It wasn't the start to the West Bend Father's Day Classic that the Thunder boys were looking for but the finish was fantastic as they came all the way back to win the Tournament Championship.  In pool play, the Thunder played below their expectations, falling to the Mequon Heat Red 6-4 and the Grafton Jr. Hawks 8-3.  The Thunder were lackluster in both games, playing well below their ability.  Fortunately, pool play was only for seedings for the single elimination portion of the 8 team Tournament.  The Thunder would be seeded 3rd and have to face a 2 seeded Tosa Titan team in the Quarter Finals.

Outstanding pitching and defense ruled this game as Joey Pettit, Ayden Spykstra, Reid Woods, and C.J. Henschel combined to throw a no hitter in the Thunder's 9-1 victoy.  Offensively, the Thunder banged out 8 hits and walked 8 more times in the game.  Each time they reached base, the Thunder were ready to take advantage on the base paths.  Seeing that Tosa had a quirky delivery to homeplate, the Thunder swiped 16 bases turning almost every hit and walk into a "triple".  Kevin Lemens and Caden Bast lead the way with 2 hits each, Henschel scored 3 times and swiped 5 bases and Woods reached base in all 3 of his at bats while stealing 3 bases to pace the Thunder attack.  With the win, the Thunder moved into a Sunday Semi-Final rematch with the #1 seeded and undefeated Grafton Jr. Hawks.

Redemption was on the minds of the Thunder boys as they took on the Jr. Hawks and they wasted little time pounding out some frustration as they scored 6 times in the top of the 1st, leading to a solid 14-7 victory.  The offense was the story all game long as the Thunder just kept hitting.  Every Thunder player reached base during the game, and 9 of 10 did it via a hit in the game.  All told, the Thunder had an astounding 17 hits in the game.  Spykstra, Noah Doedens, Gavin Hinckley, Sam Lemler, Pettit, and Lemens all had 2 hits in the game.  The offensive star however was Henschel who lead the hit parade going 3-3 and scoring 3 runs.  Henschel doubled in the 1st, singled in the 2nd, and then bombed a homerun out of the South field for the Thunder's first Home Run on the season.  Jack Miller also played a key part in the game, walking and stealing 2 key bases and laying down a beautiful sacrifice bunt.  With the win, the Thunder advanced to the Championship Game where they would meet up with the 4-0 Whitefish Bay Jr. Blue Dukes.

The Thunder again started off strong in the top of the 1st.  Lemens walked and advanced to 3rd on another Henschel double.  After a flyout, the Thunder decided to play some small ball and when Lemler laid down a beautiful bunt that turned into a hit, the game was 1-0.  Hinckley followed and after a steal of 2nd put runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out, the squeeze bunt was called again.  Hinckley laid it down perfectly and although he was thrown out at first, the Thunder had a 2-0 lead.  With two outs, Doedens hit a clutch single to plate Lemler and gave the Thunder a 3-0 lead.  The Blue Devils were able to plate a run of there own in the bottom of the 1st to cut the lead to 3-1. After a scoreless 2nd inning, both teams got a single run in the 3rd.  Lemens scored on a sac fly from Pettit and a walk turned into a Blue Dukes run for a 4-2 Thunder lead.  The Thunder tacked on a key 2 out run in the 4th as Woods singled and Bast singled to push Woods to 2nd.  Spykstra then delivered a huge hit to score Woods and give the Thunder a 5-2 lead.  The Thunder put the game out of reach in the 5th as they tacked on 3 more runs.  Back to back one out walks to Henschel and Pettit set the table for Lemler as he stroked a single that plated 2 runs, giving the Thunder a 7-2 lead.  Lemler would get to third and score on another beautiful Sacrifice bunt by Hinckley for an 8-2 lead.  Superior pitching and defense would allow that score to hold up and give the Thunder a well earned Championship. Every Thunder player contributed key plays to the Championship.  Great defensive plays with runners on were the key.  Pettit was dominant on the mound, changing speeds consistently, earning the win in all 3 games.  Pettit piched 6 innings giving up 2 runs on the day, both unearned.    The rest of the Thunder pitchers were outstanding as well.  As a pitching staff the Thunder found the strike zone, walking only 5 batters over the last 18 innings of baseball.  Congrats to all Thunder players on a terrific Championship run!