Pine Bush’s baseball team had to win four out of the last five games at the end of the regular season to reach the Section 9, Class AA tournament.

The Bushmen did that, and they entered the tournament as the seventh-seed against two-seed Middletown in the quarterfinals.

“We were one game away from elimination,” said Matt Boffalo, Pine Bush coach, “and we had to get that 10th win to get in.”

The Bushmen beat the Middies 10-2 and then faced third-seed Monroe-Woodbury in the semis. And the Bushmen came away with a 10-5 victory to face Kingston, the top-seed and defending sectional champion, in the final Saturday in Saugerties.

The Tigers scored seven runs in the second inning before winning 10-0 in the sixth inning under the mercy rule. The Bushmen loaded the bases in the fifth inning, but Haakon Meland’s ground-out ended any hope at that time Pine Bush may get on the scoreboard.

“I told the boys to not hold their heads. It was a great season,” said Boffalo. “It is something to say about these kids.”

The Bushmen finished the season 12-11 during an up and down campaign that ended with plenty of drama Saturday after a very eventful final week.

“We made a lot of mistakes in the beginning,” said Boffalo. “We just had to find the right chemistry. The entire team stepped it up at the end. The intensity was there every pitch.”