The Five Os defeated Cedarburg 3-2 on Saturday ending their 25-game home winning streak and giving Oconomowoc it's first Grand Championship title in 8 years. The game featured two teams that were extremely talented on both sides of the ball.
Pitching:
Luke Nelson started on the hill for Oconomowoc and Steve Hoppensberger started for Cedarburg. Luke was named Pitcher of the Year in the Western Division and the two pitchers sported a combined 15-1 record and sub-2.00 ERAs.
Hitting:
At the plate, both teams featured a powerful offense. Cedarburg was averaging just under 10 runs a game while Oconomowoc was averaging 9 runs per game. The Northern Division League MVP, Nolan Gilbertson, was playing second base for Cedarburg and the Western Division's MVP, Jeff Rhoads, was playing shortstop for Oconomowoc.
With impressive stats for both teams, people were left wondering if dominant pitcher would overpower the hitters or vice versa. In the top of the 1st inning, Jeff Rhoads made his case for the latter when he hit a 3-1 pitch over the right-center fence giving Oconomowoc an early 1-0 lead. Cedarburg answered in the bottom of the 1st when the first two batters singled off Luke Nelson and one eventually came around to score on a sac fly evening the score at 1-1. Things remained that way until the Five Os struck again in the top of the 4th. Jeff Rhoads led off with a single to right and stole second base. A single to left by Derek Nelson put runners at the corners with nobody out. Josh Bouche grounded out to second which scored Rhoads putting Oconomowoc up 2-1. Once again, Cedarburg evened the score in the bottom half of the inning capitalizing on a lead off error by right-fielder Tyler Malay. Going into the top of the 6th, the score was 2-2 when Jeff Rhoads led off the inning with a triple down the right field line. With the infield drawn in, Derek Nelson laced a single up the middle to score Rhoads and earn what would eventually be the game winning RBI. Luke Nelson shut the door on Cedarburg hitters after the 4th inning only facing 4 over the minimum number of batters and hurling 7 of his 9 strike outs in the final 5 innings.
Oconomowoc featured some fine defensive plays that will not show up in the scorebook, but cetainly contributed to the win. Mike Bolson ran around the light poles and scoreboard that are in play in center field to track down a fly ball which would have went for at least a double. Steve Rhoads saved a run with a diving stab bringing in a wild throw from the outfield and keeping it from going out of play. Tyler Malay extinguished all hopes of a 9th inning rally with a fully outstretched diving catch on a ball in right that would have went for at least a triple.
Leading the way for Oconomowoc and the hands down Grand Championship MVP was starting pitcher Luke Nelson. Luke threw a complete game giving up 1 earned run, 8 hits, no extra base hits, striking out 9 and walking 4. Luke went 3-0 in the Grand Championship earning every win for Oconomowoc. At the plate, Jeff Rhoads went 3 for 4 with a home run, triple and scored all three of Oconomowoc's runs. Derek Nelson and Josh Fenzl each had 2 hits in the winning effort. Jeff Rhoads, Derek Nelson and Josh Bouche had the 3 RBIs.
The win put Oconomowoc's final 2007 record at 26-9 with a 22-2 record in LOL action. This is their 10th Grand Championship overall and first since 1999. They would like to thank all their wonderful family and fans for the support throughout the year.
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