In game one, the Otters scored five runs in the top of the first against a very good DGF team. Garret Kuhn-Rice, Boston Rosin, Lucas Hanson and Isaac Ellison all had RBI base hits. Those hits mixed in with a walk to Logan Larson and Andrew Klinnert single gave the Otters the early 5-0 lead.

Unfortunately that would be all the runs the Otters would score but a very strong pitching performance by Issac Ellison kept the Otters in the game. The Otters lead 5-3 after four innings before DGF got their bats going and scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 9-5 lead. A leadoff single by Klinnert and walk to Levi King gave the Otters some 6th inning hope, but they just couldn’t get the big hit and DGF won the game 9-5.

Isaac Ellison pitched a great game through four innings and was relieved by King in the fifth. Alex Ellison had three hits in the game and Klinnert picked up two hits.

The Otters regrouped and battled the heat for a convincing 12-0 win against Warroad. Once again the Otters started fast. King led off the game with the first of his three doubles in the game. That was followed by a walk to Larson, and RBI single by Alex Ellison, Kuhn-Rice singled and Lucas Hanson clutched up to deliver a two out, two run single to give the Otters a 4-0 lead.

That was more than enough runs for the pitching combination of Garrett Kuhn-Rice and Logan Larson. They limited Warroad to just a single hit in five innings as the Otters continued to add to their lead. In the top of the second, Ethan Schwartz reached on an error and moved to third on a King double. Larson picked up an RBI on a ground out and Alex Ellison stayed hot and picked up another RBI on a single. Kuhn-Rice singled and Klinnert walked to load the bases. Boston Rosin picked up another RBI on a groundout and the Otters had a nice 7-0 lead after two innings.

The Otters put together a very productive two out rally in the third. With two outs, King doubled, Larson knocked him in with a single and Alex Ellison got his third RBI of the game with a single to score Larson and make it 9-0 Otters.

The Otters put the 10 run rule into effect in the fifth, scoring three runs. Kuhn-Rice and Klinnert picked up the RBI’s and Larson shut the door in the bottom of the fifth for a very tidy 12-0 win.

That win put the Otters in the championship bracket for Sunday. Sunday’s first game was against PRBA, which is out of the Evansville and surrounding area, and they are an extremely solid team and would eventually win the tournament.

The Otters scored once in the top of the first on a single by Larson and another RBI base knock for Alex Ellison. PRBA tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first. The Otters grabbed the lead in the top of the third. Rosin led off with a single and King hit a sharp doubled down the third base line to bring him home. Larson followed with an RBI single scoring King and Alex Ellison singled in Larson to give the Otters a 4-1 lead.

PRBA scored a single run in the bottom of the third to make the score 4-2. King battled on the mound against a good hitting team that does not strike out, but the Otter defense let them down in the fourth and fifth innings as PRBA used some key errors and base hits to score three in the fourth to take a 5-4 lead and they added five in the fifth to take a 10-5 lead. The Otters couldn’t get much going in the top of the sixth and lost the game 10-5.

The last game of a very hot Sunday found the Otters facing DGF again for third place. The Otters lacked energy and didn’t play their best ball, losing the game 14-3.

The Otter 12U Gold team continues to improve and will finish their season this week. They have Sauk Centre at home Thursday at 6:00pm and then travel to Sauk Centre for a Saturday tournament to put a wrap on the season.