty fired up.”

The Royals got revenge for the 2024 state championship loss to the Eagles and brought home the program’s first title since 2011. While the 2026 team got it done, head coach Phil Deselits said the teams before it were still a part of this.

“I’m just thinking about the guys that have come here, all these alumni here and there’s so many people behind the scenes,” Deselits said. “We’ve just had so many good people come through here. When you get the support from the whole town and get the chance to bring this back to Georgetown it means everything.”

Much of the game featured little offense, with the first run coming via an errant pickoff attempt by the catcher that saw Alejandro Baez scamper home. The Eagles added an insurance run in the sixth when Yuniesky Brea smashed a sacrifice fly to give them a 2-0 edge in the seventh.

English starter Jaurel Melo was a sensation on the bump, tossing 5.2 innings while walking seven and striking out 14. Yuniesky Brea looked strong too in relief, keeping the Royals bats cold until the final out.

That’s when Southill stepped up, even after a six-inning performance in which he allowed zero earned runs. While the moment was big, he knew he just had a small task to do.

“When I came up, I knew that something deep in the gap was probably going to tie the game,” Southill said. “Sure enough, I knocked it down the right field line and we were able to do that. I’m glad I was able to come through.”

In the eighth, there was some controversy that included a called-back balk and an ejected batter. However, the Royals remained calm and Skahan delivered.

“This is how our season has gone all year long,” Desilits said. “We haven’t played a game with our full team all season. So many guys have stepped up all season long. It sounds cliche but this is a total team effort.”

The Eagles loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning but clutch defense behind Rex Nadeau was what helped the Royals finally seal the victory.

“We were just going to leave it all out there,” Southill said. “We were giving it all we got, we didn’t care about the score. We just wanted to go out there and leave everything on the table.”

As Georgetown returns home as champions, two-sport champion Brendan Loewen says the excellence on the playing surface shows how strong the town’s athletic culture is.

“Georgetown is such a small-knit community,” Loewen said. “We have great athletes, we have great people and we have a great town.”