The Vernon Five Star Awards Bombers grounded Salmon Arm Green 12-10 in the Vernon Pee Wee A Baseball League championship final at Creekside Park.
The Bombers started the season at 0-6-1 and improved in every practice and game throughout the season, culminating in playoff glory.
The Bombers opened the scoring in the top of the second inning as Jaden Mckim singled in Alyna Huss. Salmon Arm answered back with four runs.
The Bombers scored twice in the third as Connor Jones continued his red-hot hitting by knocking in Luke Walsh and Jaxson Harper to close the gap to 4-3.
Adam Hansen pitched three solid innings for the Bombers, who exploded for four runs in the fourth as Hunter Johnstone, Walsh, Mike Huss and Hailee Nickel all pocketed RBI with two-out.
The Bombers added four more runs in the fifth to make it 11-4. Rielly Beer and Mckim each smacked two-run singles with Logan Killingbeck (walked), Connor Jones (singled), James Helfrick (walked) and Hansen (walked) scoring.
Salmon Arm replied with one in the fifth and five in the sixth to trail 11-10 after six innings.
Killingbeck hurled three innings for the Bombers. With two out in the seventh, James Helfrick doubled, stole third and scored on a passed ball to give Five Star a 12-10 lead.
Johnstone came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh, and after giving up a lead-off walk, retired the next three Salmon Arm batters. The Bombers were coached by Troy Jones, Rob Killingbeck, Dave Helfrick and Blair Hansen.
Meanwhile, the Adanacs stopped the first-place Arrows 8-0 in Vernon Men’s Baseball League play at Marshall Field.
The Adanacs jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a Bruce Jones RBI-single off Arrows’ starter Keenan Joly.
Joly went two and a third innings before being injured trying to catch a liner that sailed just over his head.
Jason Webster delivered a four-RBI night, including a fifth-inning triple, while Jerry Alison, Steve Daamen and Brendan Andersen all drove in runs. Stu Cleland, Marius Szwed and Tyler Doyle all had hits for the Arrows.
Action resumes Sunday with a triple-header starting at 10 a.m. The Arrows are 11-6, while the Adanacs are 10-8 and the District Eatery Outlaws are 5-12.
