Windham was knocking on the door, but Dylan Skinner and Kyle Jalbert slammed it shut.

Goffstown’s 10- and 11- year-old baseball all-stars saw their four-run lead cut to one. Then, with two outs, Windham was poised to knot the score at 7-7 during the title game July 25.

Windham’s batter lined a single to center field, and the would-be tying run came charging around third. But Skinner fired home, Jalbert blocked the plate, the runner was out, and the lead was safe.

In the home half of the frame, Goffstown added three insurance runs and posted a 10-6 win for a third consecutive 10- and 11-year-old state championship.

Jalbert also threw out a runner at third earlier in the inning, and Goffstown manager Ken Perron said the two plays were the critical moments of the game.

“Those plays took them out of the big inning, or a bigger inning than they had,” said Perron. “It also propelled us, gave us some momentum, and allowed us to score some big runs.”

Goffstown won all five games it played in the tournament by a combined score of 51-9, with the tilt against Windham its slimmest margin of victory.

Though they the fell behind 3-0 after the top half of the first, the local all-stars bounced back quickly when Connor Walsh launched a two-run home run to pull his team within one.

In the bottom of the third Goffstown struck for five more runs, capped by an RBI single from Jacob Lambert, a run-scoring walk from Jason Thomas and finally a fielder’s choice by Jalbert.

Thomas started on the mound for Goffstown, allowing five runs in four-plus innings of work, striking out six. Perron said the key to his team’s dominating performance was its care-free attitude during games.

“They were so loose the whole time, so loose that I think the coaches were more nervous than the kids,” said Perron. “We told them from the beginning that they were very good. This win will only make them better.”

Members of the state champion team included Peter Steckowych, Kyle Chisholm, Connor Walsh, Kyle Perron, Kyle Lecour, Lambert, Mike Bailey, Josh Lacerte, Jason Thomas, Jalbert and Skinner.