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STANDISH — It won’t go down as her best performance, but Sidney Nicholls delivered another state title for the Medomak Valley softball team.

Nicholls, a junior, struck out nine and allowed five hits to lead the Panthers to a 7-0 win over Gardiner in the Class B final Saturday at St. Joseph’s College’s Bailey Field.

It’s the second consecutive title for Medomak Valley (19-1) and third state crown overall. The Panthers won the Class A championship in 1995. Rheanne Simmons, a freshman, was 3 for 3 with an RBI. Both Arianna Sproul and Claudia Feeley had a single and a double, and Sproul drove in a run.

Gardiner, the North champion, finished 16-4. Molly Takatsu had two hits for the Tigers.

Nicholls, who has been fighting back pain for much of the season, walked four batters and gave up four hits while laboring through the final four innings.

“She’s sore, she’s real sore,” Medomak Valley coach Richard Vannah said. “She’s tougher than people think. No runs the whole run during the playoffs, last year and this year, that’s just crazy. And we faced a lot of good teams and a lot of good players.”

The only jam she ran into was in the final inning, when Gardiner put runners on second and third before she induced a groundout to end the game. Nicholls (103 pitches, 66 strikes) struck out three batters in her final two innings.

“I was just out there throwing, just trying to throw hard,” Nicholls said. “Just trying to throw strikes. I was trying to make it simple.

Nicholls allowed seven hits during the playoffs.

This game was far different than the 17-16 scoring outburst won by Gardiner on May 18. That was the only loss of the season for the Panthers, who had revenge on their mind.

“We wanted to prove that we’re the better team,” said Feeley, one of the Panthers’ captains.

Medomak Valley scored a run in each of the first three innings, getting RBI singles from Sproul in the first, Rheanne Simmons in the second and Kendall Simmons in the third.

“It was definitely really fun,” said Rheanne Simmons. “We were hyping each other up the whole entire game.”

The Panthers broke it open in the fifth when they produced four runs on three hits, getting a two-run double by Jennika Schumann and a two-run single by McKenna Hertel.

“All I told them was, ‘One run an inning,” Vannah said. “Just one run an inning and we’ll be good. Just keep getting a run and win every inning.”

With a swirling wind throughout, Gardiner struggled with some Medomak Valley fly balls and committed errors in the fifth inning and sixth innings.

Takatsu hung tough in the circle, tossing 120 pitches, 63 for strikes.

“It was a great season,” Gardiner coach Ryan Gero said. “We weren’t expected to be here. We’ll miss our three seniors, but we’ll be back.”

Medomak Valley finished the season with 15 shutouts, including all four playoff games.