A perfect ending

Federal Mogul, Security Federal win titles

By Rick Conrad

Logansport Youth League Baseball conducted closing ceremonies at Crain Field on Thursday night and the championship game of the league tournament was played immediately afterwards.

In the 11-12 year old division it was Happy Burger squaring off against undefeated Federal Mogul. Entering the sixth and final inning both teams had played to a 4-4 tie. In the top of the sixth Federal Mogul opened things up by plating four runs and went on to an 8-4 victory, wrapping up a perfect season.

Federal Mogul wasted no time in breaking into the scoring column in the first inning when leadoff hitter A.J. Smith reached on a walk. With the next batter up Smith stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. With one out starting pitcher Jacob Wilburn doubled, scoring Smith. Next up was Xavier Luna who stroked an 0-2 pitch for a base hit scoring Wilburn from second. In its half of the inning Happy Burger threatened but was turned away and Federal Mogul led 2-0 after one inning of play.

Both teams went quietly in the second before Federal Mogul plated another one in the third. With one out in the inning Wilburn drew a walk and then stole second with Luna at the plate. Luna collected his second hit of the night scoring Wilburn to give them a 3-0 lead.

Happy Burger then began to make things interesting in its half of the inning. With one out lead-off man Braxton Masters doubled to bring up Braxton Reinholt. With the count 0-1 Reinholt singled to score Masters making it a 3-1 ballgame. Reinholt advanced on a passed ball and with two outs, Justin Brumett also singled scoring Reinholt to cut the lead to 3-2 after three innings of play.

After another quiet inning in the fourth, both teams broke into the scoring column again in the fifth. Kaleb Overway collected his first hit of the night for Federal Mogul with a lead-off double. Overway advanced to third when Luna grounded out for the first out of the inning and then scored on a passed ball.

The score stood at 4-2 when Happy Burger came to the plate. Brumett got things going with a single bringing up Clint Mathies as the next hitter. Mathies quickly doubled moving Brumett to third. Brumett was able to score and Mathies advanced to third when Austin Baker grounded out to cut the lead to 4-3 with one out. Next up for Happy Burger was Caleb Veasey, and he plated Mathies when he grounded out second to first to tie the game at 4-4 setting up the big sixth inning finale.

In the top of the sixth Federal Mogul wasted no time in regaining the lead. Justin Schrock led off the inning with a base hit bringing up center fielder Brey Winter. Winter reached safely on a fielder’s choice but Schrock was cut down going to second for the first out. Next up was Ryan Schrock who singled and moved Winter to second. Both runners advanced on a passed ball putting runners on second and third. With Overway at the plate Winter scored on another Happy Burger passed ball giving Federal Mogul a 5-4 lead. On the next pitch Overway garnered his second double of the evening scoring Schrock to extend the lead to 6-4, but Federal Mogul wasn’t finished yet.

With Overway on second, Wilburn, the three hitter in the lineup, came to the plate with a chance to extend the lead. The first pitch he saw he quickly deposited over the center field fence for a two-run homer giving Federal Mogul their fourth run of the inning and an 8-4 lead.

Happy Burger wasn’t giving up when their lead-off hitter Jacob Brown collecting his first hit of the night. The Federal Mogul defense tightened and set down the next three batters to secure the win and their perfect season.

Federal Mogul manager Craig Overway was pleased with the performance of his squad in the game and over the course of the season.

“Coming into tonight’s game we knew they were out to get us,” he said. “We were 17-0 and you always want to beat the undefeated team. Jake and Kaleb are both good pitchers and they kept us in the game tonight. The boys finished their perfect season which is what they were shooting for.”

Overway also gave credit to Happy Burger and the game they played.

“They put the ball in play tonight and forced us to play defense,” he said. “We came into the sixth with the bottom of the order coming up and were able to get to the top of the order. Kaleb had a big double for us and then Wilburn homered giving us the four run lead, and that put all the pressure on them at that point.”

9-10 division

Security Federal turned away Kesling’s 6-2 to take the title. Leading the way for Security Federal was Jaret Humphrey going 3-for-3 with three singles. Matthew Jennings also collected a home run.

For Kesling’s, Drake Gellinger led the way with a single and a triple.

Security Federal manager Steve Russell was elated with his team’s turnaround this season.

“This was just a great team, the boys all played well this whole season,” he said. “The past two years we were the last place team in the league and they really turned it around this year. The kids were super all year. We were season champs and now tourney champs. The kids played hard all year and the coaches were a big plus as well.”

Awards handed out

Prior to the games league awards were handed out during closing ceremonies. In the 9-10 year old division Zach Overway won the league sportsmanship award. For the MVP award there were co-winners with Hunter DeHaven and Matthew Jennings sharing the award. In the 11-12 year old division Bailey Craven was the sportsmanship award winner with Dominic Patacsil claiming the MVP award.

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