In every playoff game so far for Sal’s Pizza, it trailed at some point. In all of those games, Sal’s erased the deficit and won. In the Concord Babe Ruth championship, Sal’s continued that trend – winning 7-6 over Complete Car Care – with the same dramatics it had used the rest of the postseason.
“The kids are used to battling,” Sal’s Coach Joe Shoemaker said. “They didn’t give up.”
CCC took a 4-0 lead in the first inning. True to form, Sal’s chipped away and tied the game up in the third. In the fourth, CCC again took a lead after scoring two runs, but Sal’s kept fighting back.
After tying the score at 6 in the fifth inning, Sal’s came to the bottom of the seventh with the top of the order due up. Jake Sullivan reached base on a single and Cam Thomson grounded out for the first out. After Sullivan advanced on a passed ball, Jake Knowles came up with the winning run on third. Knowles singled, driving in Sullivan for the winning run and the Babe Ruth title.
“I just told them ‘go out there and have fun,’ ” Shoemaker said. “We had already won two games in the playoffs on our last at-bat.”
Logan Otto went 3-for-4 for Sal’s, while Michael Stoddard scored two runs. Jake Sullivan pitched a complete game for Sal’s and went 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored.