Wow what a great weekend. The Thunder traveled to Pulaski for the 2nd year in a row and this time they weren't going to settle for 3rd place. After losing their first game to a very good Green Bay team 7-4, the Thunder won 5 consecutive games to take home the 1st place trophy. After they lost to Green Bay, they won the next three games all via shutout. They won 20-0 over Pulaski Optimist, 16-0 over Pulaski Red and 10-0 over Allouez to reach the semi final game vs Stevens Point. Point knocked off Green Bay to reach the semi final so the Thunder knew they were going to have their hands full and the game was one to remember. Stevens Point struck first with 2 runs in the first and led 7-2 entering the bottom of the 4th. Then the Thunder bats came to life as Nick Sterman led off the inning with an inside the park home run and that got the Thunder going. They would score three more times in the inning to cut the deficit to 7-6 after four complete. Point would tack on a run in the 5th but the Thunder came right back with a run of their own as Cooper Schlosser had a inside the park home run to make it 8-7 after five. After Stevens Point failed to score in the 6th, the Thunder had one last hope to try to tie or win the game. After the first batter made out, TJ Simpson ripped a shot to the gap and with the big park playing in our favor once again, TJ circled the bases for a game tying home run and we were headed to extra innings. Point would load the bases in the top of the 7th with one out but Cooper Schlosser wiggled out of trouble getting two ground outs and setting the stage for a great finish. After one out in the bottom of the 7th, lead off man Matt Geldnich singled to right bringing Cooper Schlosser to the plate with a man on first and one out. Cooper was hitting the ball well all weekend but saved his best for this moment. He crushed a ball to deep left well over the left fielders head and Matt Geldnich raced home with the game winning run. That ball would have been long gone in West Bend but we were just happy to get the Win and get a birth in the Championship game. The Championship game matchup was Thunder vs. Luxemburg-Casco. The Thunder had momentum on their side with the big comeback win in the semi final and they definitely carried it over to the final as they scored 9 times in the bottom of the first and cruised to a 15-9 Championship win. Sam Geldnich got the call on the mound and threw three sharp innings striking out three. Nick Sterman had another inside the park 3 run home run in the game and the boys playing their 3rd game in a row on a hot day, dug deep and played very inspiring baseball. Every single player contributed in the tournament championship. Cooper Schlosser, Mason Kirk, Nick Sterman and TJ Simpson all had inside the park home runs in the tournament and Juan Gurrola had a bomb over the fence. Lead off man Matt Geldnich got on base 12 times in the tourney and scored 10 runs. Blake Hall had 8 hits and pitched very well all weekend. Jordan Schommer had 7 hits and four rbi. Sam Geldnich had 6 hits and 8 rbi for the tournament. Daniel Jones and Riley McClarran each had four rbi and Logan Chesak gets the iron man award for a great weekend of catching. He caught tons of innings in the heat and never once wanted out of a game. He got hit by a pitch and didn't flinch and did every thing asked of him all weekend. Coach Russ said in his postgame speech, every kid did their part for this championship and no better words could have been said. These kids made us coaches proud, parents proud and everybody watching proud. This is why us coaches love coaching, for moments like these and it just makes you want to hug every single one of them. It wasn't easy but they never are in a tournament. There were 16 teams in the tournament and we were the last ones standing. Thank you to all the fans who were awesome all weekend long in the heat. Everybody was hot and exhausted but Thunder nation all came together and reached our goal!!!

We all had fun. The boys swam and played lots of ping pong. The parents and friends played bags and hung out by the pool and in the end we had a first place trophy to show for it. Way to Go Thunder!!!!!!!!