skip navigation

U10 Red Rides Wave of Littles to Tourney Championship

By Joe Rubens, 06/29/22, 10:30AM CDT

Share

The Hamilton Jr Chargers U10 Red team posted a perfect 5-0 record on the way to a tournament crown at the West Bend Father’s Day Tournament this weekend, improving their overall record to 18-5. Faced with a depleted roster due to schedule conflicts, Head Coach Joe Ruppel called upon three U9 players to compete in the tournament. And compete they did. Stellar play by the U10 squad coupled with noteworthy performances by U9 players Carson Mach, Caleb Ruppel and Vincent Rubens, propelled this team to a championship.

In the first pool play game on Saturday, the Charger boys defeated the home squad West Bend Bulldogs 12-7 in extra innings. Mason Kuechler led the way with three hits and two RBIs. Rylan Defendi contributed two doubles to the cause, knocking in one run. And Cal Lehnen had two hits, including a solo home run to start the fifth inning. On the mound, Connor McMillian (W) pitched two shutout innings to start the game, striking out three and only allowing one walk. Kameron Ruppel closed out the final 1.2 innings, allowing no hits and striking out three.

The second pool game Saturday was a hit fest for the U10 squad. Lehnen (3), K Ruppel (2), Kuechler (2) and the youngster Rubens (2) lead the way with multi-hit games. K Ruppel banged a double, and Rubens crushed a double and triple in the 14-0 landslide win against BOSS. Pitchers McMillian (W), Kuechler, Dylan Kielbock and the U9er Mach, each threw two shutout innings in the victory. Little Caleb Ruppel caught multiple innings and threw out a runner stealing second, halting a BOSS attempt to get on the board.

As the tournament two seed, the U10 squad had to hang around the park Saturday night for a match up against the seven seed, Kewaskum Tribe. With surgical efficiency, the Chargers dispatched the Tribe 11-1. Lehnen lead the way with two hits, with Kielbock, McMillian, Kuechler and Rubens banging doubles in the game. On the mound, Kuechler (W) and Lehnen allowed just three hits and one run in four innings of play, while striking out three.

In the semi-final game Sunday morning, the team faced off with the Lannon Stonemen. A sluggish start put the Chargers behind by five runs after the first half inning of play. The boys answered the bell, scoring six in the first, five in the second and one in the third, securing a 12-7 win and a trip to the championship game. Defendi lead the way with three hits, with Lehnen, K Ruppel, Kuechler, McMillian and Bennett Osmanski each racking up two hits. On the mound, K Ruppel earned the win with Osmanski pitching two scoreless innings of middle relief. Roman DeLaurier closed out the game with a scoreless inning on the mound.

The championship game against the Whitefish Bay Jr Blue Dukes was a six inning slug fest of quality baseball. Trailing 5-6 entering the top of the sixth, Osmanski doubled to kick start the boys. McMillian singled to score Oz and tied the game 6-6. Kielblock then singled, setting up the U9 Littles to take control of the game. With two outs and two on, Rubens stepped to the plate and delivered a single to left field, scoring McMillian from second and taking a7-6 lead. Mach then singled to right field, scoring

Kielblock from third, followed by the speedy Rubens beating a throw to the plate. C Ruppel then delivered a line drive to left, giving the Charger team a comfortable 10-6 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth.

Six Chargers had multi-hit games in the championship; Lehnen, Defendi, Osmanski, Kielblock, Rubens and C Ruppel. Kielblock lead the team with 3 hits and Rubens lead the way with 3 RBIs in the victory. Osmanski, DeLaurier (W) and K Ruppel each pitched two innings, striking out three and allowing just three earned runs.

Congratulations to the U10 Red Jr Charger team on a spectacular Father’s Day weekend performance!