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The KMC Senior League All-Star baseball team beat Vilseck in a best of three series June 15 and 16 to win the District Title and become the German Little League, Senior Division Champions.
They will represent Germany in Lithuania at the European Regional Tournament Monday to July 4.
In the first game, Matt McDonald, from the KMC All-Stars, pitched 6 and 2/3 innings, striking out 15 and went 4 for 5 at the plate, crushing two towering homeruns, in route to a dominating 14-5 victory.
In game two, Vilseck came out of the gate like raging bulls. Lead-off hitter, Roberto Miranda, smashed the very first pitch of the game with a line drive to right center field for an easy double. Not wanting to be outdone, the clean-up batter, Heriberto Troche, crushed an 0-1 pitch that went over the fence to take what looked like a 4-0 lead. However, the head umpire called a ground-rule double. When the first inning finally came to an end, KMC starting pitcher, Andre Porterfield, was rocked for 5 runs.
The KMC All-Stars kept their composure and began a slow methodical attack on outstanding Vilseck starting pitcher, Chris Nelson. Lead-off batter, Porterfield, hit an 0-1 pitch for an infield hit. Jacob Janeczko followed suit, crushing the ball to deep right center field, scoring Porterfield from first base. With Janeczko on first base, McDonald smashed his third homerun of the day, reducing Vilseck’s lead to 5-3.
Vilseck manufactured a run in the top of the second inning to take a 6-3 lead. The bottom of the second inning saw an aggressive KMC base running team. Chris Breeden started things off with a base hit. Porterfield hit a line drive to the left centerfield field fence and sent Breeden racing home from first base. Unfortunately, Vilseck had a great relay and nailed him at the plate and ended a threat … score remained Vilseck-6, KMC-3.
The top of the third inning saw Porterfield take control of the game from the mound, sending the first two batters back to the dugout in order with strikeouts followed by a ground out, stopping Vilseck from scoring in an inning for the first time in the game.
In the bottom of the third inning, Cody Stone hit a single up the middle. Then he stole second and third bases. McDonald drew a walk. With one out and runners on the corners, the ball got away from the catcher and McDonald easily made it to second while Stone made a mad dash for home and scored. With McDonald now on third base and the pitcher rattled, he made a wild pitch that scored McDonald, reducing Vilseck’s lead to 6-5.
In the fourth inning, KMC’s Porterfield continued to regain his confidence and struck out two more batters. Then, Vilseck’s lead-off batter hit a 0-1 pitch to shallow right field, where a hard charging Mitchel Culbertson made a sliding catch for the final out of the inning.
The fifth inning saw KMC’s Porterfield dominate once again with two more strikeouts and a fly out. In the bottom of the fifth inning, KMC’s offense came alive. McDonald was at the plate and we needed one run to tie the game; he got a hit on the very first pitch of the inning. With McDonald now on second base, Ramzey Oakley laid down a beautiful bunt for a hit and advanced McDonald to third base, who eventually scored on a passed ball to tie the game at 6-6. Brandon Novotny followed with a single and Oakley was waved home for the go ahead run, but was nailed at the plate by the Vilseck defense. With runners on second and third and one out, the top of KMC’s line-up came to the plate. Porterfield drove the ball to left field and scored the game-winning runs.
Final score: KMC-8, Vilseck-6.
(Courtesy of KMC Senior All Stars)
The KMC American Little League is a private organization funded solely by fundraisers and donations.
Living in Europe, the travel costs for these teams to compete comes at a high price.
If you would like to donate to the KMC American Little League to help the teams compete for a chance to play in the Little League
World Series, contact Master Sgt. Steven Pecht at steven.pecht@us.af.mil or pekpek5@gmail.com.
