The Oconomowoc Five-O's are the LOL grand champions for 2007 after defeating Cedarburg in a tight contest on Saturday September 15 by a score of 3-2.

Jeff Rhoads had a hand in every Five-O rally, scoring all three runs. He hit a solo home run in the first inning. He singled in the fourth inning and scored on Josh Bouche's infield grounder. Rhoads tripled in the sixth and scored on Derek Nelson's single.

The championship is the 10th for Oconomowoc. They last won it all in 1999. For Cedarburg, it marked the second straight year of being the runner-up.

A summary of game scores in the tournament follows:

Saturday August 25
Cedarburg 5, Waterford 1
Butler 6, Oconomowoc 0

Sunday August 26
Oconomowoc 10, Cedarburg 3
Butler 5, Waterford 4 (Waterford eliminated)

Sunday September 2
Cedarburg 3, Butler 1

Saturday September 8
Oconomowoc 8, Butler 6 (Butler eliminated)

Saturday September 15
Oconomowoc 3, Cedarburg 2 (Cedarburg eliminated)

Click on the LOL grand championship playoffs link in the headline box above to read an account of the championship games in the tournament. Following are the game scores.

SATURDAY AUGUST 23
Cedarburg 10, Butler 1
Waterford 6, Brookfield Bulldogs 2

SUNDAY AUGUST 24
Cedarburg 9, Waterford 5
Brookfield Bulldogs 6, Butler 3 (Butler eliminated)

SUNDAY AUGUST 31
Cedarburg 5, Brookfield Bulldogs 2 (Brookfield eliminated)

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 6
Waterford 11, Cedarburg 10

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 7
Cedarburg 7, Waterford 1 (Waterford eliminated)

2008 LOL Grand Champions - Cedarburg

Saturday August 26 - First Round
Butler 6, Waterford 5
West Bend Seven Up at Cedarburg, ppd, rain

Sunday August 27 - Second Round
Butler 8, Cedarburg 1
West Bend Seven Up 9, Waterford 2 (Waterford eliminated)

Saturday September 2 - First Round
Cedarburg 6, West Bend Seven Up 3

Sunday September 3 - Third Round
Butler 5, West Bend Seven Up 1 (West Bend eliminated)

Saturday September 9 - Fourth Round
Cedarburg 8, Butler 1

Sunday September 10 - Championship Game
Butler 14, Cedarburg 3

Congratulations to the Butler Dunns, the Land O' Lakes grand champions for 2006.

First Round - Saturday August 29
Lannon 1, Cedarburg 0
New Berlin 9, Waterford 3

Second Round - Sunday August 30
New Berlin 5, Cedarburg 3 (Cedarburg eliminated)
Waterford 5, Lannon 4

Third Round - Sunday September 6
Lannon 3, New Berlin 0

Semifinals - Sunday September 13
New Berlin 4, Waterford 3 (Waterford eliminated)

Championship - Sunday September 20
Lannon 14, New Berlin 5 (New Berlin eliminated)

First Round - Saturday August 28
Kenosha Merchants 3, Burlington 1, 10 innings
West Bend 7-Up 9, Cedarburg 7

Second Round - Sunday August 29
West Bend 7-Up 8, Kenosha Merchants 3
Burlington 7, Cedarburg 4 (Cedarburg eliminated)

Third Round - Sunday September 5
West Bend 7-Up 4, Burlington 1 (Burlington eliminated)

Championship - Sunday September 12
West Bend 7-Up 14, Kenosha Merchants 0 (Kenosha eliminated)

Merchants 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 6 6
7-Up 5 1 0 0 0 6 2 0 x – 14 13 0
K – Mitch Loches, Dan Weber (6) and Matt Soderland. WB – Andy Hetebrueg, Bryant Bullock (9) and Mike Mueller. W – Hetebrueg. L – Loches. HR – WB, Mueller 2, Billy Bynum.

