O'Neill Irish Junior Legion Dominates Creighton Tournament

O'Neill Irish Junior Alex Thramer slaps the tag down on a Hartington player at first base during the Creighton Wooden Bat Tournament this past weekend.

The O'Neill Pinnacle Bank Irish Juniors won the Creighton Wooden Bat Tournament on Sunday to reach the 20-win mark on the season.

The Irish took home the top spot with an 8-1 win over Creighton in the championship contest. Justin Appleby got the start on the mound and went six innings, giving up just three hits and one run while striking out seven Creighton batters. Appleby improved to 4-0 on the season. The Irish offense gave Appleby plenty of support as well as they plated eight runs on twelve hits. Blake Krysl was the spark for the offense as he went 4 for 5 in the leadoff spot and scored two runs. Alex Thramer went 3 for 5 in the cleanup spot and scored two runs. Appleby helped his own cause, going 2 for 4, and catcher Francisco Perez went 2 for 4 and was outstanding in the tournament behind the dish catching all three games.

The Irish defense was solid all night long with great plays being made in the outfield by Tye Hilker, Shayne Campbell, and Eddie Rodriguez. The infield defense of Thramer at first, Esteban DeLaO at second, and Liewer and Krysl on the left side was solid throughout the entire weekend. With the tournament win the Irish now stand with an impressive 20-1 record on the season.

"This was a really good weekend of baseball in the Wooden Bat Tournament. We didn't have our entire roster due to some previous commitments but I was really pleased with the ten guys that we had playing," said O'Neill coach Greg Appleby. "Our pitching and defense was outstanding and we had some timely hitting throughout the lineup. We look forward to the next few weeks of tournament action."
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The Irish travel to Albion on Tuesday night, before starting league tournament play on Friday night at home. The Irish would have home games on Friday and Saturday.