Even though Union Savings Bank finished in sixth place at 8-10, there was probably no one who would have been willing to count out coach Ray Craven and his boys heading into the Babe Ruth American League playoffs last week.

And with good reason, it seems.

Starting with that sixth seed, Union Savings made an improbable run at the finals, beating the No. 3, No. 1 and No. 5 seeds to capture the American League championship and hand coach Craven his third division title in three years.

“The kids played very well together,” said coach Craven.

Union Savings earned the title with a 2-1 win over North Atlantic Construction on a rainy Father’s Day.

“It was the best game I’ve seen all year,” said assistant coach Joe Rahtelli.

It was Rahtelli’s son, also named Joe, who started things off, leading off the game by reaching first, stealing second, heading to third on an error, and then scoring on a single by Jon Larsen. But North Atlantic evened things up in the bottom of the frame when David Modzelewski stroked a one-out single, then stole second and third before Sean Ryan dropped down a sacrifice bunt to score him and tie the game at 1-1.

Union Savings scored the only other run it would need in the top of the second. Mike Chapin doubled and stole third, scoring on a Matt Cole sacrifice. From there it was a story of solid pitching and sparkling defensive plays.

“We took a bunch of kids who started off the season with a lot of heart and brought it all together in the end,” said assistant coach Paul Larsen.

Mike Hennessey and Larsen shared the pitching duties, allowing just three hits while striking out four batters. Modzelewski, Louis Ritzinger and Scott Shannon collected the only hits for North Atlantic.

But while the North Atlantic offense was held in check, so was the Union Savings’ and a lot of credit for that goes to the North Atlantic defense. Ritzinger made a diving stop in the third inning and then hooked up with Ben Striano in the fourth for some more sparkling defensive work. And on the mound, Ryan, Brian Conroy, and Modzelewski combined on a two-hitter.

“It was the best season I’ve ever played,” said North Atlantic’s first-year coach, John Modzelewski. “And to play it against coach Craven is a true experience.”

Union Savings reached the finals with an 8-4 win over Newtown Hardware in the semi-finals. Hennessey earned the win with three innings of one-hit baseball and Rahtelli came up with the save with three more innings of solid work. Defensively, shortstop Jon Larsen and second baseman Thomas Hutchison played very well.

At the plate, Max Rojo was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles, one RBI, and two runs scored. Drew Adamek was 1-for-3 with a pair of RBI.

For Hardware, Brian Duffy and Stephen_Marks pitched well.

In the first round of the playoffs, Union Savings clipped Fireside Inn, 7-6, as Hutchison and Larsen collected two hits apiece (Larsen singled and scored the game winner in the last inning). Hennessey and Larsen shared time on the mound.

For Fireside, Bryan Fogelstrom was 4-for-4 and Ryan Martin had two hits. Mike Tibbets pitched well, allowing just one run over four innings of work.

Members of Union Savings included Brian Poeltl, Tom Wilson, and Brad Campbell. Members of North Atlantic Construction included Gary Andrews, Brian Cullinan, Mike Barbour, TJ Mueller, and Mike Conroy.

In other playoff action, Graham Painting nipped A&D Sports, 2-1, as Seth Hull pitched a complete-game two hitter, walking one batter and striking out 10. Tucker Kass singled home Cody Shpunt with the eventual winning run in the third inning. Shpunt had singled and moved into scoring position on Jason Pankowski’s infield grounder.

Graham scored its first run in the first inning on a triple by Ryan McGrath and RBI-single by Hull, Kevin Silber and Max Barrett both had hits in the game. Stephen Kean singled and doubled and scored A&D’s only run to lead the offense. Alex Meisel pitched a complete game, whiffing 11 batters.

Defensively, there were a number of gems in this game: Graham’s McGrath, Silber and Jonathan Graham hooked up in a 6-4-3 double play in the third inning; Graham’s Jake Putnicki snared a Joe Bowen screaming line drive in the fourth; Graham’s JP McDade made a fine catch and throw on a high hopper to second; A&D’s leftfielder Josh Tenenbaum made a diving stop of a Matt Berquist shot in the fourth inning.