SAN JOSE — Menlo School senior Ben Salama stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom of the third inning in the Central Coast Section Division V championship game against Monterey. He promptly swung and missed on the first two pitches he saw.

He heard about it from Monterey’s dugout. That was just fine with him.

Salama retorted with a frozen-rope line shot to left center, the triple putting him in position to score Menlo’s fifth run on a double by Fletcher Cahill.

Salama retorted with a frozen-rope line shot to left center, the triple putting him in position to score Menlo’s fifth run on a double by Fletcher Cahill.

Fast-forward to the seventh inning. Salama was called to the mound to preserve Menlo’s lead, which had subsequently been trimmed from four runs to one.

Once again, Salama wasn’t fazed. He promptly retired the side in order on 12 pitches, then led Menlo’s raucous celebration as the Knights secured a 5-4 win and their second consecutive CCS title at Excite Ballpark in San Jose.

“My goal the whole season was to make the last out at Excite,” Salama said. “Throughout the CCS playoffs, I was like, ‘I’m feeling good.’ I’m gonna stay ready. My mentality has always been, ‘I’m ready for whatever else the team needs.’ Because originally, I was a starter at the start of the year. I didn’t really come out of the bullpen. But today, I was like, ‘They call my name, I’m ready.’”

Menlo (21-8) hadn’t called Salama’s name on the mound in a while, as the senior had been struggling with elbow soreness and had not pitched in a game since April 22.

He had been diligently rehabbing his partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in the meantime, hoping for a shot to pitch again. It didn’t come in the first two rounds of the Division V playoffs.

But when Menlo needed to slam the door shut on a section title, coach David Trujillo knew exactly where to turn.

“He’s been working his butt off with rehab and getting better and getting healthy and working super hard off the field to get himself ready to show up for his teammates,” Trujillo said of Salama. “And he wanted the ball. He wanted the ball last game in the semis, and then he definitely wanted it today.”

Salama has a likely future as a starting pitcher at Brandeis University, where he is committed to play starting next year. But for one night, he experienced what it’s like to save a big win.

“I’ve always kind of been a fireballer per se,” Salama said. “But especially in a situation where it was a one-inning outing, I was like, ‘Just throw. Don’t second-guess it. Just give them what you got.’ And it was a positive result.”

Despite his dominant inning, Salama was more excited about his hit after the game. Primarily a pitcher, Salama has had to contribute more with the bat this year while his right arm was injured.

And while he’s been a solid contributor, hitting .338, he had not gotten an extra-base hit all season long. Until Thursday.

“Rounding first base for me, it was just like, ‘Holy cow,’ Salama said. “My job is to hit hard ground balls and get on first base or move guys over. I’m not the centerpiece of the order, but there, I was able to get extra bases, and it was such an awesome experience. For me, that was the equivalent of hitting a no-doubt home run.”

Menlo had a lot to celebrate on Thursday night. Not only are the Knights CCS champions, they’ll be going back to the CIF NorCal regional tournament for the second year in a row.

Division VI

No. 1 Stevenson 18, No. 2 South San Francisco 8 (5 innings): Stevenson and South San Francisco brought a lot of offense to Excite Ballpark on Thursday afternoon. Facing off in the CCS VI championship game, top-seeded Stevenson and No. 2 South City combined for 26 runs. Neither starting pitcher survived the third inning.

But it was Stevenson that produced quite a few more, especially in the late innings. The Pebble Beach school scored in every inning but one, finishing with a 18-8 run-rule win thanks to 11 tallies in the final two frames.

“They were a good hitting team,” South San Francisco coach Matt Schaukowitch said. “And sometimes at the end of the day, you just have to tip your cap. They hammered some balls.”

Both teams had scored a lot in their respective runs to the championship game. Stevenson (19-8) beat Design Tech 7-3 in the opening round and Sobrato 12-8 in the semifinals.

South City (23-6) beat North Salinas 9-3 and Fremont-Sunnyvale 6-3.