The Jr. Chargers U13 packed their bags and headed to Bettendorf Iowa to take on some of the best teams in the Midwest. Sometimes the most dominant team doesn't win the championship, but that is part of what makes baseball great. True champions show consistency. U13 did both. Once again, they found themselves as one of the 2 final teams standing.

There was no doubt who the most dominant team at the TBK Sports Complex was last weekend. U13 outscored their opponents 32-5 in 5 games, collecting 31 hits; John Arnold led the team with 6 hits. Jacob Osmanski, Caden Mielke, and Will Stendler all had 4 each. 

 In the first pool game on Friday night, Osmanski, Landon Seymour, and Colin McMillan combined to allow only 2 hits and 1 run in the game. A curveball in the dirt for strike three with 2 outs got away from Arnold allowing a run, the only run of the game until the bottom of the 6th. The River Pilots starting pitcher had the best fastball that U13 has ever seen and he was still throwing heat into the bottom of the 6th. With 2 outs Brady York and Ethan Tetting both worked walks bringing Stendler to the plate. Coach Arnold took a chance and put the runners in motion on a 1-1 count knowing he had to get the runners into scoring position, both runners advanced without a throw. Stendler worked the count to 3-2 and on pitch 6 he drove a high fastball to the right-center gap for a walk-off double.

Fulton's manager said after the game, "I have not seen a hitter get their weight shifted hip-to-hip faster on Leu (pitcher) than Stendler did in that at-bat. It was one of the cleanest games I have seen, the Jr. Chargers have a heck of a team."

As good as the offense was on the weekend, the pitching was better. Osmanski, Seymour, Tetting, York, and McMillan pitched a combined 25 innings scattered 18 hits, only walking 5 batters and allowing 5 runs. 

After the award ceremony where the chargers were given their runner-up rings, coach Arnold said, "We told the boys we were proud of them. Sometimes in baseball, you are the best team, play the best, but don't come out on top. I would much rather lead a team that consistently plays winning baseball and makes it to the finals consistently, that is the true measure of growth and success."