Blackhawk Athletic Club Wins USSSA D State

Now only the final two remaining unbeaten teams were left in the winner's bracket. Both teams knew what was on the line in this game because of the weather forecast for Sunday might mean the cancellation of the tournament so this game could easily mean the state title to the winner. Blackhawk Athletic Club and Neighbors Bar & Grill squared off to play their sixth game of the day against each other. In another one run game it was Blackhawk Athletic Club getting the better of it by a final score of 12-11 as the Rockford based ball club won the winner's bracket.
On Sunday mother nature said no softball today and Blackhawk Athletic Club being the only unbeaten team left in this tournament they were declared the 2007 Illinois USSSA Men's Class D Northern Illinois State Champions.
Neighbors Bar & Grill were led by the hitting of Doug Livingston who was named as the Offensive MVP of the 2007 Illinois USSSA Men's Class D Northern Illinois State Tournament. Joining Livingston on the 2007 Illinois USSSA Men's Class D Northern State "All-State" Tournament team were his Neighbors Bar & Grill teammates, Chris Huckabee, Bob Schmelzer, Jon Aldrich, Greg Hockmuth and Jeff Bartcher.
Tournament runner-up Neighbors Bar & Grill opened play with a big win over Chaos from Aurora 21-9 in the first round of play on Saturday morning. In their second contest of this sixty-four team double elimination event Neighbors Bar & Grill met and defeated Kro-Hop from St Charles in a one run game 11-10 to advance in the bracket. Kro-Hop had defeated Prison City Softball from Joliet 9-7 in the first round of play to advance into this second round game with Neighbors Bar & Grill.
After the long rain delay Neighbors Bar & Grill met Jerry's Kids from Joliet in the third round of play and posted a 9-3 victory onto the bracket board to advance into the fourth round of play in the winner's bracket. Jerry's Kids had posted wins over Johnny Mac Softball / Club 57mx.com from Woodstock in the first round by a final score of 19-18 before they played and defeated Ogle County Physical Therapy from Byron 19-0 in the second round of tournament play.
Neighbors Bar & Grill's next game was with Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns from Joliet with the Rockford based Neighbors Bar & Grill winning 10-5 to advance into the semifinal of the winner's bracket. Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns made it to this fourth round game by opening play with a first round 11-3 win over Rigid Construction / Little Anthony's from Rockford on Saturday morning. In their second game Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns stopped the Stallions / Get Boozled! from Bloomingdale 24-12 . Game number three was win number three as Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns met and defeated Byron Bank / Costa's / Bunger's from Byron 16-4 to advance into this fourth round game against Neighbors Bar & Grill.
Neighbors Bar & Grill now was set to play Schoenholtz Trucking from Paw Paw in a semifinal game of the winner's bracket with the winner earning a trip to the winners bracket championship game. Neighbors Bar & Grill took care of business winning 12-9 to earn a spot in the 2007 Illinois USSSA Men's Class D Northern State Tournament winner's bracket championship game. Schoenholtz Trucking made it to this semifinal game of the winner's bracket by opening play with a first round win over NWA Softball Club from Loves Park 19-9. In their second contest of this tournament the Paw Paw ball club met and defeated Fuel from Elgin 10-6 in the second round of play putting Schoenholtz Trucking into the third round where they met St George's Club /Powell HAVC from Aurora posting a 20-16 win onto the bracket board to continue their advancement in this tournament. Schoenholtz Trucking than met the High Rollers with only eight team left alive in the winner's bracket and came away with a big 16-6 win to put them into the semifinals of the winner's bracket and a date with Neighbors Bar & Grill.
Now only two teams remained undefeated as Neighbors Bar & Grill and Blackhawk Athletic Club prepared to play each other in the winner's bracket undefeated game. Neighbors bar & Grill came out of this game on the short end of a final score of 12-11 dropping them into the loser's bracket finals where they were to play on Sunday afternoon but the rains poured down and the tournament was canceled on Sunday morning. On the strength of Neighbors Bar & Grill making it to the winner's bracket championship game before losing they were awarded second place from this tournament.
After the rain delays in their fourth game on Saturday Blackhawk Athletic Club met and defeated McGaffer's / Caps / Fury 17-11 to advance into the semifinals of the winner's bracket of the 2007 Illinois USSSA Men's Class D State Tournament. McGaffer's / Caps / Fury made it to the round of the last remaining eight unbeaten teams by opening play against 2NQ Softball from Crystal Lake and posting a 12-1 victory over them to advance in the bracket. In the second round of play McGaffer's / Caps / Fury collided with Full Moon from Batavia and hung a win onto the bracket board by a final score of 8-5. In the third round of tournament play McGaffer's / Caps / Fury and Bunger's Softball tangled with the Lombard based McGaffer's Caps / Fury winning a one run game 16-15 advance them into this fourth round match up against Blackhawk Athletic Club.
Blackhawk Athletic Club and Plano Legion / Vineyard Liquors went toe to toe in a semifinal game with Blackhawk Athletic Club posting a narrow one run win edging out their Plano opponent 11-10 to earn a spot in the winner's bracket championship game. Plano Legion / Vineyard Liquors made it to the semifinals of this tournament by opening play with a first round 5-2 win over Locos from Waukegan. In their second round game Plano Legion / Vineyard Liquors met and defeated the Roadrunners from Island Lake 12-0. In the third round of tournament action Plano Legion / Vineyard Liquors stopped Squeeze Softball from Arlington Heights in a one run game 11-10 to advance in the bracket. Next Plano Legion / Vineyard Liquors tangled with Wheels By RT / LT's Bar & Grill and again they posted a victory up onto the bracket board by a final score of 17-15 earning the Plano ball club a date to play against Blackhawk Athletic Club in a semifinal game of the winner's bracket.

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