RICH FOUNTAIN — Haslag Landscaping & Design picked the perfect time to find its rhythm. After enduring a 10-game skid during a regular season in which the perennial contender at one point found itself below .500 and outside the playoff picture, Haslag swept through the Osage League postseason and claimed its first league championship Saturday night at Rich Fountain Ballpark.

The sixth-seeded Rich Fountain club completed its unbeaten tournament run with a 13-3, five-inning victory over Mid America Bank in an all-Rich Fountain championship game.

For the first time in several years, there was no need for the double-elimination tournament’s “if necessary” second championship game. Haslag entered the final as the only undefeated team remaining and finished the job immediately.

For Zac Buscher, the championship capped a season that looked very different midway through the summer. “For the last couple of years, we’ve been one of the favorites,” Buscher said. “But this year actually, we had a super tough stretch. We lost, what, Jacob? Ten in a row. We lost, I think, 10 in a row. We were under .500, not even in the playoff picture. We got hot at the right time, and then this week, we just did it.”

Haslag finished the regular season 18-10, according to Buscher, but the record hardly told the story of the road to the championship; the playoff bracket did.

Haslag opened the 12-team, double-elimination tournament by defeating B&P, then advanced past Jerry’s Stop & Go to earn a matchup with Premier/232.

Premier had become a familiar obstacle for Haslag in recent years.

This time, Haslag moved Premier into the loser’s bracket and continued through the winner’s side, eventually defeating The Barn to secure its place in the championship game without a loss.

That left everyone else fighting for the right to get another shot at Haslag.

Mid America Bank did it the hard way.

Bank had opened the tournament with wins over Carved in Stone and Boobie’s before The Barn sent it into the loser’s bracket. From there, Bank stayed alive, eventually setting up one of the wildest games of the tournament against Premier.

Premier entered the top of the seventh inning trailing Bank 11-9 before dramatically changing the game with a grand slam by Luke Boyster, followed by a solo home run from Logan Ball to take a 14-11 lead.

Bank answered in the bottom of the frame as Patrick Schneiders homered to cut the deficit to two. Two more runners reached with two outs before Bank ended the game with Jake Plassmeyer’s walk-off home run, completing a 15-14 victory that eliminated Premier.

Bank then defeated The Barn, which finished third, to earn its championship matchup with Haslag.

The sequence carried a little extra history for Mid America Bank manager Ethan Williams.

“We won it in 2021, and we put Premier in the loser’s bracket, and Haslag knocked them out, and then we beat Haslag,” Williams said. “So, it just kind of felt like roles were reversed.”

Five years ago, Bank struck first against Premier, Haslag finished Premier off, and Bank ultimately defeated Haslag for the league championship.

On Saturday, Haslag defeated Premier to push the team to the loser’s bracket, and Bank delivered the elimination blow before the two Rich Fountain teams met again with the title at stake.

“You don’t want to go in the loser’s bracket like we did early on,” Williams said. “But when you get there, you’re just kind of like, ‘Play a game at a time, and see what happens.’ We played a couple good games, maybe ran a little steam. But I mean, those guys hit, and they were ready to go.”

For Haslag, finally reaching the top also erased several close calls.

Buscher noted that one of Haslag’s previous runner-up finishes came against Mid America Bank. “One of the years we got second was to those guys, so we just returned the favor,” he said.

The more recent frustration came only a year ago.

Haslag entered last year’s championship round without a tournament loss but was beaten twice by Premier, denying Haslag the title once again.

Premier and Haslag have been regular fixtures near the top of the league in recent seasons, Williams said, making the championship something that had increasingly eluded a team capable of winning it.

“Credit to Haslag,” Williams said. “You don’t like losing; nobody does. Those guys have been in this league for a long time, and it had been the monkey on their back a little bit last year. They got in the winner’s bracket final without a loss, lost two to Premier. So, for them to win it, hopefully they party and have a good time.”

There was also something different about how Saturday night ended.

Once Premier was eliminated, the tournament became entirely local at the top.

Haslag, Mid America Bank, and The Barn were left to determine the champion, and when Bank advanced to face Haslag, two Rich Fountain teams were playing for the league title at Rich Fountain Ballpark.

Jake Voss said that made the championship particularly enjoyable. “It was awesome,” he said. “It was cool to play against Bank. They did the work early and beat [Premier] to knock them out. We beat them first game, they beat them second game, so that helped us out a lot for sure. And then playing against them down here in Rich Fountain was obviously a great time. Tons of people, tons of fans, and our group of guys — they’ve been playing together way long before I joined. So it was cool to kind of be a part of that and come in there and finally win one.”

That familiarity extended across the championship-game dugouts.

Williams described the relationship between the two Rich Fountain teams as competitive without being hostile. “We have nothing against Premier,” Williams said. “It’s just they’re not the local team. So, when it’s two Rich Fountain teams, you’re kind of like, you want to win — you definitely do — but it’s like playing against your brother. It’s got that feeling.”

In at least one case, that was literally true. Art Fick played for Mid America Bank, while his brothers, John and Mike Fick, were part of the Haslag roster.

Williams said the teams routinely support one another when they are not playing head-to-head. “I feel like when they watch us, they root for us,” he said. “When we watch them, like when they played Premier in the winner’s bracket, we were all rooting for them, and they won. And I’m sure when we played Premier and Barn, they were rooting for us.”

Once they met in the final, however, Haslag left little doubt.

The eventual champions finished the tournament the same way they had navigated the entire bracket — without a loss — defeating Bank 13-3 in five innings and claiming the league championship for the first time.

And even from the opposing dugout, Williams said the moment had been earned. “Well deserved and long overdue for Haslag,” he added.