The American Overhead Door Little League team has had quite a journey the last two years.
In 2024, it went unbeaten and won the Appleton Little League Major baseball championship.
This year, it went unbeaten in the regular season, won its opening-round tournament game in walk-off fashion and did the same in the second-round game.
Against JD’s Drive In on June 25, American Overhead Door made it back-to-back city championships with a 5-2 win on Gromer Field at USA Youth Sports Complex.
“The kids were dedicated and worked hard,” American Overhead Door manager Bill Bowers said. “We had our ace on the mound tonight. Jack (Hermus) pitched great.
“He pitched great all year, and he pitched great again tonight. He just ran out of pitches.”
American Overhead Door was an experienced team with four 12-year-olds, five 11-year-olds and two 10-year-olds.
“We’ve got a good mixture of kids and they all get along really well,” Bowers said. “They got better every game it seemed like.
“We won a lot of close games this year. We probably won four or five one-run games. They went undefeated and that was their main goal.”
Hermus said the team was a lot of fun to be a part of this season.
“Every game we went out there and had fun,” he said. “We put the bats on the ball and played good defense.”
American Overhead Door took a 3-0 lead in the first inning with three errors, a wild pitch and a triple by Barrett Meach accounting for the scoring.
After that third run, JD’s Drive In pitcher Sam Hendrick settled in, setting down 10-of-14 batters including a stretch of 11-of-12 batters until the fifth inning when American Overhead Door scored two runs on a bases-loaded single by Meach.
“I was really impressed,” JD’s Drive In manager Scott Christensen said about the way his team hung in there after the shaky start. “I think we were a little overwhelmed by the speed of their pitcher but, you know, you get the reps and a couple more connections and given the time, I think we would have been able to make some things happen.”
In looking back at the season, Christensen said his JD’s Drive In team progressed a lot.
“Last year, they had a really .500-ish kind of year,” Christensen said. “This year they came out scoring almost 12 runs a game. Not today. We played a really good pitcher, but overall it’s been great to watch them grow.”
Hermus allowed a run on two walks and a double steal in the second inning and singles by Isaiah Salm in the fourth inning and Brooks Wood in the fifth while striking out 10.
Hermus was happy to get the starting nod for the championship game.
“It’s really a nice moment,” said Hermus, who admitted to some nerves at the game’s start. “But I just shook it off and went out and pitched.”
As for striking out 10, Hermus said it was due to a combination of pitches.
“I was moving my fastball around but also threw a Vulcan changeup,” he said. “It is like a circle changeup, but it goes down and in to the batter so they get jammed on the ball.”
JD’s Drive In got its second run in the sixth inning off Elijah Bowers on a double by Silas Behrens and a throwing error.
Play It Again Sports wins softball championship
Play It Again Sports won the softball championship with a 5-3 victory over JD’s Drive In.
Play It Again led 5-0 after scoring four runs in the fourth inning and held off a JD’s rally over the final two innings.
“They battled,” PIA manager Ross Nissen said. “Everybody today, everybody last night had just the most positive attitude, this can-do attitude. Just a great group of girls and I think they all believed that they could get it done today.”
Play It Again got a run in the second inning when Addy McMahon led off the inning with a single, advanced to second on a single by Alexa Mauer and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
PIA broke open the game with four runs in the fourth inning. Charlie Robbins had an RBI single to right-center field to score one run and Lucca Bruno added an RBI single to right field to score another run.
Nissen said his team had a “tough season” with four wins and a tie, but everything came together at the right time.
“It’s really cool,” he said. “This is my last year, my daughter’s last year in Little League. Being our last year, just watching the development of all these kids that have been a part of the program the last six years that I’ve been here, it’s just really cool.
“It’s not just this year, it’s the entire process. Some of these girls we saw them like the first time they ever picked up a bat or picked up a glove and now they’re here and they’re city champions, so it’s really cool.”
Rylynn Koch pitched four innings for PIA and Bruno pitched the other two innings.
JD’s scored twice in the fifth inning. Kylah Meier drove in the first run with a ground out to shortstop to score Ada Larson, who had singled to lead off the inning. Zoey Sewall drove in the other run with a single to center to score Brooklynn Knapp, who had walked.
JD’s got its other run in the sixth inning when Jaelin Goszkowski tripled over the head of the right fielder with one out and scored on a wild pitch.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: American Overhead Door, Play It Again Sports win Little League city championships
Reporting by Jim Oskola and Mike Sherry, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