WEST BEND - Pounding out 14 hits, West Bend 7-Up cruised past the Kenosha Merchants 14-0 Sunday to win the 2010 Land O’ Lakes baseball grand championship. The championship is the third for West Bend while Kenosha was making their first appearance in the grand championship in their second year of existence.

Seven-Up scored all the runs they would need in the first inning as leadoff hitter Taylor Koth reached on an error. Andy Hetebrueg singled ahead of the first of two Mike Mueller home runs on the day. The other runs in the inning scored on an Adam Rohlinger double and Jed Justman infield grounder that was muffed. West Bend added another run in the second inning when Erik Kraemer’s grounder was bobbled.

West Bend blew the game open in the sixth, sending 12 batters to the plate in scoring six times, starting with Kraemer’s sacrifice fly. Rohlinger and Billy Bynum followed with run-scoring singles before Dan Mueller’s fly ball was dropped, allowing two runs to score. Mueller later scored on Koth’s single.

Bynum and Mike Mueller each connected on solo home runs in the seventh inning to conclude West Bend’s scoring.

Kenosha’s only scoring chance came in the seventh inning when they loaded the bases with one out. West Bend worked out of the jam thanks to a double play.

Mike Mueller collected three hits for West Bend while Rohlinger, Bynum, Justman and Hetebrueg each had two. For Kenosha, Josh Albers had two hits.

On the mound, Hetebrueg struck out 10 batters.

Saturday August 27
Brookfield Bulldogs 16, West Allis Nighthawks 0
Cedarburg 11, East Troy 5

Sunday August 28
Brookfield 5, East Troy 2 (East Troy eliminated)
West Allis 4, Cedarburg 3

Saturday September 3
Cedarburg 7, Brookfield 2

Sunday September 4
Cedarburg 11, West Allis 8 (West Allis eliminated)

Sunday September 11
Brookfield 7, Cedarburg 6 (Cedarburg eliminated)

Mercs 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 0 – 6 8 6
Bulldogs 0 2 1 0 0 1 1 2 x – 7 10 3
C – Joe Daniels and Joe Reichhart. B – Josh Eidt, Mark Erickson (8), Greg Basthemer (9) and MikeJacobs. W – Erickson. L – Daniels. S – Basthemer. HR – none.

BROOKFIELD – Scoring two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Brookfield Bulldogs came from behind to defeat the Cedarburg Mercs 8-7 on Sunday to win the 2011 Land O’ Lakes grand championship.

The Bulldogs, champions of the Western Division, led for the majority of the game until the Northern Division champion Mercs scored three times in the top of the eighth inning to take their first lead of the game at 6-5. Brookfield answered with two runs in their half. Jason Rutz reached on a fielders choice and scored the tying run on Kris Franzen’s triple. Scott Booth singled Franzen home with the game-winner.

Cedarburg’s eighth inning rally started with Brian Bert’s leadoff single, followed by a double by Nolan Gilbertson. Both runners scored on John Regnitz’s single. After a single by Ross Zahour, Joe Reichhart’s infield grounder was muffed, allowing Regnitz to score.

Brookfield’s starting pitcher, Josh Eidt, was again a tough puzzle to solve for the Mercs. He did not allow a base runner until Gilbertson’s one-out single in the fourth. Eidt struck out seven and walked three in seven innings of work.

The Bulldogs scored first in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead. Jeff Lueck led off with a walk, with Mike Jacobs reaching on catcher’s interference. KC Pinsoneault sacrifed both runners up a base and reached safely on a throwing error. Josh Lemke’s sacrifice fly scored Lueck, with Jacobs scoring on Andy Monigal’s single.

Brookfield’s lead grew to 3-0 in the third inning when Booth singled and scored on Jacobs’ single. The score remained 3-0 until the top of the sixth when Cedarburg scored three times to tie the score, with all the damage coming after two outs. Reichhart led off with a double followed by a walk to Joe Daniels. Steve Hopfensperger sacrificed the runners up a base. Another walk to Nolan Gilbertson loaded the bases before John Vandenberg’s RBI single.

