Pitman High won its first Pedretti Championship over the weekend by defeating Lincoln High, building up a heap of confidence for this year’s baseball season. Turlock High missed the final round by one run and finished in third place after beating Lodi High on Saturday.

The first round of the Pedretti tournament began on Thursday as Pitman faced Oakdale and Turlock battled Johansen.

The Pride got out to an early lead against the Mustangs, scoring three runs in the first two innings. After the third inning the score read 3-2, but a pair of runs in the sixth inning secured a 5-2 first round win for Pitman.

The Bulldogs-Vikings matchup was a little more closely contested. Johansen opened up the game with three runs in the first innings, maintaining a lead into the third inning. Turlock struck back with four runs in the third inning, taking the lead, before scoring a run in the fourth and fifth inning for a 6-3 victory.

On Friday, Pitman defeated Lodi in a landslide 8-1 win. Six of the Pride’s runs came in the sixth inning. Turlock’s second round was even tougher than its first as they faced the Trojans of Stockton. The Bulldogs took an early lead with two second inning runs but were unable to hold on for a chance at a championship matchup with Pitman. Lincoln shattered Turlock’s hopes with three runs in the fifth inning, taking a 3-2 victory.

Saturday’s championship game between Pitman and Lincoln was the best matchup of the tournament, as was expected. After the first inning Lincoln led 2-1 but a string of four Pride runs in the second inning gave Pitman a lead it would not let go of. Still, Lincoln didn’t give up, scoring two runs in the fifth and sixth innings to make it close. AJ Derr finished the championship game with a .667 batting average, two runs and three RBIs. Steven Kha and Brennan Hauser also had good games with two runs and a .500 batting average apiece.