In game one, the Otters faced off against Litchfield. Jenc turned in the pitching performance of the year for the Otters by pitching a no-hitter and striking out 10. He only allowed two baserunners in the game. The Otters scored two runs in the top of the first with Felstul doubling and coming around to score on Landon Noon’s single. Noon scored on a wild pitch in the inning. The Otters tacked on two more with Proudfoot doubling and coming around to score on Jenc’s single. Felstul doubled in Jenc to wrap up the scoring. In the 3rd, Weston Youngberg singled and came around to score on a wild pitch. The Otters tacked 4 more on in the 4th with Cade Johnson and Proudfoot walking and coming around to score on Johnson’s single. Johnston and Youngberg came around to score on wild pitches. The Otters scored 3 more in the 5th with Johnson, Proudfoot, and Jenc all scoring. With the win, the Otters advanced to the semi-final game against the host team, Morris.

Felstul got the nod in the semi-final game and pitched an excellent game, going 5 and 1/3, striking out 12 and only giving up 2 hits. Jenc relieved Felstul after he hit the pitch count limit and shut the door on the Tigers to advance to the championship. As they did in the first game, the Otters struck first in the top of the first with Felstul walking and coming around to score on a wild pitch. Noon doubled in the inning and came around to score. It was a pitcher’s duel until the 5th as the score was still 2-0 and the Otters got some breathing room when Jenc walked and Felstul helped his cause by doubling in Jenc. Noon singled in Felstul and Noon came around to score on a hard hit ball to second by Johnston. Youngberg doubled Johnston to third and both Johnston and Youngberg came around to score on the same wild pitch. Youngberg showed his savvy base running by scoring from second on the wild pitch. The win in the semifinal set up a clash with PRBA who swept the Otters earlier in the year.

Proudfoot toed the rubber for the Otters in the championship and pitched a masterful 4 innings while only giving up 1 hit. Johnston took over in the 5th in a 4-3 game in favor of the Otters and slammed the door on PRBA. The Otters opened the game in the top of the 1st with Jenc leading off with a double and advancing to 3rd on a fly out by Felstul. Noon singled in Jenc, Johnston singled and Youngberg smashed a double bringing in Noon and Johnston. Hayden Heruth had a key at-bat by scoring Youngberg on a groundout.  The Otters were held in check until the top of the 6th when they broke the game open with Jace Kremeier reaching on an error and scoring on Felstul’s sacrifice fly. Noon had an RBI single in the inning, Proudfoot, Jenc, and Johnston all walked and scored and Johnson singled and scored.

Hitting leaders for the tournament were Noon with 5 hits, Youngberg with 4 hits (1 2b), Jenc (1 2b), Felstul (3 2b’s), and Johnston with 3 hits, Antwone Danielson with 2 hits, and Heruth (2b), Proudfoot (2b), Kremeier, and Johnson all with 1 hit.

“I am so proud of the way the boys competed and played this weekend. We have improved so much since the start of the season and that is a testament to the players and their work at practice and on their own,” said coach Chad Felstul. “Our team played well all day and got key contributions from everyone on the team,” added Felstul.

With the 3 wins on Saturday, the Otters improve to 10-7 on the season.