Josh Lemke reestablished the lead for the Bulldogs in the bottom of the sixth inning with an RBI single. Jacobs added an RBI single in the seventn to give Brookfield a 5-3 lead.

Brookfield outhit Cedarburg 10-8 in the game. Collecting two hits each were Franzen, Monigal, Booth and Jacobs. Gilbertson and Regnitz had two hits each for Cedarburg.

First Round
(3) West Allis Nighthawks 11, (6) North Shore 5
(4) Racine Kiwanis 5, (5) Butler 3

Best-of-3 Semifinals
(2) New Berlin 2 (3-3-9), (3) West Allis Nighthawks 1 (1-13-8) (game 3 10 innings)
(4) Racine Kiwanis 2 (9-3-13), (1) Muskego 1 (5-11-3)

Championship Best-of-3
(2) New Berlin 2 (3-4-17), (4) Racine Kiwanis 1 (6-1-4)

First Round
(5) Burlington 6, (4) Dousman 5
(6) Rome 8, (3) East Troy 4

Semifinals
(2) Waterford 6, (5) Burlington 3
(6) Rome 6, (1) Oconomowoc Titans 4

Championship
(6) Rome 11, (2) Waterford 4

First Round
(2) Pewaukee 4, (7) Sussex 3
(4) Menomonee Falls 4, (7) Merton 0
(3) West Bend 7-Up 12, (6) Oconomowoc Five-Os 11, 12 innings

Semifinals
(1) Brookfield Bulldogs 8, (4) Menomonee Falls 6
(2) Pewaukee 12, (3) West Bend 7-Up 2

Final
(1) Brookfield Bulldogs 14, (2) Pewaukee 9

Championship - Sunday September 9
Brookfield Bulldogs 8, Cedarburg 4

4th Round - Saturday September 8
Cedarburg 6, Brookfield Bulldogs 4

3rd Round - Sunday September 2
Brookfield Bulldogs 8, New Berlin 4 (New Berlin eliminated)

2nd Round - Saturday September 1
Brookfield Bulldogs 15, Cedarburg 13
New Berlin 2, Rome 0 (Rome eliminated)

First Round - Saturday August 25
Brookfield Bulldogs 9, Rome 2
Cedarburg 18, New Berlin 8

Saturday August 24 - 1st Round
Burlington 4, Muskego 2
Cedarburg 6, Pewaukee 3

Sunday August 25 - 2nd Round
Burlington 9, Cedarburg 5
Pewaukee 5, Muskego 3 (Muskego eliminated)

Saturday August 31 - 3rd Round
Pewaukee 5, Burlington 1

Sunday September 1 - Semifinal
Pewaukee 8, Cedarburg 4 (Cedarburg eliminated)

Saturday September 7 - Final
Pewaukee 7, Burlington 0

2013 LOL Grand Champions
Pewaukee Muskies

At a meeting on December 16, the LOL Board of Directors rejected by a 6-2 vote a proposal to advance the start of the grand championship playoffs (GCP) by one week. The proposal was made in an effort to promote fairness between teams that rely largely on college-age talent and those that do not. While directors agreed on the desire to have teams in the GCP playing at close to full strength, they disagreed on the effects of the change on the regular season. Divisions where the majority of teams play on unlighted fields would have had to scheduled one or two additional two-game weekends.

Another proposal to add a second team from each division to the GCP was pulled from consideration.

Saturday August 23 - 1st Round
Cedarburg 4, Burlington 2
Pewaukee 4, New Berlin 3

Sunday August 24 - 2nd Round
Burlington 4, Pewaukee 1
New Berlin 5, Cedarburg 3

Semifinals - August 30, 31
New Berlin 3, Burlington 1
Pewaukee 10, Cedarburg 4

Championship - September 1
Pewaukee 5, New Berlin 2

Defending LOL grand champion Pewaukee will travel to New Berlin on Labor Day (Mon Sept 1) to face the host Lakers in the championship game of this year's LOL grand championship playoffs. Pewaukee advanced to the championship game by eliminating Cedarburg 10-4 while New Berlin eliminated Burlington 3-1.

