The Otters started the tournament in pool play and were supposed to play Rochester on Friday evening. On the way to the game, the Otters got a call that Rochester backed out of the tournament (rumors were rampant that they were scared of the mighty Otters). As a result, the tournament rules required that the Otters play Rockford twice in pool play. Rockford beat the Otters 8-14 in the semifinals of the Little Falls tournament and the Otters sought redemption in the first game at state. The Otters tasted the sweet nectar of revenge by taking down Rockford 12-6. The Otters wasted no time getting on the board in the top of the first with Isaac Jenc and Dexter Felstul singling. Chase Johnston scored Jenc on a ground out. Weston Youngberg singled in Felstul and Antwone Danielson singled in Youngberg. Rockford tied it up at 3 in the bottom of the first. After a scoreless second for both teams, The Otters tacked on three more with Felstul leading off with a triple, Johnston walked, and they both scored on Youngberg’s fielder’s choice. Hayden Heruth followed up with a booming double and came around to score on a misplay on Danielson’s grounder to third. Rockford scratched one across in the bottom of the 3rd to cut the Otters lead to 6-4. The Otters put the game away in the 4th with Cade Johnson and Jenc walking and Gus Proudfoot singling, which set the table for Felstul who cleared the bases with a triple over the right fielder. Landon Noon then walked and came around to score on Youngberg’s fielder’s choice. Danielson then singled and Heruth followed that up with a triple that scored Youngberg and Danielson. Proudfoot, Johnston, and Heruth combined to pitch 4 solid innings for the Otters to shut down a very good hitting Rockford team.

On Saturday morning, the Otters faced Rockford again knowing that a win secured the #1 seed out of their pool into bracket play or a loss of less than 6 innings accomplished the same purpose. The Otters bats were quiet for most of the game, with only three hits. Youngberg smoked a double to the left-center fence, Beau Schlosser roped a single to left, and Johnston doubled to left-center. The Otters were shut out in the game but received an outstanding pitching performance from Noon who stepped up to keep the Rockford hitters off balance for 3 innings while only giving up 2 runs. Proudfoot pitched the last inning and only allowed 2 runs, ensuring that the Otters got the #1 seed out of their pool. The Otters dropped the game 4-0.

The Otters were scheduled to play New London-Spicer (NLS) Saturday night, but Mother Nature had other ideas as some severe storms and rain moved through the area. As a result, the Otters played their first bracket play game Sunday morning. NLS shut down the Otters and beat them 6-1. The Otters faced the best pitcher they have seen all year. NLS scratched 2 across the board in the bottom of the first but the otters cut the deficit in half in the 3rd with Johnson reaching, Jenc singling, and Johnson scoring on Felstul’s single. The Otters were not able to mount a comeback and ended their season against NLS.

Throughout the tournament, the Otters played excellent defense and received some key defensive plays from Jace Kremeier, Noon, Danielson, and Youngberg.

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

The Otters were coached by Chad Felstul, Brian Jenc, and Dick Felstul.

Reached after the tournament, Coach Felstul stated that “these young Otters improved tremendously from the start of the year to the end. Each player improved tremendously throughout the year and the future of Otter baseball looks bright!”