Red Sox take Babe Ruth title

"We told the kids, 'Don't change a thing,'" said Red Sox manager Dave Leary. "Every game we played (this season), almost everyone contributed. We peaked at the right time. Our thought was, we're going to get what's ours (the tournament championship)."

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Brian Marblestone doubled home Ryan Hamilton with a bullet down the first base line. But the Red Sox came right back with two in the bottom of the inning and never trailed the rest of the way.

"The [Red Sox] played well and we couldn't get the key hit," said Yankees manager Steve Nasser. "The better team today clearly won."

Red Sox cleanup hitter Scott Huffington set the offensive tone for his team. In the bottom of the first with Matt Calderon on first and two outs, Huffington took a 1-2 knuckleball from pitcher Hamilton and crushed it deep into left field. Since there is no fence at Hillsdale, Huffington had to hustle around the bases and didn't stop until he safely slid across home plate for a two-run home run.

"He left it hanging," Huffington said of the pitch.

Huffington killed the Yankees all game long. He finished 4 for 4 with three RBIs, a home run, two doubles and three runs scored. Leary said that when facing a knuckleball thrower like Hamilton, his team lives by an old baseball cliché: "If it's high, let it fly, if it's low let [the bat] go," Leary said.

The Red Sox No. 5 hitter, Andrew Leary, was just as devastating to the Yankees' pitching staff. Batting behind Huffington, Andrew Leary went 2 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs scored, including the final run that gave the Red Sox the win due to the 10-run mercy rule.

"Andrew's not flashy. He's fundamentally sound," said coach Leary. "He has an approach at the plate. I think he sees some good pitches [hitting behind Huffington]. He comes up with a lot of runners on."

Huffington and Leary's production alone were more than enough for Red Sox starting pitcher Chris Schindler. The 15 year old pitched into the sixth inning, giving up two runs on five hits while striking out seven.

He got himself into a jam in the third inning when he walked the bases loaded. But he got out of trouble without a run scored as he got a groundout to end the inning.

He came out in the next inning and had his best performance, needing only 12 pitches to retire the side in order.

"That was a pivotal point," coach Leary said. "That's what we needed. He rose to the occasion."

After Huffington's two-run blast in the first game gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead, they broke the game open with a five-run third. After the first batter of the inning grounded out, the Red Sox strung together six straight hits, with Huffington, Leary, Dario Tejo and Brett Montague all picking up RBIs.

The Red Sox tacked on two more in the fourth with Calderon and Leary driving home runs. In the fifth, Craig Sargent drove in the inning's only run and the Sox ended the game in the sixth with four consecutive hits. Leary picked up his third run batted in for the game and Tejo ended it with an opposite-field single to right.

The Yankees scored their only other run in the top of the sixth. Marblestone led off the inning with his second double of the game and scored when Cameron Cavolina grounded into a bases-loaded double play later in the inning.

"It just didn't bounce for us today," Nasser said. "We just couldn't get the momentum turned around."