“Monday’s Babe Ruth championship game pitted an opportunistic Pace team that appeared to have peaked at the right time against CFA Mortgage, which had lost three of its final four regular season games to slip from first to third.Pace, just 6-9 during the season, came into the game on a roll. They knocked off Texaco 8-1 on Saturday as Adam Knappe threw a no-hitter, then trounced top-seeded Virginia Mason on Sunday 11-1 behind Ranger Sciacca’s 118-pitch complete game that included nine strikeouts.CFA, on the other hand, struggled to defeat Chevron, a team with one win all season, by a 10-7 score on Saturday after falling behind 4-0. And it took a desperate over-the-shoulder catch by Brett Mendenhall with the winning run in scoring position in the final inning to defeat regular season runner-up Re/Max 4-3 on Sunday.But after spotting Pace an early 2-0 lead, CFA parlayed a four-run third inning into a 7-3 victory and the tournament championship in a game that perhaps should have been played on Winslow Way in front of Virginia Mason because of the injuries and illnesses involved. The game opened with projected Pace starting pitcher Schuyler Boone home with a temperature of 104 degrees, and the final out was made by Cory Guy, who played with a broken toe. CFA might have stood for Continuous First Aid, as Zach Peach broke his nose earlier in the season; Adam Knight was still recovering from late-season surgery; first baseman Grant Leslie could only throw underhanded because of tournament-induced tendinitis; Micah Bowers suffered a burned hand while baking biscuits earlier in the day; and Colton Callahan emerged from the dugout late in the game with a huge cold pack to ease groin pain he’d incurred.Pace opened the game by giving emergency starter Knappe a two-run cushion. Nick Browning’s line single to left, an error and walk loaded the bases with one out.With the infield drawn in, Nolan Meininger hit a soft liner just over the third baseman’s outstretched glove to plate Browning and Knappe. A walk loaded the bases again, but CFA pitcher Dan Canfield bore down and got two popouts.CFA had runners on second and third with one out in the bottom half of the first, but Knappe scooped up a grounder and threw home as Browning, the catcher, tagged out the runner trying to score from third. The second inning was uneventful, but Canfield escaped damage in the third despite walking three batters as his teammates turned a nifty third-to-second-to first double play.With one out in the bottom of the third, Bowers drove a ball into left center that rolled to the wall for a triple. Peach followed with a single down the third base line to drive in Bowers, then stole second and advanced to third on the second out. Grant Leslie lofted a fly ball into shallow right that disappeared into a Bermuda Triangle formed by the first and second basemen and right fielder for a base hit that scored Peach. Jon Williams banged a one-hopper off the left field fence to put runners on second and third. Mendenhall stroked a clutch opposite-field single to right to score Leslie and Williams.CFA increased their lead to 6-2 in the fifth as Jordan Schager replaced Knappe on the mound for Pace. Canfield led off with a walk, moved to third on Leslie’s double to right and scored on a throwing error. Leslie stole third and came in on Adam Knight’s grounder.With Peach pitching for CFA in the top of the sixth, Pace tried to get back in the game as Knappe and Sciacca led off with singles. After a sacrifice, Schager’s grounder scored Knappe.CFA answered in their half of the inning. Bowen hit a high-hop single to third with one out and Peach followed with a virtual clone as Bowers beat the throw to second. A walk loaded the bases. Leslie sent a long fly to left field and Bowen easily trotted home. But the runner on first passed his teammate on second and was halfway to third before realizing his error and was easily doubled off.Successive singles with two outs gave Pace some faint hope in the seventh, but a fly to Guy in right-center ended the game.CFA manager Earl Williams used the term anticlimactic to describe the game.Our other two tournament games were either seesaw or coming from way behind, he said. Once we got the lead it was just a matter of hanging on.He added that we had a lot of tired people in the tournament because of all the makeup and traveling team games right in a row. But the kids still pulled together and played three good games.Tonight was good, said coach Charles Peach, but we didn’t have Matt Frazee, our big stick. He left for Mexico about a week ago and we fell from grace right after that. We were nine and one at one point and life was good. But then we crashed and burned. So it was good for the guys to pick it up.Pace coach Greg Mesmer said, We’re really proud of the guys for coming this far in the tournament.Manager Vern Schager added that Last Thursday we got ten-runned by Virginia Mason 14-3. Then we beat them yesterday 11-1. That was a huge turnaround in emotion and playing ability.I’m really proud of the way they pulled together.Mesmer noted a maturity that developed during the season after an 0-3 start.In the beginning, they’d make some errors, five or six runs would score, and they’d give up, he said.But today they battled, stuck in there. “