Playoffs Round 3, Game 2 - August 2, 2008:

Owensboro Oilers 11, Tradewater Pirates 1.  The Owensboro Oilers roll through post season play with 5 straight wins to claim the Kitty League Playoff Championship title. 

Owensboro game summary:  The Owensboro Oilers won the KIT League Playoff Championship by taking the final round best-of-three series from the Tradewater Pirates two games to none. The final score of game 2 was 11-1. The Oilers scored four runs in the top of the 1st inning on the strength of a 3 RBI home-run by Maykal "Makorum" Makorem and a solo home run by Tom Freeman. More details on the offensive contributions are pending the official box score and game summary from the League. Oilers starting pitcher Neil Holland pitched six innings of three-hit, one run baseball, with Nathan "Humphries" Humphrey, Russell Logsdon, and Jon Herendeen each working one scoreless inning of relief.  The win completed a 5-0 run playoff run for the Owensboro Oilers, and the team's seventh straight win dating from their final two games of the regular season. The Tradewater Pirates won the League's regular season, with a great record  The entire Owensboro Oilers organization congratulates all the young men who competed in and completed the 2008 season. They proved themselves winners in ways that had nothing to do with baseball. This championship can only reflect their winning characters. 

Tradewater game summary:  The Tradewater Pirates saw their hopes of a third and deciding Sunday game dashed at the hands of a hot Owensboro team Saturday night, as the Oilers prevailed, 11-1. The Oilers started the game on fire, with two home runs in the first inning, and the Pirates could not recover from the onslaught of runs. Don Pugliese, the Tradewater starter, took the loss, and Neil Holland the win for Owensboro, as the Oilers become the 2008 post-season winner. The loss dropped Tradewater to 37-17 for the year, still the best record among all KIT League teams. The Pirates end 20 games over .500, and claim the regular season championship, in just their second full season in KIT play. Congratulations to all our fine players, coaches and personnel, especially our many volunteers and community supporters, who made 2008 the best year in our 10 season history. We look forward to a great 2009! We also wish our NBC-bound Pirates who have signed on with several teams playing in Wichita, during the upcoming National Baseball Congress World Series, best wishes and good luck! (Click on title for Box scores).

Playoffs Round 3, Game 1 - August 1, 2008:

Owensboro Oilers 9, Tradewater Pirates 4.  The Owensboro Oilers won Friday night against the Tradewater Pirates in the first game of the best-of-three Championship round for the Kitty League playoffs. The final score was 9-4. The Pirates scored first in the top of the 1st inning. Sean Mahley lead off the game with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a RBI single by Matt Kulbalki. Owensboro took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning. John Feltner led off the Oiler inning with a walk. One out later Neil Holland also walked, and Joe Grinstead followed with a single that scored Feltner. Holland moved to third, and Grinstead took second on the throw to the plate. Maykel "Makorum" Makorem reached on a fielders choice that put Holland out at home, but advanced Grinstead to third. Pete Tountas drove in Grinstead with an RBI single, and Tom Freeman RBI singled to plate Makorem. The Oilers scored three more runs in the bottom of the 4th inning. Feltner (walked), Holland (walked) and Grinstead (hit by pitch) all came in when Makorem hit a 3-RBI double. Tradewater edged closer with a run in the top of the 5th inning. Andy Gerhartz walked, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, then scored on a RBI double by Mahley. The Pirates made it 6-3 with another run in the top of the 6th inning. Jason Cramer walked with one out, and scored later on a RBI double by Tanner Hall. The Oilers secured their lead with three more runs in the bottom of the 6th. Kevin O'Hair (singled), Holland (doubled) and Grinstead (walked) to load the bases again for Makorem, who delivered a 2-RBI single scoring O'Hair and Holland. Grinstead came in on a wild pitch. The Pirates scored one more run in the top of the 7th inning. Gerhartz (hit by pitch), Mahley (singled), and Kulbalki (walked) loaded the bases with no out. One out later  a RBI fielders choice by Logan Bawcom plated Gerhartz, but put Kulbalki out at second, then a fly out ended the Tradewater rally. Oilers starter Patrick Crider pitched seven innings on short rest to earn his second playoff win. Pirates starter George Hebert takes the loss. The Oilers player of the game is Maykel Makorem (3 for 5, 1 run, and 5 RBIs). Honarable mention goes to the Oilers infield for turning three double plays. (Click on title for Box scores).

