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#4 Seed Illinois Diamond Owlz Lose to Tournament Champions!
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April 11th, 2010
Mason, Ohio
On a beautiful, sunny April week-end, the Illinois Diamond Owlz played their first National Tournament of the 2010 campaign, ending with a 2-1-1 record in tournament play and receiving their first loss of the year. The well-run Queen City Invitational hosted by the West Chester Sluggers brought together 16 of the nation’s top teams from Illinois, Indiana and Ohio for the elite battle. The Illinois Teams made a strong statement with all four making the Elite Eight Gold Bracket round in this tough tournament event. Owlz hats go off to the tournament champion Illinois Bruins on their impressive and well-deserved tournament win. Congratulations are also in order for the second place winner Future Elite, as well as the St. Joes Rage for reaching the final four and qualifying in this USSSA Global Event.
With the #4 Seed Illinois Diamond Owlz and 5th Seed Illinois Bruins stacked in the same pool, it was difficult to see them face each other in the first round of the championship bracket. This eliminated any opportunity for an all Illinois final four that might have been possible had the Owlz closed out their lead in game one against the Ohio Elite.
The entire Diamond Owlz organization would like to thank the West Chester Sluggers for the invitation to participate! The Owlz players and families had a great time in this well-run, awesome event. Win or lose, it has been the Owlz driving force and goal from day one to play only the very best competition at the national level in their on-going effort to make our players the best they can be. This event provided exactly that! We look forward to playing and spending time with many of the same teams later this year at the highly regarded “Battle in the South” and “Cincy Flames” tournaments in June and July.
Best of luck to all the teams that participated for the remainder their 2010 seasons!
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Owlz Coaches Shoot Themselves In The Foot In Game One
Of Elite Eight Playoffs.
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Game one of the Elite Eight Playoffs matched the #4 seed Illinois Diamond Owlz against the #5 seed Illinois Bruins. With a tough fought pool play game just four hours earlier against the Bruins, the Owlz knew they would be facing the Bruins best pitcher who eluded them in game one. Bruins pitcher “Diesel” McHood hurled four innings against the Owlz batters, yielding only one run on three hits. The big flame-throwing righty mixed in just the right amount of off-speed pitches, keeping the Owlz hitters off balance in a determined performance. He struck out nine of the Owlz batters in his four innings of work. The Owlz coaches were a little too tentative in their decision to change pitchers in the top half of the 2nd inning. The decision was impacted by injuries to pitchers' Ellis and Connolly, which depleted the staff in the lengthy tournament format. After allowing five runs to score, the Owlz coaches finally pulled their starting pitcher and went to veteran lefty Alex Troop to stop the bleeding.
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The boys showed amazing resolve by not letting down until the last pitch. They tried to claw their way back into the game by scoring two more runs in the bottom of the 5th. The inning started with walks to Lindstedt and Connolly, followed by a sacrifice bunt from Solis to move Owlz runners into scoring position for leadoff hitter Halas. Halas produced a sacrifice fly to score Lindstedt and base hits from Grabinski and Troop kept the rally going with a comeback in store. Unfortunately, a bad coaching decision forced Grabinski into a run-down between home and third home resulting in the last out, which ended the Owlz drive and chance of advancing to the next round.
The experience, however, against top quality competition was invaluable and will go a long way to insuring what, we feel, is going to be a fantastic and successful season.
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Diamond Owlz Win Pool Play Beating Illinois Bruins 3-2
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Sat 4/10/10 Mason, OH
After Friday night's opening game one against the Ohio Elite ended in a disappointing tie, the Diamond Owlz opened Saturday morning with a victory, pitting the 1-0-1 Owlz in game three of pool play against the 2-0 Illinois Bruins to decide the pool winner.
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Owlz Pitcher Cole Nelson got the starting assignment and pitched five outstanding innings allowing only one run on four hits. Cole gave up four free passes (yes, it was a tight strike zone) but more than off-set the walks with eight strikeouts in his superb performance. He turned the game over to Tyler Halas to close out the final two innings and pick up the save. Both Nelson and Halas were their usual dominating selves, keeping Bruins batters off balance and frustrated all game.
The Owlz offense picked up their first run in the 2nd inning with a triple by Jacob Lindstedt driving in Matt Ellis. In the third inning, Tyler Halas reached second base on a dropped fly ball to deep center field and ultimately scored on a line single by Nelson giving the Owlz a 2-0 lead.
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The Diamond Owlz managed to pick up the winning run in the fifth inning when Reid Connolly led off with a single to right center followed by a single up the middle from Antonio Solis. With runners at 1st and 2nd and no outs, lead-off hitter Tyler Halas was struck in the helmet by a pitch to load the bases. Josh Grabinski picked up the winning RBI by drawing a walk off the Bruins pitcher, which put the Owlz ahead 3-1 heading into the 6th inning.
Nelson handed the ball to the veteran Halas to begin the 6th inning. He faced only 7 batters on 19 pitches in two short innings of work, allowing just one unearned run and one base hit. His second save of the tournament preserved the Owlz victory and secured the #4 seed in the Elite Eight Gold Bracket.
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Diamond Owlz Bounce Back In Game Two Of
Queen City Invitational Beating the Cincy Flames 10-4
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4-10-10 Mason, Ohio
After settling for a tie against the Ohio Elite in game one of the Queen City Invitational the Diamond Owlz came out ready to play in game two beating the Cincy Flames 10-4. After giving up two runs in the top half of the first inning to a strong Cincy Flames team, the Owlz answered with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the first to take the lead. Owlz pitcher Alex Troop took the mound and pitched four scoreless innings before turning the game over to lefty Reid Connolly who gave up only two runs in his two innings of work.
Connolly kept the Owlz ahead by one going into the bottom of the sixth inning when the Owlz closed the door by scoring 5 runs in the bottom half of the sixth. Reid Connolly got the inning started with a single to right field followed by a single from Antonio Solis. With runners at third and second, Tyler Halas drove a ball to left field scoring Connolly and Solis putting the Owlz ahead by three. Josh Grabinski, Troop, Cole Nelson and Matt Ellis all followed with singles to push the final margin to six runs.
Next up are the Illinois Bruins this afternoon, which will decide the winner of the pool. Go Owlz!!!
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Diamond Owlz Settle for Tie With Ohio Elite In Game
One Of Queen City Invitational
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April 9, 2010 Mason, Ohio
After fighting back from a three run first inning deficit to take a 7 to 3 lead, the Diamond Owlz let one get away with an error prone performance, and settled for an 8 to 8 tie. Tyler Halas and Jake Lindsted led the Owlz hitting assault that forged the initial lead. However, mental miscues allowed the Ohio Elite to tie the game in their last at bat. Cole Nelson provided a superb performance for three innings on the mound, which allowed the Owlz to build their initial lead. Chalk one up to a learning experience that defense ultimately wins games. We think the boys understand this and are anxious to atone for their performance tomorrow. Go Owlz!!!!
Offense:
Halas 2-4 3B, 1B, 3 RBI's
Lindstedt 1-2 1B, 2RBI's
Solis 1-2 1B, 1 RBI
Troop 1-4 1B
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