Oak Grove clinches division crown

The hits were still hard to come by, but Oak Grove Post 379 is still finding a way to win in the American Legion Wood Bat Invitational.
After winning 3-0 with one hit Wednesday, Post 379 did it with just two hits Thursday morning. That was enough for a 3-2 win over a tough Bellevue (Neb.) Post 339 East team in 10 innings.
Oak Grove finally got the bats going in their second game Thursday, and it meant clinching  the National League West Division title and a berth in the championship bracket quarterfinals on Saturday. Post 379 pounded out 15 hits in a 13-8 win over Elsberry (Mo.) Post 226 to improve to 3-0 in the tournament.
“It’s great to be 3-0,” Oak Grove manager David Richards said. “We finally broke out and started hitting the ball a little bit.”
David Richards, the son of the manager, led the way in the win over Elsberry with two doubles, a triple, two RBIs and three runs scored. Tyler Johnson had three hits and Payton Bosserman added two and Kyle Thornton doubled and scored two runs for Oak Grove (31-13 overall).
Braxton Anthony earned the win in relief of Nate O’Neill.
In the win over Post 339 East, both teams scored two runs in the first then settled in for a long scoreless battle until reaching the 10th inning. In the 10th, the game moved to the international tie breaker format. The format allows each team to start the inning with a runner on second and nobody out. The game is played like a normal game from there.
Post 339 East seemed to have pushed the go-ahead run across in the top of the 10th when shortstop Tyler Spilchard ripped a one-out single to left. The run came across but the home-plate umpire looked at the bat and ruled it was not legal for the tournament. After a delay to make sure the right call was made, Oak Grove’s Matt Ritchie got a strikeout to close out the inning.
Oak Grove’s Thad Madsen then sent a one-out single into center field that moved the winning run to third. On the play the throw came home and Madsen took off for second. When Bellevue’s catcher threw to second in an attempt to get Madsen, the winning run scored.
“It was awesome to be able to come through to win that game,” said Madsen, who had both of Oak Grove’s hits off Bellevue East starter Corey Buckley. “That was a tough game; it was a good win for all of us.
“Our pitcher did a great job keeping us in the game. Matt Ritchie was great today.”
The controversy with the bat was over the type of wood and style of wood bat used. Tyler Spilchard used a laminated bat made of bamboo wood by the Brett Brothers Company. The bamboo bat in the laminated style is not legal to use in the Wood Bat Invitational.
“It’s frustrating, but there is nothing we can do now,” Bellevue East manager Don Kiviniemi said. “We just have to go out and win two more ballgames and see if the cards fall our way.”
The bat in fact sports the signature of Kansas City Royals Hall of Famer George Brett.
Even though the win came with a bit of controversy, the elder Richards was happy to get the win.
“Throughout the course of the whole game there were innings where I thought we were right where we wanted to be in our lineup and had great opportunities, and we were going to end it right there.” Richards said. “On the other hand, I was kind of antsy a couple of times. That first inning seemed like yesterday. We hurt ourselves on the bases. We are a lot smarter team than that. In my opinion we had a lot of opportunities to end it before that.
“This is a big, big win for us.”
Oak Grove’s runs in the first inning came on two walks followed by an error and a fielder’s choice.
Post 379’s Ritchie matched Buckley almost pitch for pitch, allowing just three hits and one earned run in 10 innings.