Playoffs Round 2, Game 2 - July 30, 2008:

Tradewater Pirates 4, Marion Bobcats 3.  The game was called complete after 6 innings and a rain/lightning delay. With only one out and the score 4-2 in the Pirates' favor, it look as if the Bobcats might strike to tie the game or take the lead in the last half of the sixth as the weather front approached. A fielding error on a ball hit by Jacob Martin allowed Adam Blair to score to cut the lead to one run. That left Matt Little on third and Martin on second after a stolen base, but Adam Enloe hit into a fielder's choice that allowed Little to be cut down before he could cross the plate. Cramsey, carrying a .296 average, the highest on the Marion team, came to bat with Martin on third and his college teammate, Enloe, on first. But Kevin Belk was able to get Cramsey to fly out to right field, sending the teams to their respective dugouts to wait out the approaching storms. The storms, however, would not pass until enough rain was dumped on Guess Field to seal the Bobcats fate with a 4-3 loss. The one-run contest was the 19th of the year for Marion, the 10th of which the Bobcats came out on the losing end. One of the one-run victories came two days earlier at Union City in the opening round of the playoffs. Dylan McCurry, Marion's starter, threw three innings, giving up all four of the Pirate runs on five consecutive hits in the third inning. Bo Daves took over in the fourth, tossing three innings of hitless ball through the sixth, but the damage was already done by the Tradewater. For the Pirates, Sean Mahley earned the win with 5.1 innings pitched. Belk earned the save despite giving up the final run of the Bobcats' season. Marion took a 1-0 lead in the first when Danny Tejeda earned a  bases-loaded walk that scored Martin. Little would pick up the team's second RBI on a single that scored Scott Cashman after the shortstop lead off the inning with a double. Cashman, who has struggled at the plate all year with a .131 average and a league-high 56 strikeouts, went 2 for 3 on the night. Little had two hits of his own, as did Tejeda. Enloe and Mitch McClay also added singles to the Bobcats' hit total of eight, but Marion left more than enough runners on base to easily win the contest. Ten runners, in fact, were stranded on the base paths in only six innings (Click on title for Box scores).

Owensboro Oilers 6, Fulton Railroaders 5.  The Oilers advance to the final round of the Playoffs after coming back to defeat the Railroaders 6-5. Owensboro got an early 1-0 lead scoring in the 1st inning off 2 hits and 1 error. Fulton came back in the bottom of the 3rd scoring 3 runs off 2 hits and 3 walks. Owensboro closed the gap in the 4th with 1 run off 2 hits to make the score 3-2 in favor of Fulton. In the top of the 5th, with a lead off walk, Owensboro Maykel Makorum hit a 2 RBI homerun to give Owensboro the lead again. In the same inning, the Oilers tacked on 2 more runs on 2 more hits to bring the score to 6-3. The Railroaders came back in the 7th to put up 2 more runs on 2 hits and 1 Oilers error, but with the bases loaded and 1 out, reliever Jon Herendeen struck out the next 2 Fulton batters to preserve the lead. Fulton again threaten to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th with a man in scoring position on 2nd, but again failed to get a hit to bring him in. Fulton stranded 12 men on base while Owensboro left 10. Winning the game was starter Royce Duncan who went 6 1/3 innings striking out 6, giving up 6 hits and 6 walks. Jon Herendeen picks up the save with 6 strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings, walking 3, giving up only 1 hit and no runs allowed. Railroader starter Zach Buxman take the loss for Fulton going only 4+ innings allowing 5 runs on 6 hits. The Railroaders post season play end with their 2nd loss in round 2. The Oilers advance to the final round and will face off with the Tradewater Pirates who also won their game on Wednesday, eliminating the Marion Bobcats in 2 straight 2nd round games. (Click on title for Box scores).

Playoffs Round 2, Game 1 - July 29, 2008:

Tradewater Pirates 11, Marion Bobcats 1.  The Tradewater Pirates rode the strong pitching of starter Justin Long, and relievers Sweet Tea Lee and Eric Faint to a convincing 11-1 victory at Riverside Park Tuesday evening. The Pirates tied the game at one in the first inning on a RBI producing triple by Nate Wright, and used a late 2 RBI single by Logan Bawcom to seal the win. OF Payne Spence added an RBI single as well, for the Bucs. Long was dominant throughout, with Lee and Faint shutting down the Cats in the final two frames. The Pirates move to 36-15 for the year, with a one game advantage on Marion in the best of three KIT semi-final, as the teams head to Marion for a Wednesday night match, beginning at 7:05 pm. The Pirates expect to start lefty Sean Mahley from Marietta College, in an effort to close out the Bobcats. (Click on title for Box scores).

