SALISBURY - "For a minute there, I thought our season was going to begin and end on this field," said Carbon manager Don Rehrig after the roller coaster ride that was his team's 10-9 win over Salisbury on Sunday.

The victory sends the underdog Monarchs, the eighth seed coming into the Lehigh Valley Legion playoffs, into the tournament finals against South Parkland.Carbon had opened their regular season schedule with a 10-2 loss to the Falcons at Salisbury High School on June 4, and after putting up a five-run first inning against Salisbury, it looked like the Monarchs might see their season end on that same field.The Falcons used a five-run inning of their own to take their first lead of the game, and the two teams battled back and forth the rest of the way.The teams combined to make seven errors, resulting in 12 of the 19 runs scored being unearned.Pitcher Mason Goida came on in relief of Tyler Baird in the second inning and calmed down the Salisbury bats temporarily, before the Falcons finally got to Goida, in the fifth inning. Luke Irwin led off with a single, went to second on a base hit from Quinn Warmkessel, and then scored when Pete Dubois lined a single to center to give the Falcons an 8-5 lead."We never really got down, we just kept battling and knew that if we could regain our composure and make some plays, we would still be able to come back," said Goida. "We really felt coming into this game that we could win this game, and that never changed."In the top of the sixth, Nino Encarnacion retired the first two batters before issuing a walk to Aaron Joyce. Darren Goida then hit a groundball to short that was bobbled for Salisbury's fourth error of the day. David Marino then drew a walk to load the bases for Justin Marykwas, who delivered a long fly ball that took one bounce and hit the center field fence, clearing the bases and tying the game 8-8. Baird then punched a base hit to right and Carbon finally retook the lead 9-8.The lead was short-lived, however, as Salisbury picked up another unearned run in the bottom of the frame to tie the game.Leading off the top of the seventh, Derek Joyce drew the ninth walk of the day for Carbon, and was sacrificed to second by Anthony Micholik. Dan Keer then stepped up and promptly delivered a base hit up the middle to score Joyce with what would prove to be the winning run.Salisbury went down in order for the first time in the game in their half of the seventh, as Keer got a strikeout and two groundball outs to pick up the win."Coming into the playoffs, I thought that South Parkland, Carbon and Emmaus were going to be the toughest teams, and it turns out that two of them are playing for the championship," said Salisbury manager Scott Happenheimer. "That's a good team, and you have to hand it to them, because they've played everybody tough."HOT AT THE RIGHTTIME... The Monarchs won six regular season games, but have now won four of their five playoff games to advance to the finals. In doing so, they've knocked off the two top seeds in the tournament, along with the sixth and ninth seeds.THE FUTURE... Carbon now has the unenviable task of having to win two straight games against South Parkland. The Trojans finished the regular season 10-6-1, compared to the Monarch's 6-11-1 record. The Trojans were the fourth seed overall.SALISBURY IN REGIONALS ... By virtue of winning the regular season title, Salisbury has an automatic spot in the Region 2 Tournament, which begins Saturday. Salisbury will be joined in the Regional Tournament by either Carbon or South Parkland.Carbon 500 004 1 - 10 7 3Salisbury 160 011 0 - 9 13 4T. Baird, M. Goida (2), D. Keer (6) and A. Joyce; W. Rodriguez, E. Schware (3), N. Encarnacion (6), L. Irwin (7) and P. DuboisW - D. Keer, L - L. Irwin.Saturday's gameCarbon-Lower MacThe Monarchs advanced to play in the loser's bracket final with a 7-6 win against Lower Macungie on Saturday night.Carbon used a pair of three-run innings to eliminate the Mustangs.Anthony Collevechio was 3-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs for the Monarchs. Derek Joyce went 2-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI; David Marino added two hits; and Aaron Joyce had a double, walk, sacrifice fly and two RBIs.The game was delayed a little over an hour after a quick storm. After an estimated $500 worth of Diamond Dry, the field was playable.