Scott Olinger of the Juniors Red Sox pitched a complete game shutout to lead his team to a title.
City Championship week is here.
Upsets, always a part of Boyle Park lore, were held to a relative minimum this year, with the grand exception of the 7-seed Tigers shocking the top-seed White Sox in Majors.
The Majors City Championship was played Tuesday, June 8 — too late for press deadline — between the top-seed A’s and No. 6 seed Red Sox, who beat the 3 seed Giants and upstart Tigers to reach the final game.
The Minors City Championship was also played Tuesday, June 8 — also too late for press deadline — between the top two seeds, the 1-seed Diamondbacks and 2-seed Tigers.
And in the Minors AAA City Championship, played Monday, June 7 — also too late for press deadline — the top two seeds squared off when the 1-seed Grays played the 2-seed KC Monarchs.
To the playoff action:
JUNIORS
Red Sox 6, Cubs 0 — Scott Olinger pitched a masterpiece, a complete-game two-hitter with eight strikeouts, to lead the Red Sox to the Juniors City Championship. Eli Keith hit a triple, and Colt Crum Usich and Zach Swenson each had two hits for the winners.
MAJORS
Championship semifinal: A’s 5, Brewers 4 (7 innings) — The top-seed A’s had to rally to fight for their lives.
Down two in the sixth inning, the A’s got key doubles from Sean Miller and Ryder Weber to tie the game and force extra innings, then walked it off on a Braydon Balinski hit in the 7th.
The A’s stayed alive on the strength of Carson Farmer’s second home run of the season, and Anthony Murphy’s two-hit day. They also received sterling defense, turning two double plays: Balinski made a catch and doubled off a runner at third, and a 7th-inning double play turned by Weber and Sean Miller that sealed the deal.
For the Brewers, Connor Grant doubled, and teamed with Dane Migliori to pitch well throughout. The A’s rode the arms of Weber and Farmer.
Championship semifinal: Red Sox 4, Tigers 1 —Lukas Welter closed it out with three innings and five strikeouts and the Red Sox advanced to the finals. Welter picked up where Jacob Razon and Lana Wihlborg left off, as they worked the first three innings on the hill.
The Red Sox rode stellar defense to the win— Vaugn Neumann and Arden Shapiro each started double plays from the outfield. Brady Kanter and Razon stroked doubles for the winners, and Trey Sasso had two hits and an RBI.
For the Tigers, Luke Nurney struck out eight and Theo Adam had a hit and a run scored.
MINORS
Championship semifinal: Diamondbacks 10, Giants 3 —James Cherchiai hit a home run and a double, Trip Goldmacher had a multi-hit game and Dawson Dietrich drove in two with a swinging bunt as the 1-seed D-Backs moved to the championship.
Championship semifinal: Tigers 9, Pirates 3 —Boden Van Pelt had a big day for the Tigers. Van Pelt went 3-for-3 and drove in two, then struck out five in two innings on the mound to lead the Tigers to the championship game.
MINORS AAA
Championship semifinal: Grays 14, Orioles 0 —The Grays had strong pitching from Davis Marshall and Dylan Roth, two hits from Tristan Selvidge and hits from 7 different players to gain entry to the AAA Championship game.
Championship semifinal: KC Monarchs 6, Twins 4 — In a taut game, Rory Murphy struck out the final two batters with the bases loaded to seal the game. Murphy also went 2-for-2 with two RBIs for the winners.
Victoria Rice shined, throwing 2 and 2/3 shutout innings and smacking a key RBI single. Griffin Jackson smashed a two-run single to give the Monarchs the lead after the Twins jumped to a 3-0 lead early. Maxwell Lee added a key RBI for the Monarchs.
For the Twins, Jack
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