No one ever said the road to the championship would be easy and Drug Center – despite finishing the regular season with 11 consecutive wins – found that out last week.

But even though it wasn’t easy (oh no, not while having to come from behind three straight times), Drug Center did capture the Babe Ruth AAA Division title with a thrilling 12-11 win over Automated Security.

The division finals came down to the #1 seed and the #2 seed and, quite fitting for championship caliber play, the game was won in the bottom of the sixth inning as Jeff Correa doubled, stole third, and advanced home when the ball skittered into the outfield.

From the start, the game was played fast and furiously as runs were scored in every half inning but one. Drug Center trailed at various points in the game, seeing deficits of 3-0, 4-3, 5-4 and 8-6.

Cody Cullens led off the fourth inning for Drug Center with a single and a steal of second. He later scored on a Jeff Davis double. A five-run Drug Center rally in the bottom of the fifth was initiated by consecutive doubles from Jim Gaston, Francis Oggeri, and David Manville. Culminating the really, Bob Lapple hit the season’s most gargantuan drive to left field . . . stopped only by the hanging bough of a tree for a triple.

Going into the top of the sixth, Drug Center clung to an 11-8 lead. But indicative of John Potter’s well-coached team, Automated Security climbed back into the game, tying it up at 11-11, thanks to the work of David Rodriguez, Danny Smith, Steve Sapienza and Jason Smith.

All of that, however, led to Correa’s single-mindedness leading off the bottom of the sixth.

For the tournament, Justin Lemma walked eight times and scored once, leading the Drug Center defense with two outstanding grabs at shortstop in the championship game.

Drug Center, though, never would have gotten in that position if it hadn’t rallied twice against Intuitive Computers in the semi-finals. In a wild come-from-behind win, Drug Center scored four times in the bottom of the sixth to force the game into extra innings and then scored two times in the bottom of the eighth to eliminate Intuitive.

Oggeri’s rallying double and Katie Schmidt’s clutch single to drive in the tying run in the bottom of the sixth was the turning point of the game. Davis recorded 15 strikeouts in the game, allowing two hits and two walks in five innings.

Jeff Liska’s Intuitive Computers pushed across seven runs in the top of the third on timely hitting from Kevin Caruso. That gave Intuitive an 8-2 lead, but Drug Center later trimmed that lead a little to 10-5 and then trimmed it further, to 10-6, on back-to-back doubles by Correa and Jimmy Gaston. That set the stage for Oggeri and Schmidt.

Davis and Correa scored the tying and winning runs, respectively, in the bottom of the eighth to complete the improbable comeback.

Sean Matschke and Kurtis Liska pitched very well for Intuitive.

Drug Center opened the tournament with a tough 3-2 win over Police Union. Drug Center scored first, too, as PJ Cochrane walked, stole second, and was driven in on a single by Davis. The run held up as Cochrane tossed five innings of scoreless ball before Police Union mounted a rally in the top of the sixth.

Greg Rodden ripped a two-run double after Joe Greenfield and Will Frampton had singled, giving Police Union a 2-1 lead.

Facing a one-run deficit, Drug Center started the bottom of the sixth when Cochrane walked and promptly stole second. Davis then delivered a single to right to score Cochrane with the tying run and Davis, on the play at the plate, advanced to third. He then stole home to complete the comeback.

Oggeri, Davis, Cochrane, Graham Moller and Correa led the offense. For Police Union, Frampton had a pair of hits and Greenfield pitched three solid innings of two-hit ball while also collecting two hits at the plate. Rodden was unhittable in three innings of mound work.

In other playoff action, Walker Industrials defeated JF Walsh Logging 3-2 and then followed up with a 14-9 win over William Pitt Real Estate.

In the win over Walsh, Walter Murphy, Andrew Kirnir, and Ryan Boucher had key hits for Walker, with Aaron Lengel scoring the winning run in extra innings. Lengel, Chuck Brooks and Boucher teamed up to whiff 14 batters.

For Walsh, Will Pasky and Brett Mauro had key hits while Mauro stole home to score one of the two runs. Ian Guilfoil, Ryan Manning and Brian Kirk starred on defense.

In the win over William Pitt, Ryan, Post, Murphy and Matt Saxonmeyer each had two hits.

For William Pitt, Luke Dugger and Keith Hogenauer had key hits while Tyler Tarantino, Chris Besso and Timmy Cawley played well on D. Ben Guston pitched well.