Owensboro Oilers 5, Fulton Railroaders 3.  The Owensboro Oilers won Tuesday night's first game of a best-of-three series against the Fulton Railroaders by a 5-3 score. The Railroaders took an early lead in the top of the 2nd inning when J.D. Ashbrook hit a 2-RBI home run over the left field wall, scoring Stuart Meinhart ahead of him. Fulton added a run in the top of the 3rd inning. Cory McCullick led off with a double, then scored as Hunter Dawson bunted, and an errant throw by Oilers starter Kyle Switalski put Dawson at third with none out. Switalski bore down and retired the next three hitters on two strike outs and a ground out. The Oilers got back into the game with a run in the bottom of the 4th inning. Pete Tountas singled with one out, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Justin Ritchhart singled Tountas over to third. Ritchhart stole second, drawing an errant throw that escaped into center field as Tountas came home. The Railroaders loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the 5th, but a fly ball out ended their inning. Owensboro took the lead by breaking out for four runs in the bottom of the 7th inning. John Feltner (walked) and Royle "Royal" Beach (bunt single) both scored on a 2-RBI double by Kevin O'Hair that chased Fulton starter Jacob Donze with nobody out. Facing Railroader reliever Nathan Marlowe, Joe Grinstead reached on a bunt single, and Maykel "Makorum" Makorem followed with a single that brought in O'Hair. Tom Freeman sacrifice bunted, positioning Grinstead at third base to score on a RBI sacrifice fly from Haskel Fink. Swistaki gets the win, pitching 7 innings and holding Fulton to just their three early runs on five hits, two walks, and 13 Ks. Russell Logsdon pitched a scoreless 8th inning to set up closer Jon Herendeen's three-strike out save in the 9th inning. Donze takes the loss. The Oiler player of the game is Kyle Switalski for his fine effort on the mound. Kevin O'Hair gets honorable mention for his clutch game-tying double. (Click on title for Box scores).

Playoffs Round 1 - July 28, 2008:

Marion Bobcats 4, Union City Greyhounds 3.  The Bobcats defeated Union City, 4-3, to advance in the KIT League Playoffs.  Mitch McClay was 4 for 5 with 2 RBI's to lead the Marion at the dish.  Joey Haston pitched 7 innings and struck out 9, Chad Adcock pitched an inning for the win, and Kyle Medley picked up the save.  Nate Coleman and Justin Miller led the Hounds with 2 hits each and Miles Scribner got the loss. (Click on title for Box scores).

Owensboro Oilers 6, Farmington Firebirds 2.  The Owensboro Oilers won their first round playoff game against the Farmington Firebirds by a 6-2 score. The Firebirds scored first in the top of the 2nd inning. Juan Favela led off with a single and scored two batters later on a one-out RBI single by Kyle Wanpler. Owensboro answered with a run in the bottom of the 2nd. Justin Ritchhart singled with one out, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and got to third as part of a double steal with John Feltner (walked) behind him. Ritchhart scored on a RBI sacrifice fly by Royle "Royal" Beach. Farmington reclaimed the lead in the top of the 4th inning on a solo home run hit by Patrick Slattery. The Oilers took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the 5th inning. Beach and Kevin O'Hair both walked, then executed a double steal, and scored on a 2-RBI single by Joe Grinstead. The Firebirds loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the 7th, but Oilers starter Pat Crider got a fly ball out to end the threat. Owensboro put the game out of reach with three runs in the bottom of the 8th inning. Tom Freeman led off with a single, and gave way to pinch-runner Harry Turney. A balk put Turney at second base and Pete Tountas walked with one out. A wild pitch sent Turney to third and Tountas to second. A 2-RBI double by Ritchhart plated Turney and Tountas, and John Feltner RBI singled to score Ritchhart. Crider struck out 17 and walked only 2 in eight innings of work for the win. Firebirds starter Andy Moss takes the loss. Crider shares player of the game status with Justin Ritchhart (4 for 4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and 3 stolen bases). Grinstead gets honorable mention for the game-winning RBI.. (Click on title for Box scores).