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STANDISH — A whole lot of rain and a late deficit weren’t going to get in the way of the Hall-Dale softball dynasty writing its latest chapter Tuesday evening.

Lucy Gray and Genevieve Ciccarelli scored the tying and go-ahead runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, and No. 2 Hall-Dale kept alive its pursuit of a fifth straight Class C state title with a 4-3 victory over No. 4 Dirigo in the South final on rain-drenched Richard Bailey Field at Saint Joseph’s College.

The streak was six outs away from ending. Instead, the Bulldogs (17-2) dug deep to clip the Cougars (13-6) and advance yet again.

“Honestly, we think we can’t lose,” senior shortstop Torie Tibbetts said. “That’s where we are right now. We find a way every single time to come back.”

That mindset has prevailed throughout a season in which only one starter, senior first baseman Mira Skehan, is playing the same position as last year.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids this year, and they’ve improved so much from the beginning of the season until now,” coach Steve Acedo said. “They’re contributing every game now. To me, it’s probably my favorite win, I guess I would say.”

Few have come tougher. A steady rain that began before the game and lasted into the seventh inning made base running and fielding an adventure, and an early 2-0 lead became a 3-2 deficit in the fifth inning when Dirigo’s Nikole Turnbull scored on a wild pitch and Lana Waite came home on Abby Luczynski’s single.

In the bottom of the sixth, though, Gray hit a crisp grounder to third that deflected for an error, and Ciccarelli, a freshman, dropped a sacrifice bunt that was fielded but thrown wildly for another miscue. Gray came all the way around to score, and after a Jade Graham groundout, Ciccarelli scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.

Gray finished the comeback, getting two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 seventh. Aleiah Ward provided a scare when she smacked a pitch to center, but Madalyn Coro, a sophomore, tracked it down perfectly against the lights.

Hall-Dale has won 91 of its last 92 games when scoring four or more runs, according to the Bulldogs’ coaching staff.

“When we get down, we know we can come back,” said Gray, who struck out 10 while allowing three hits. “That’s a skill that not a lot of teams have.”

The game started on an ominous note for the Bulldogs. Tibbetts led off with a single, stole second and went to third on a groundout, but she was thrown out at the plate by Dirigo first baseman Emma Witas while trying to score after the putout.

Hall-Dale struck in the second inning, however. Graham doubled to right, Skehan walked, and both advanced on a Claire Kapinos bunt. Emma Perry drove in both runners with a single to left that slipped between two Dirigo outfielders.

The Cougars answered when Hannah Hamner scored on Madisyn Bradeen’s groundout in the third, and then again with two runs in the fifth.

That put the Bulldogs on the brink. But the champs had a rally ready when they needed it.

“We knew we could give them a game,” said Dirigo coach Scott Robbins, who got seven strikeouts from freshman pitcher Leah Turnbull. “Our girls battled right to the end, we had a chance against a (four)-time champ, we took them right to the end. … We tried to deliver the knockout punch, we just came up a little bit short.”