Waterford — A funny thing happened on the way to another championship, another baseball coronation in the 06385 Friday night.

Gavin Profita, a kid from New Milford, smoked a line drive to deep center with a runner aboard in the seventh inning. Suddenly, Waterford’s 3-0 lead didn’t look so comfortable.

“I was thinking ‘uh-oh,'" Waterford coach Dave Laffey said.

But then when New Milford would likely score and send the tying run to the plate in the last inning, centerfielder Trey Brennan started running. He made a full body dive. And then rolled over, glove triumphantly in the air, with the catch of his young lifetime.

Brennan preserved Waterford’s 3-0 win, sending Baseball Town, USA to another Babe Ruth state championship and to Augusta, Maine for the 15-year-old regionals. Waterford will open at 5 p.m. July 20 against the team from Augusta.

“At first, I thought it was going over my head,” Brennan said. “But I started after it and I thought I had a shot. Luckily, it fell into my glove. It’s really special because you come up with the ball and everyone is looking at you to see if you caught it and then they start flipping out.”

Brennan joins teammates Ryan O’Connell, Anthony Tonucci, Ryan Bakken, Robert Zawacki and Ben Jerome as members of Waterford teams that have won state championships at ages 12, 13, 14 and 15.

“This one feels a little more special,” Brennan said, “because we all know we’re on our way out.”

O’Connell, also a part of Waterford’s state championship basketball team last winter, said: “We really wanted this. That’s the attitude we brought to the field every game.”

O’Connell, the winning pitcher, struck out 11 and allowed four hits in six innings. He left after 88 pitches with a 3-0 lead.

“Ryan makes coaching a lot easier,” Laffey said.

O’Connell scored Waterford’s first run during its three-run fourth inning. He singled and stole second, later scoring on Owen Coderre’s grounder that eluded first baseman Justin Jennings. Coderre scored on Sam Lanuza’s RBI to left to make it 2-0.

Lanuza later stole second and scored on Alejandro Santiago’s RBI ground ball to shortstop.

That’s all O’Connell and closer Trevor D’Amico needed.

Tonucci had two hits for Waterford.

Laffey has coached three straight Waterford teams to state titles and won his fourth championship overall in the last five years.

“This is pure joy,” he said. “Three in a row is great for these kids who stuck with the program for three years. I give those kids all the credit in the world.”

m.dimauro@theday.com