FAIRFIELD — Mere minutes into its Cal Ripken 12U 60′ state semifinal on Tuesday night, the season seemed to be all but over for Waterville.

The team was down 2-0 to rival Fairfield in the first inning, and after throwing a wild pitch, towering lefthanded pitcher Maxwell Cornforth grabbed his left arm and left the game due to an elbow injury.

Cornforth was replaced by Nic Karagiannes, who proceeded to strike out eight batters in 5 1/3 innings of one-hit relief and went 3 for 3 at the plate to lead the team to a 4-3 victory at Rocky Buck Field.

“The commitment and willingness to win (stand out with this team),” Karagiannes said. “They never back down and they never give up.

“It totally wasn’t the plan (for me to come in) or anything,” Karagiannes added. “But I got the win, and (Cornforth) will hopefully play (Wednesday) and everything will be okay.”

Waterville won the game in walk-off fashion, as third baseman Jase Spaulding plated Tatum Vaughn with a base hit up the field for the victory.

“I was pumped up, I was ready for that hit,” Spaulding said. “I just needed solid contact to get someone in. I was sitting on fastball.”

Waterville moves on to play River Valley — comprised of players from Leeds, Greene, Turner and Buckfield — in the championship final of the double-elimination tournament. Waterville, which lost to River Valley on Sunday, will need to win twice, on Wednesday night (5:30 p.m. start) and an additional game Thursday night. Both games will be in Fairfield. River Valley simply needs to prevail Wednesday in order to win the tourney.

“In the last three or four weeks, in the district and state tournament, they’ve just been a team,” Waterville coach CJ McKenna said. “Everyone has contributed at different times. We just chipped away.”

Karagiannes, who started the game in right field, was called into duty after Cornforth’s injury with a 2-0 deficit. He mixed his pitches and his arm angle, which changed from over-the-top to sidearm on multiple occasions.

Karagiannes found himself in an early hole, as a wild pitch in the second inning scored Bryce Manzo from third, giving Fairfield a 3-0 lead.

But Karagiannes gave Waterville life at the plate, reaching base on a single in the fourth and eventually scoring on an RBI single by Chase Reynolds to cut the lead to 3-1. He also settled down on the mound, striking out two batters per inning in the third and fourth.

“I’ve faced (Fairfield) two times before, we lost one and won one,” Karagiannes said. “I know what these kids like to hit. A lot of them don’t like the outside pitch, so I just went to the outside pitch.”

“(Strategy) kind of all went out the window when Maxwell went down, unfortunately,” McKenna said. “We went to Nic and he came up big. It was his game, and he was phenomenal.”

Karagiannes also made the defensive play of the game, barehanding a hot comebacker from Connor Nadeau, which he promptly threw to first base to end the sixth inning.

Karagiannes and Vaughn reached base on back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the sixth. Karagiannes scored moments later on a wild pitch to tie the game at 3-3. After an intentional walk to Alex Sheehan, Spaulding cracked his base hit up the middle to plate Vaughn and end the game.

“It feels good,” Spaulding said. “The rivalry that we have with Fairfield, to win on their home turf, it feels good.”

“This (rivalry) is just great for central Maine baseball,” McKenna said. “For kids at this age to be competing. A lot of the kids play travel baseball, so the friendships are there, then to be on opposite sides for a few weeks in the summer, it’s just awesome for everybody.”

Tucker Graves struck out six in 3 1/3 innings for Fairfield, while Lane Chapman and Huner Lockhart each had a single.