Kro-Hop Win USSSA Class E Grand Finale

Sixteen Teams Participant At Inwood Sports Complex On Oct. 1st & 2nd

Kro-Hop Champions of 2005 Illinois USSSA Men's Class E Grand Finale

JOLIET: Kro-Hop (8-1) from St Charles came back through the loser's bracket to double dip Jerry's Kids / Joe's Dugout (4-2) 14-4 and 13-6 at the Inwood Sports Complex on October 1`st & 2nd to win the 2005 USSSA Men's Class E Grand Finale over a field of sixteen teams. Oswego Inn (3-2) from Oswego took home third place with Collins Street Auto Parts (3-2) from Joliet finishing in fourth place and both Triple Play Softball from Rockford and Sharp Softball (2-2) from Romeoville finishing in a tie for fifth place at this tournament.
Kro-Hop was led by the play of Luke McCabe who was named as the tournament's MVP. Joining McCabe on the 2005 All-Grande Finale All-Tournament team were his Kro-Hop teammates Tom Gates, Justin Lata and Brian Paliter.
The Kro-Hops ball club took the field on Saturday against the No Showz with only nine players available but nine was enough in this game as they batted around in the first inning scoring nine big runs to propel them to the win 18-12.
Kro-Hop still had only nine players for their game against Jerry's Kids / Joe's Dugout asJerry's Kids / Joe's Dugout took advantage of this fact racing out to early lead by scoring nine run in the first three innings of play. Kro-Hops tenth player finally showed up during this game but they could not overcome the eight run deficit they were facing when he arrived but they did serve notice that they would be a team to contend with as they rallied to make the score respectable losing to Jerry's Kids / Joe's Dugout 14-12 in what turned out to be an exciting game.
Now playing in the loser's bracket Kro-Hop started to send teams to the parking lot for the trip back home starting with Grapevine Bar and Grill from Joliet as Kro-Hop wasted no time against them by putting up fourteen runs in the third inning. Kro-Hop also was playing solid defense as Justin Lata (1B) and Will Peterson (SS) made it impossible for the Grapevine Bar & Grill ball club to mount a comeback. Peterson and Lata also swung the bat, going a combine 5-6 with 2 doubles and a triple as Kro-Hop won easily 18-1.
In their fourth game on Saturday Kro-Hop faced off against Seco from Aurora. Both ball clubs had a hard time getting their offenses going as McCabe threw a shut out at Seco while Nate Mansfield stroked a in the park home run to give Kro-Hop a 1-0 victory in this game.
In Saturday's fifth and final game for Kro-Hop they played against Sharp Softball with Kro-Hop putting up a solo run in the first inning as Gates scored from first base on a two out single by Mansfield. That one run proved to be enough for the Kro-Hop ball club as they continued to play solid defense while posting their second straight shutout in a row onto the bracket board winning 5-0 to advance into Sunday morning's games.
On Sunday morning everyone's alarm worked for the Kro-Hop ball club as they field a full team of eleven players as they took on Collins Street Auto Parts in the loser's bracket semi-final. Kro-Hop hung four on to the scoreboard in the first inning to grab the early lead. The double play combination of Brian Paliter and Chris Glowacki kept the Kro-Hops out of jams with Paliter also being hot at the plate, going 4-4. Luke McCabe's scoreless streak ended in the second inning, leaving him with sixteen consecutive innings of hanging a zero on the board for his opponents as Kro-Hop went on to win 12-5 over Collins Street Auto Parts to send them home with fourth place from this tournament..
In the finals of the loser's bracket the Kro-Hop faced off against Oswego Inn in what turned out to be perhaps most exciting game of the tournament to watch. The Oswego Inn took an early two run lead but Kro-Hop battled back and kept it close all game. In the sixth inning Kro-Hop was down by five runs with the middle of their order coming up. Willie Peterson started the rally by walking; Lata singled putting on the corners. Nick Stellato sent a sacrifice fly to bring Kro-Hop within four runs of the Oswego Inn. Paliter and Cory Lehman singled bringing in Lata and putting themselves into scoring position. Chris Glowacki put a charge into the ball for a triple to bring the St Charles squad to within one run of their Oswego opponent. With two outs and a runner on third Dan Gates doubled to tie the game. Kro-Hop then played outstanding defense to shut out Oswego Inn and to force extra innings. Cory Lehman made a game saving diving catch with a runner on first and only one out in the seventh inning.
In the eighth inning Lata singled and Paliter brought him in with a triple and later scored himself to put the Kro-Hop ball cub up by two runs which proved to be enough as they shut down the Oswego Inn during their half of the eighth inning to win the game by the final score of 12-10.

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