For the championship game, since the teams will have already played once in the playoffs, the home team in the first game is the visiting team in the second.

The 87th season of LOL baseball has concluded with the crowning of Northern Division champion Cedarburg as the 2008 LOL LOL grand champions.

Cedarburg defeated Waterford on September 7 by a score of 7-1 to erase several years of heartache in reaching the finals only to fall short. Waterford staved off elimination by defeating Cedarburg on September 6 11-10 behind a pair of home runs by Bart Nowicki, who also drove in seven of the 11 runs.

Cedarburg 0 0 1 0 0 3 2 1 0 - 7 13 1
Waterford 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 1 9 3
C – Joe Daniels and Joe Reichhart. W – Nick Hunt and Wade Axelson. WP – daniels. LP – Hunt. HR – C, Reichhart.

The Cedarburg Mercs used clutch hitting to win the 2008 Land O’ Lakes grand championship, their first since 1997. Cedarburg had finished as the runnerups each of the past two seasons.

Clutch hitting with runners in scoring position was a primary reason behind the Mercs’ win Sunday as they collected four hits in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position. The Rivermen collected just one hit in 14 at-bats.

The Mercs broke through for the first run of the game in the third inning. Three more runs in the sixth inning gave the Mercs a 4-0 advantage. A walk to Brian Bert started things. After a single by Nolan Gilbertson, John Regnitz blooped a double inside the right field line to score two runners.

Waterford’s Tony Chapman led off the bottom of the sixth with a double and scored on Brad Nowicki’s double, Waterford’s only hit with runners in scoring position.

Tom Gaertig led off the Cedarburg seventh inning with a walk. After singles by Wade and Bert loaded the bases, Ross Zahour’s infield grounder scored Gaertig, with a throwing error allowing Wade to score. Reichhart’s solo home run in the eighth capped the Cedarburg scoring.

Reichhart had three of the 13 Cedarburg hits in the game, with Regnitz and Bert adding two each. Brad Nowicki collected three of Waterford’s nine hits while Bart Nowicki had two.

Waterford 0 0 3 0 3 0 1 3 1 - 11 16 2
Cedarburg 2 4 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 - 10 11 3
W – Anthony Kozelek, Adam Brechtl (6) and Bart Nowicki. C – Steve Hopfensperger and John Regnitz. WP – Brechtl. LP – Hopfensperger. HR – W, Bart Nowicki 2, Brechtl; C, Nolan Gilbertson.

Waterford player-manager Bart Nowicki single-handedly led his team to victory in an elimination game Saturday. He collected four hits, including a pair of home runs, and drove in seven of the 11 Rivermen runs.

The winning run scored in the ninth on Chris Harmeling’s double. That came after a three-run rally and a dropped infield fly ball allowed the Rivemen to tie the game in the eighth inning.

Cedarburg jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings with Nolan Gilbertson accounting for four of the runs on a two-run double in the first and a two-run home run in the second.

Bart Nowicki’s three-run home run got the Rivermen on the board in the third inning. He added a solo blast in the fifth after teammate Adam Brechtl cracked a two-run home run of his own. Nowicki’s second home run tied the score at six.

Cedarburg untied the game in their half of the fifth on a suicide squeeze bunt by Wade and a two-run single by Bert.

 

Saturday August 23 - 1st Round
Cedarburg 4, Burlington 2
Pewaukee 4, New Berlin 3

Sunday August 24 - 2nd Round
Burlington 4, Pewaukee 1
New Berlin 5, Cedarburg 3

Semifinals - August 30, 31
New Berlin 3, Burlington 1
Pewaukee 10, Cedarburg 4

Championship - September 1
Pewaukee 5, New Berlin 2