Big Inning Key As National Division Tops American

7/6/08

Sunday night the teams of the Tomahawk East League sent their best to Springfield's Riverside Park for the annual All-Star Game. While the sky threatened rain, it stayed away. A large crowd was treated to a good ball game, that would have been very close, if not for a huge third inning put together by the National All-Stars.

Hometown hurler Brandon Wilhelmi started for the National Division and surrendered two runs in the top of the first inning giving the American Division an early 2-0 lead.

The National Division broke the game open in the bottom of the third, batting thirteen, getting seven hits, and scoring eight runs to make the score 8-2. They added a run in their half of the fourth when they put together three hits.

The pitchers from the National Division put up zeros after the first inning, facing just three batters over the minimum for the final eight innings of the game. The Nationals finished their scoring by plating two runs on four straight hits in the bottom of the eighth, leading to the final, 11-2.

Matt Johnson from Searles was the winning pitcher going two innings and striking out one. Adam Nilson of the New Ulm Brewers was tagged with the loss, giving up all eight runs in the long third inning. Searles Grizzles' second baseman, Dave Hatle, earned the MVP Award, going 3-for-5, and scoring three runs for the Nationals. His name will be placed on the traveling Jeff Cook All-Star MVP trophy.

Huge "Thank You"s go to everyone that made the game possible! Special thanks to Steve Helget for all his work getting things ready for the game. Thank you to all the players who finished up their Fourth of July weekend by participating in the game. Thanks to all the fans who came out to cheer on their favorite Tomahawk East League ballplayers! Good luck to all the TEL teams as the regular season wraps up over the next week and with the playoffs right around the corner!

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