The Ortonville Rox had a very long but very successful weekend. After losing their first game on Saturday to the Madison Mallards by the score of 5-2, the Rox came back to defeat the Appleton A’s Saturday night by the score of 12-2, and then came back on Sunday to defeat the Mallards twice by the scores of 11-1 and 2-0 to win the tournament.
In the first game on Saturday, Madison went ahead 2-0 before the Rox added a run in the bottom of the 4th to make the score 2-1. Madison plated three big runs in the 5th and managed to hold on to get the 5-2 win. The Rox had several base runners in the game, but stranded twelve runners on base.
Leading hitters for the locals were Jeff Watson and Chance Haugen with two each and Joe Fuller, Chris Fellows and Pete Ross with one each. Curt Schake started on the mound and went 4 2/3 innings, giving up five runs on four hits and three walks. Zach Giese came on to finish the game, going 4 1/3 innings giving up no runs on no hits.
Fuller took to the hill in the Saturday night game and threw eight strong innings, giving up two runs on five hits to earn the big win against Appleton. The Rox fell behind 1-0 after one inning, but came back with three runs in the 2nd and four more in the 3rd to take a 7-1 lead. The locals scored one more run in the 4th, gave up a run in the 5th, and then added a single run in the 7th and three in the 8th to end the game 12-2.
Leading hitters for the Rox were Ross with three, Riley Sammon and Cory Stattelman with two, and Fuller, Haugen, and Giese each getting a hit.
The win qualified the Rox for the region tournament, but the number one seed was the real goal. In order to obtain that, they needed to beat Madison twice on Sunday.
In Sunday’s first game the Rox plated four runs in the 2nd inning, highlighted by a Pete Ross home run, and then added a single run in the 4th on another homer by Ross. The Rox had given up a 4th inning run, making the score 5-1 in favor of the locals after four innings. The Rox added another run in the 5th on a solo home run by Chris Fellows, and the plated four more in the 6th to put the game away.
Chris Fellows started on the mound and went all seven innings, giving up one run on three hits to get the win. Leading hitters for the Rox were Sammon with three; John Thomas, Haugen, Fellows, and Ross with two; and Jeff Watson with one hit.
In game two against the Mallards {a scheduled seven inning game}, the local plated two runs in the 2nd inning when Fellows singled to start the inning, followed by a Stattelman double to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Zach Giese followed with a double to knock in Fellows. Stattelman was thrown out at the plate on a fielder’s choice, with Giese moving up to third base. Sammon then knocked in Giese on a fielder’s choice. These runs would turn out to be the only runs in the game.
Ortonville got a great pitching performance by Fellows, who also started this game, going two innings, giving up no runs on two hits. Haugen relieved Fellows and went five innings, giving up no runs on no hits.
“Our pitching was really good all weekend,” stated Manager Ron Thomas. “Four games in two days would tax any amateur pitching staff. Zach Giese throwing 4 1/3 innings on Saturday, then Joe Fuller and Chris Fellows throwing complete games, and then the perfect performance by Chance Haugen made winning the tournament possible,” Thomas went on to say.
Leading hitters for the Rox were Thomas, Haugen, Fellows, Stattelman, Giese, and Ross, all of whom had a hit.
The Rox will enter the Region 9C tournament next weekend in a quest to qualify for the state tournament. Times and dates will be reported as they become available.
Mon Aug 03, 2009 9:27 pm
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