By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - It was a nail biting, intense, grab your seat style of game and in the end the 11-12 year-old Niles FOP All-Stars took a 6-5 win over Cassopolis in District 15 baseball action.
After being down 1-0, Niles' bats came to life when Shawn Dudka hit a solo home run to tie the game at one.
Rashaad Harris followed Clark and hit a double to put another Niles runner in scoring position.
After a steal to third, Harris stole home on a wild pitch to put Niles up 2-1.
Justin Hughes continued the batting streak for Niles when he also hit a double.
A walk by Evan Zimmerman put two more runners in scoring position.
Josh Clark singled, and after a passed ball at first, Hughes and Zimmerman scored to gve Niles a 4-1 lead.
Rashad Harris was the starting pitcher for Niles FOP with relief coming from Justin Hughes, Nick Lucero and Nathaniel Oates.
The Niles FOP team was led offensively by Shawn Dudka with a homerun, Rashad Harris with a double and a triple, Justin Hughes and Josh Clark with a double and Montrel Merritt with a single.
The Niles FOP All-Star team continues action today against South Haven at 6 p.m. at FOP Park.
The Niles FOP 9-10 All-Star team is in action against Mattawan at 8 p.m. in Cassopolis.
Posted below are the statictics from the Niles FOP All-Star games played last week and the championship game in FOP regular season play between the Yankees and the White Sox.
Thursday, July 7
White Pigeon vs. Niles FOP
The Niles FOP Major All-Stars took a 15-0 win in four innings last Thursday against White Pigeon.
Evan Zimmerman was the starting pitcher for FOP. Striking out five batters and only allowing one hit.
Niles FOP was led offensively by Nick Lucero with a double and two singles, Shawn Dudka with three doubles, Rashad Harris with three singles, Josh Clark and Jesse Wilson with two singles, Nathaniel Oates, Prescott Smith and Jay Williams all with singles.
White Pigeon vs. Niles FOP
9-10 year-old All-Stars
The Niles FOP 9-10 year-old All-Stars defeated White Pigeon 19-0 last Thursday in Cassopolis.
Starting pitcher for FOP was Derek Scott who only allowed one hit and had eight strikeouts in just four innings.
Niles FOP was led offensively by Geordan Griffin with a triple and two singles, Derek Scott with three singles, Connor Glick and Alex Wright with two singles, and Ethan Zimmerman, Kevin Hatcher and Doug Freeman all with singles.
Yankees vs. White Sox
In a very intense game, the White Sox were able to take the 9-8 win over the Yankees for the Major League Championship on Friday, July 1.
Daimon Cavinder was the starting pitcher for the Yankees with Shawn Dudka and Rashad Harris coming in for the relief.
The Yankees were led offensively by Adrian Sisk with a home run, Rashad Harris with a double and a single, Jake Archer with a triple, Nichole Sly with a double and Daimon and Emily Cavinder each with a single
Kelvin Tweedy was the starting pitcher for the White Sox with Justin Hughes coming in for the relief
The White Sox were led offensively by Dustin Wright with a double and two singles, Justin Hughes with two singles, Austin Parks, Nick Lucero, Jalen Roscoe, Jacob Whittaker, Kieth Jann all with singles.
The Yankees were leading 8-1 going into the fifth inning when the White Sox started making a come back and were helped by a few errors on the Yankees defense. The White Sox tied it up in the sixth inning 8 – 8 forcing the game into extra innings. The White Sox won the game with a single hit which brought in the base runner to win 9 – 8.
Special award recipients were:
Most Valuable Player, Major League: Montrell Merritt
Golden Glove Award, Major League: Joshua Clark
Sportsmanship Award, Major League: Nick Lucero
Tough As Nails Award (Best Catcher): Dustin Wright