A Dilly Bar for everyone.

Thanks to a clutch walk-off single by Jennings Graham in the bottom of the seventh inning, members of the Center Township baseball team got a tasty post-game treat.

And a Butler County American Legion Tournament championship to boot.

“I owe them Dilly Bars,” said Center Township coach Brian Hortert. “That's OK. They deserve them.”

Graham's sharp single up the middle drove home Patrick Lokhaiser, who led off the bottom of the seventh with a triple, to give CT an 8-7 win over Saxonburg at Pullman Park Wednesday evening.

Center Township (17-6) needed only one win to secure a spot in the Region 8 Tournament, which begins Friday in Saegertown. Saxonburg, coming through the loser's bracket, needed to win Wednesday and Thursday to earn a spot.

Meridian, the regular season champion, earned the other spot from the BCAL.

CT got the win thanks to six triples — two each coming from Graham and Cole Baxter.

“We have seven guys who can hit the ball out of the park,” Hortert said. “At this field, you don't hit home runs. You hit triples.”

Center Township jumped on Saxonburg starter Ryan Letzelter early, batting around and scoring five runs in the bottom of the first inning.

But Saxonburg (18-8) responded with six runs in the top of the second inning against CT starter Joe Malardie.

“They've been like that all year,” said Saxonburg coach Bill Sheppeck, who was filling in for Saxonburg head coach Pat Sarnese, a sergeant with the State police who was called away on a case. “We battled the whole way through the playoffs. I have to give the kids credit. They played six games in seven days.

“Oh, yeah, it was tough,” he added.

Center Township tied the game at 6-6 on a sacrifice fly by David Hohn that scored Baxter, who led off the second inning with a triple. Saxonburg, though, regained the lead 7-6 with a run in the top of the third.

The score stayed that way until the sixth inning, thanks to strong pitching performances by Ethan Rock out of the Center Township bullpen and Letzelter.

Rock pitched 4.1 scoreless innings out of the pen, striking out two and walking two.

After his shaky first two innings, Letzelter settled down and worked his way out of a couple of sticky situations in the middle innings.

Center Township got a one-out triple by Graham in the third, but left him there. CT got a leadoff triple by Baxter in the fourth inning, but he didn't score.

That made the seventh inning even more stressful for Hortert, who watched his team claw back to a 7-7 tie with an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“Oh my goodness, I thought I was going to have a stroke,” Hortert said, laughing. “You lead off with a triple and you don't score ... I thought it was deja vu there in the last inning.”

Graham, though, wasn't about to let another scoring opportunity slip by.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” Graham said. “I figured if I hit it anywhere, there was a good chance we were going to score and win the game.”

Center Township won the BCAL Tournament last season. After nearly three decades without a championship, CT now has two in a row.

“I said at the beginning of the year that even though we had less teams (down to six from nine) this year, the competition was better than ever,” Hortert said. “This tournament really showed it.”

Saxonburg 061 000 0 — 7 9 2Center Twp 510 001 1 — 8 12 11 out when winning run scoredW: Ethan Rock 4 1-3IP (2K, 2BB).

L: Ryan Letzelter 6 1-3IP (8K, 3BB).

Saxonburg (18-8): Josh Sheppeck 1B RBI, Marcus Cashell 1B 2B 2-RBI, Nate Sarnese 3-1B, Andy Fritz 3-1B, Chase Voltz 1B 2-RBI

Center Township (17-6): Cole Baxter 2-3B 2-R, Aaron Voelker 3B 1B 3-RBI, Patrick Lokhaiser 1B 3B RBI 2-R, Jennings Graham 2-3B 1B 3-RBI

Friday: Center Township and Meridian in regional at Saegertown