CARRBORO - To no one's surprise, No. 1 seeded Chapel Hill Realty Group is out and the championship of Carrboro's Co-Rec Softball League will come down to Cliff's Meat Market and Chapel Hill Air.

Any two of those three teams could have been in Tuesday night's final. Cliff's, Air and Chapel Hill Realty Group all finished the regular season with 10-2 records, each going 1-1 against the other two.

So far in the seven-team, post-season tournament, that same internecine trend has been holding. Chapel Hill Air beat Cliff's 18-14 in a second-round game June 18 and then gave Chapel Hill Realty Group its first loss in the double-elimination tournament, 13-10 on June 23.

Cliff's eliminated Chapel Hill Realty in a 13-12 squeaker Thursday night.

No. 3 seeded Cliff's Meat Market (13-3) will meet No. 2 Chapel Hill Air (13-2) for the Carrboro Recreation & Parks championship at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Anderson Community Park. If Cliff's wins that game, both teams would have one loss and play again immediately to decide the title.

Chapel Hill Realty Group had won the tournament's No. 1 seed in a drawing between the three teams. CHRG bumped No. 4 seed Milltown into the elimination bracket with a 10-9 win June 18 before losing by three runs to Chapel Hill Air. Those games just showed how tight a season it's been, said Air's captain, Tim Costner.

"It's been that way all year," Costner said. "Either team could have won any of those games. A hit here or there would have changed the outcome. I'm just glad my team is in it at the end."

Cliff's had to win two games Thursday to reach the bracket final. It beat Milltown, 15-1, and looked like it might breeze into the championship round with a series of homers thanks by Kevin Horton, Aaron Tilley and pitcher David Idzi against Chapel Hill Realty group.

Cliff's led the entire way in the second game Thursday, but saw a four-run lead erode in the late innings. Realty Group had the winning run at the plate with none out in the seventh inning before Idzi picked up the last three outs and got the win.

"It was kind of rough in the last inning, with heart of their batting order coming up, but we held on," said Cliff's captain Leigh Poe.

Poe said Cliff's has been on a bit of a crusade this summer, following the sudden death earlier this year of long-time team captain Steve Barnes from an apparent heart attack.

"It's been tough on the team," Poe said. "A lot of us had played for him for a long time. Now we're still trying to our best for him."

Poe is one of six players who played under Barnes for years, along with Horton, Idzi, Dean Brasington, Ronnie Clark and Wayne Roberson. She filled in briefly as team manager once before, about three years ago, when Barnes developed heart trouble.

"I've played for him since I was 13 years old," Poe said. "My sister played for him, too. This year has been quite an experience. Now we'd just like to finish by winning it all."

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Contact CHN Sports Editor William Elliott Warnock at ewarnock@nando.com or at 932-8743 .