Subject: 2010 National championships concluded

The 2010 national championships were again played in the town of Portland, Indiana. The tournament has already grown to include teams from 5 different states with more teams inquiring every day about the next tournament. After three days of baseball were complete, the Battle Creek Behnke squad from Michigan had ran to a 4-1 record and the national championship. In pool play, the Battle Creek team defeated the Fort Wayne Pirates 18-1 on Friday night for a great start to the tournament.

On Saturday afternoon, the Behnke team took their only loss of the tournament in pool play when the Cincinnati Chiefs took them down 6-4. Knowing they faced a must win game, Battle Creek got the job done against the host team, Portland Rockets, on Saturday night 4-3.

On championship Sunday, Battle Creek faced off with the defending national champions from Chicago, the Illinois Jayhawks. Playing like champions through injuries and fatigue, Behnke persevered against the champs 6-2 as Illinois through their star pitcher from Rice University. This set the stage for a return bout with the Rockets and hometown hero Mitch Waters. But, Behnke was not to be denied as they rode the wave of momentum touching the Rockets star for 4 runs, 3 earned on the day to take the championship home to Michigan. For his play in the tournament, Kyle Kracht of Battle Creek was named national player of the year, adding his name to the trophy that includes last years player of the year from Chicago, Jon Kuzilinski.

"I was impressed with the level of competition at this years tournament.", stated tournament co-director Victor Canales. "You had league champions from different state who didn't make it to championship Sunday. 4 ranked teams, and players from all different levels of baseball on the field. It's a great tournament to be a part of and we are only going to get bigger!"

There were great crowds all weekend and the teams were very impressive. So one more year goes into the books with the final national rankings coming out in two weeks. Results from the weekend Pool "a" Portland Rockets (IN) 2-1 Battle Creek Behnke (MI) 2-1 Cincinnati Chiefs (OH) 2-1 Fort Wayne Pirates (IN) 0-3 Pool "b" Illinois Jayhawks 3-0 Northwest Patriots (IN) 2-1 Decatur Dirty Birds (IN) 1-2 Louisville Angels (KY) 0-3 Championship Sunday Battle Creek over Illinois Portland over Northwest Championship game Battle Creek 4, Portland 1 wp- Cam Bortell lp-Mitch Waters 2010

All American's Fort Wayne-Jason Nantz, pitcher Louisville- Kiley Jones, outfield-pitcher Decatur- Dan Maringer, catcher Decatur- Travis Case, designated hitter Decatur- Ryan Leugers, pitcher Illinois- Kevin Graham, outfield Illinois- Jon Kuzilinksi, catcher Illinois- Dan Claddis, pitcher Cincinnati- Josh Scipner, outfield Cincinnati- Rex Baker, first basemen Cincinnati- Ronnie Witt, pitcher Northwest- Tony Hoolihan, pitcher Northwest- Chris Skibinski, first basemen Northwest- Jeff Strbjak, outfield Portland- Heath Williams second base Portland- Bryan Brudi, outfield Portland- Bill Geeslin, Pitcher Portland- Mitch Waters, Pitcher Battle Creek- David Blaylock, Pitcher Battle Creek- Travis May, first basemen Battle Creek- Dave Larson, Designated hitter National player of the year Battle Creek, Kyle Kracht, shortstop