Kings Capture 7th Straight Langsdorf League Championship
August 4, 2013
The Kenosha Kings defeated WSL rival Sheboygan 3-2 in game three of the Langsdorf League championship series to capture their 7th straight league championship, and 2nd straight over Sheboygan.
With a walkoff walk in the bottom of the ninth, the Kenosha Kings completed their comeback and won their seventh straight Langsdorf League championship, beating the Sheboygan A’s.
The A’s now turn their attention to the Northeastern Wisconsin League Playoffs. The third-seeded A’s play at Nyenhuis Field, home of the second-seeded Appleton Legends, Monday at 7:15 p.m. The other bracket has fourth-seeded Green Bay at top seed Menasha.
The A’s will host Appleton in game two on Tuesday night. Game three, if needed, will be back in Appleton on Wednesday night. The best of three championship series begins Friday night at the home field of the highest seed of the two remaining teams.
For a time, things looked good for the A’s at Simmons field in Kenosha Saturday night.
Greg Rhude doubled to start the game, moved up on Luke Maldonado’s sacrifice bunt. When Cole Heili got hit by a pitch, the A’s had runners on first and third. Then Harry Steldt singled in Rhude and Jordan DeBoer singled in Heili. It was a quick 2-zip lead for the A’s.
It stayed that way as the A’s, who didn’t have many opportunities to begin with, lost two runners on the base paths, and despite some feisty at bats, couldn’t come up with a 2-out hit.
Meanwhile, Kenosha was taking advantage of A’s physical and mental errors to get back in the game.
An error and passed ball led to a second inning run 2-1.
A wild pitch and a mental mistake led to a sixth inning run, 2-2.
Kenosha scored its game-winning run in the ninth. Tyler Eickmeyer singled and moved up on Paul Pulera’s sacrifice. Then a balk put the winning run on third with only one out. The A’s walked the next two hitters intentionally, but the strategy backfired when the third batter also walked and the winning run strolled in.
Jason Bunton earned the win for Kenosha in relief of Travis Vanderwall. Bryce Taylor started for the A’s and had a good outing against the tough Kings line-up. Reliever Derek Loomans took the loss.
JT Schneider and Eickmeyer had two hits for the Kings, Steldt and Frank Pietrantonio two for the A’s.
Kenosha finished its season with a championship and 32-14 overall record. The A’s enter the NEW playoffs with a 34-23 record.
Story & photo by: SheboyganBaseball.org
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The Eau Cliare Cavaliers swept the Oshkosh Giants by 9-7 and 12-0 scores Saturday night. With the sweep, the Cavs leap-frogged the Kings for second place in the Wisconsin State Leauge standings.
The final WSL games of the 2013 season will take place Sunday in Eau Claire, as the Cavs and Giants will meet in a doubleheader.
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The Lombard Orioles are in the finals of the AABC Stan Musial North Central Regional which will take place today in Lombard.
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