Hawks Champions of Blue Hawk Tournament

Hawks Champions of Blue Hawk Tournament

The Eden Valley Hawks amateur baseball team took first place honors this past Saturday in the fourth annual Blue Hawk tournament. It was a round robin tournament with six teams, three each at the two locations, Eden Valley and Litchfield. Eden Valley won both games in the round robin part before advancing to the championship game.

Game 1: Eden Valley 9, St. Martin 6

St. Martin pulled out to an early lead, scoring four runs on four hits in the first inning. St. Martin then added two more runs on three hits in the third. But that is all they would get as starter Joby McCann held them to two hits over the final four innings.

In the bottom of the third inning, Joe Thiel led off the inning with a walk, followed by a Dan Berg single. Two outs and two batters later, Brandon Moehrle hit an RBI single, scoring Thiel. The next batter, second baseman Mike Mathies, hit a double that scored both Berg and Moehrle. Catcher Matthew Pennertz then followed with an RBI single, scoring Mathies.

Down 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth, with one out Mathies walked, followed by three consecutive singles by Matthew Pennertz, Dan Hansen, and a two-run single by Stephen Pennertz. After a fly-out, Berg scored Hansen with a single, which was immediately followed by a two-run double by Chuck Geislinger.

Game 2: Eden Valley 15, Minnetonka Saints 0 (5 innings)

Al Faber pitched a gem of a game in game two, facing only two batters over the minimum, with one man reaching on an error and the other with the only hit for the Saints, a single.

Eden Valley scored two runs in the first inning. Then, after being held scoreless in the second, exploded for five runs in the third, six in the four, and added two more in the fifth.

Brandon Moehrle supplied the Hawks with three hits and three RBI’s, while Dan Hansen added a three-run homerun that highlighted the second inning. Joe Thiel, Dan Berg, Joby McCann, and Stephen Pennertz each added two hits as well.

Championship Game: Eden Valley 7, Litchfield 5

Scoring multiple runs at a time was the story again for the Hawks, as twice they scored three runs per inning, each time after the bases were empty with two men out. With two out in the second, the Hawks got five consecutive singles, one each from Mike Mathies, Matthew Pennertz, Stephen Pennertz, Dan Hansen, and Joe Thiel. In the third, the Hawks again scored three runs, this time with a single, four walks, and an error.

Pitcher Matthew Pennertz held the Blues scoreless until giving up a solo homerun in the sixth. Then, in the seventh, the Blues scored four unearned runs on four hits and an error.

Dan Berg walked away the tournament MVP for the Hawks after going five for seven at the plate, but also adding six walks for an on-base percentage of .846, four runs, and one RBI. He had a double and a triple as well, giving him a slugging percentage of 1.143.