O'Neill Seniors And Juniors Take Second

Junior Legion League Tournament Runner-ups Front row (l-r):  Shane Willats, Josh Womack, Angel Rodriguez and Kyle Pardun. Back row (l-r):  Coach Pete Lueninghoener, Shea Lueninghoener, Tate Mathis, Donnie Taylor, Marcus McNichols, Tate Schutt and Coach Kevin Loecker.

 

IRISH SENIORS front row (l-r):  Kyle Eby, Dustin Ross, Calvin Willats, Jordyn Johnson and  Tyson Schutt. Back row (l-r): Dillon Jakubowski, Ian Lueninghoener, Josh Hoferer, Connor Peterson, Kurtis Mliner and Coach Brad Blumenstock.

Irish Catcher Angel Rodriguez tries to tag an Ainsworth player out in action during the championship game.

Marcus McNichols slides into third during the championship tournament.

Tuesday night, July 5th started Elkhorn Valley League Tournament action. Bloomfield came to O'Neill to play the Irish Juniors. Pitching dominated the night. Donnie Taylor started on the mound and pitched six innings allowing only two hits and only one run. Luke Loecker closed out the seventh inning without allowing a hit. All of O'Neill's offense came in the second inning when Donnie Taylor led off with a double and was knocked home by Alex Fuhrer's single. After Alex stole second, a fielders choice advanced him to third and Angel Rodriquez knocked him home for the winning run. The Irish advance to Thursday's semi-final game at Crofton. 

The following night the Elkhorn Valley League tournament moved to the Seniors. The O'Neill Irish were to play Stanton but were washed out due to the rain. Since O'Neill was the higher seed, the Irish will move on. The other games had Crofton over Ainsworth 7-5, Hartington over Neligh 8-4 and Creighton beat Battle Creek 10-2. 

Thursday's semi-final game for the O'Neill Irish Juniors had them travel to Crofton. The Irish started the game with a run in the first inning but Crofton answered with two runs in the bottom of the first frame. The Irish came back to tie the score with a run in the top of the second but once again Crofton scored one more run in the bottom of the second to keep the lead. In the top of the third, the Irish bats produced two double and five singles along with a walk to break the game open. The Irish added one more run in the seventh to make the final score 8-4. Kyle Loecker started on the mound for the Irish pitching the first inning and two-thirds when Luke Loecker took over. Luke shut down the Crofton bats allowing only three hits over the final five and two third innings. In the other semi-final game, Ainsworth beat Creighton 12-3.  

Friday night Crofton's Seniors visited O'Neill in one semi-final game of the Elkhorn Valley League that pitted the first seed from the west against the second seed from the east. The Irish offense started in the first inning with the first two batters, Calvin Willats and Ian Lueninghoener getting on base with an error and a walk. Kyle Eby then knocked the first run in with a single. Later Dustin Ross brought in two more runs with the second hit of the inning. In the second inning the Irish plated one more run to make the score 4-0, Irish. That was all Jordyn Johnson needed from the mound as he struck out ten and allowed only two hits while pitching a complete game.  The victory placed O'Neill in the championship game with Creighton as Creighton blanked Hartington 10-0. 

Saturday evening O'Neill hosted the championship games for both the Junior Legion and Senior Legion divisions of the Elkhorn Valley League. The early game had Ainsworth taking on the Irish on a very warm evening. Despite missing four players from the Irish starting lineup, the Irish played hard, even leading at one point 11-8, but ended up losing 11-17. This gives the Irish Juniors a record of 11 wins and 7 losses as the runners up in the Elkhorn Valley League. They will next play Friday, July 15 at 5:00 p.m. in Aurora as the second seed in the Area 5 tournament.

  The late game was the fourth time Creighton and O'Neill have faced off, with O'Neill having won two of those prior contests. However, this night was Creighton's as O'Neill's bats were cool until the last inning and we had too many errors along with too many free passes to Creighton batters. The final was 3-11. O'Neill Seniors end the season as the Elkhorn Valley League runner's up.  The O'Neill Seniors also finish the season with 11 wins and 7 losses, waiting for the seedings in the Area 5 tournament in Wayne.