Twitter
Facebook
On a picture-perfect Sunday, in a beautiful new facility at Clay Kaserne in Wiesbaden, the KMC Little League Baseball Majors division All-Stars — the “Red Tails” — completed a two-day
sweep of the Stuttgart Panthers and Wiesbaden Warriors All-Stars to capture the Little League Baseball District 1 Championship.
The tournament started in thrilling fashion with a hard-fought battle between Stuttgart and Wiesbaden June 20, with the Panthers finally prevailing in a breathtaking come-from-behind effort.
The rest of the tournament, however, belonged to the Red Tails. Led by the superb starting pitching of ace right hander Ry Yates, KMC smothered Stuttgart’s offense.
Strong defense in the outfield by Terry White, Damon Nelson and Ben Lenahan, and up the middle led by short stop Jackson Leech and second baseman Carter Woelkers — along with catcher Cody Schwope picking off the Panther’s first base runner from the game at first base — set the tone early, holding the Panthers to just 4 hits and 4 runs.
The Red Tails’ bats were hot right from the start as they opened the scoring with a two-run triple from clean-up hitter Brandon Reynolds in the bottom of the first, jumping to an early three-run lead they never relinquished.
A triple by center fielder Nelson and another by Reynolds capped an 11-run second inning. KMC relievers Josh Yosfan and Brett Parker combined for the final three outs, and the Red Tails won by a final of 14-3 in a four-inning mercy rule shortened game, earning a birth in the championship game.
Stuttgart’s tournament came to an end in the second game June 21 as they fell to Wiesbaden in another back and forth battle that eventually ended with Wiesbaden handing Stuttgart their second — and eliminating — loss, 8-6.
The morning of June 22 continued the Red Tails’ dominance as ace south-paw Andrew Smyth took the mound and put Wiesbaden on their heels from the start, striking out three of the first four batters he faced. KMC took another early 3-0 lead, but Wiesbaden fought back with a smattering of hits, scoring three runs over the next two innings.
The Red Tails’ offense was just too much, though, behind the power of Reynolds’ third triple of the tournament and sparked by a two-run bomb over the centerfield fence by Yates in the third.
Smyth shut down the Warriors in the top of the fourth, striking out the final two batters he faced, and the Red Tails’ bats exploded with Gabriel Falcon, Mason Pease and Ben Lenahan all coming off the bench for clutch hits in a six-run bottom of the fourth inning to earn another mercy rule shortened victory, 13-3.
The Red Tails advanced in little league post season play to the German national finals against the District 2 champions from North Rhine Westphalia in a best of three series that was held July 5 to 7 on Ramstein.
