AUBURN -- The South Portland American All-Stars grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat on Sunday, rallying from a five-run deficit in the Little League 11- and 12-year old softball state championship to beat Calais, 7-6.

American, which went 4-1 in the state tournament and 11-2 overall in tournament play, now advances to the Eastern Regional Tournament in Albany, N.Y., which starts this weekend. SPLL will play four pool games in five days against state champions from four other New England states. It opens play Saturday at 2 p.m. against the Massachusetts state champion.

American trailed 6-1 after two innings, but notched three runs in the fourth to close the gap to 6-4 and added three more in its last raps in the sixth to take the lead, 7-6.

In the sixth, Akadia Higgins led off with a bunt single. After an out, which advanced Higgins to second, Lexie Gervais reached on an infield hit to put runners at the corners. Alyssa Penney brought in Higgins with a sacrifice fly to center field to cut the Calais lead to 6-5, and Laurine German singled to right and again runners were at the corners. German stole second, and Taylor Whaley stepped to the plate and smacked a two-out, two-run double to left to put American up, 7-6.

Whaley, the winning pitcher, whiffed the first Calais batter in the bottom of the sixth. She then walked the next batter, who was subsequently erased in a force play at second base for out No. 2. A single put runners at first and second, but the next batter grounded to Gervais at second base. She tossed the ball to Michelle Medici at first and American had its state title.

South Portland American took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Kiley Kennedy walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Calais then answered with six runs in the bottom of the inning, using two hits and three SPLL errors to take what at the time appeared to be a commanding five-run lead.

American clawed back with three runs in the fourth. Kennedy doubled and scored on Gervais’ sac fly to right. Penney doubled in Paige Carter (walk) and German’s base hit brought in Penney to cut the lead to two.

Whaley, who had three of her team’s four state tournament wins, whiffed four and walked three in six innings and was aided by some late-inning defensive support. In the fourth with two outs and runners on third and second, German, the shortstop, leapt to snag a line drive up the middle to end the inning. In the fifth with runners on first and second and two out, Calais singled, but Carter in center field threw the runner out at home with a strong throw to Kennedy at the plate to stymie the threat.

South Portland American advanced to the championship with wins over Bangor (4-2), Camden-Rockport (13-0) and Calais (2-1). Calais, needing to beat American twice, won the first championship game on Saturday, 6-0, to force the deciding game.

The rest of the SPLL roster includes Abby Young, Hannah Skeffington, Markie Amadei, Michelle Moreau and Lauren Despins. Matt Whaley is the manager and he is assisted by Dave Medici and Stuart Young.

SPLL entered the tournament as the champions of District 6, where it went 7-1, including five straight wins out of the losers’ bracket, to win the title.

SPLL’s regional schedule is as follows: Massachusetts (Aug. 1, 2 p.m.), Rhode Island (Aug. 2, 3 p.m.), Vermont (Aug. 4, 11 a.m.) and New Hampshire (Aug. 5, 11 a.m.). The top two teams from the pool will play on Aug. 7. The winner will meet the Pool A winner (Capital Region, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania) on Aug. 8. The winner advances to the Little League Softball World Series in Portland, Ore., Aug. 13-19.