Annex takes Babe Ruth title

by Rick Conrad
For the Pharos-Tribune

July 03, 2008 11:50 pm

— The 2008 Logansport Babe Ruth League championship game began Wednesday night with threatening skies overhead, and before it was all said and done, Mother Nature forced two delays totaling one hour and 45 minutes before a winner was crowned.
The game featured regular season champs Annex taking on tournament champs Security Federal for the league championship and what a game it was.
Annex jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead when Austen Hildebrand crossed the plate for its lone run in the first inning. In the bottom half of the inning Security Federal answered with three runs of their own when they got runs from Jared Schrock, Kyle Overway and Kody McDonald.
Then with a bolt of lightening shooting across the skies game umpires called for the first delay that lasted 30 minutes. When played resumed neither team could push across any runs in the second inning.
Annex answered for another one in the third when Tanner Gellinger scored to make it a 3-2 ballgame. That score stood through the next two innings before the visiting Annex scored one in the sixth when Hildebrand again crossed the plate to tie it at 3-3.
The tied game didn’t last long as in the bottom half of the sixth McDonald scored for Security Federal giving them a one run lead 4-3 going into the seventh. Just after the inning got started came the second delay with Annex at the plate and runners on first and second with no outs. Following a one hour and 15 minute halt to the action played resumed with a short warm up period for each team.
Though all Annex players played hard during the game, the hero of the night was Matt Turner who came to the plate with bases loaded and the score still tied. Security Federal manager Brian Weaver called for his teams infield to move in to keep a run from scoring. After fouling off his first pitch to give him a 0-1 count, Turner sent the second offering to shallow center field to score Adam Cotner and Brad Weinstein allowing Annex to take a 5-4 lead.
When Security Federal came to the plate with one last chance the Annex defense stepped up and retired them in order to win the game 5-4.
In speaking with Security Federal manager Brian Weaver after the game he said he was disappointed with the outcome of the game but was quick to sing his teams praises.
“It was an unbelievable game and an unbelievable season, he said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the way they played tonight. Just one break one way or another falls their way and they end up winning.”
Weaver also added, “Our pitchers did a great job. Kyle Overway and Drew Daugherty always worked of jams when they had runners on and our defense did a good job of stepping up and bailing them out when they needed to.”
When the trophy presentation and pictures were out of the way, Matt Turner was asked what was going through his mind when he went to the plate facing the situation he was in.
“I was just looking to get on base and score some runs, looking to put the ball on the ground and score at least one,” he said.
Turner’s manager Rex Gellinger admitted he was a bit scared when his offense sputtered early.
“We scored a lot of runs this year, a lot of runs,” he said. “Cotner struggled a bit at times tonight but got stronger as the game went on and we got back in the ballgame and that helped his confidence.”
Gellinger added, “This is the fourth year we’ve played in this game and this time we were lucky enough to come away with the win. Security Federal is a very good team and they’re very well coached. Overway and Daugherty both pitched very well tonight and we were lucky to take it.”
Gellinger also wanted to add that he was losing two coaches at the end of this season. “Eric Hall has been with me for 14 years and Dan Hildebrand for four. Eric and I have won a lot of ballgames together and Dan has been great with the kids. I’ll miss them both.”
Leading the hitting for Security Federal was McDonald with both hits for the team. Annex hits were from Hildebrand with a single and a double, Cotner with a single, Weinstein with two singles, and Turner’s two-RBI single.