Lake Zurich Baseball and Softball Association

In the world of Lake Zurich baseball, the Nationals proved that size does not matter with a 10-0 victory in the 2010 Majors Red Championship Game.

After seizing first place with an 11-4 record in the hotly contested regular season, the generally undersized Nationals rolled into Monday night’s championship game following their thrilling playoff victories over the upstart Tigers and fearsome Yankees.  But in order to capture the vaunted crown, the Nationals would have to overcome the power packed Rays, runners up of the regular season.  The formidable Rays had been victorious in two of the three regular season matchups between these clubs, with two of the games going into extra innings and the third game decided by one run.  So it was fitting that these two venerable teams finished off the season on this beautiful summer evening at Lions Park.

National players Billy Zummo and Manav Anand kept the team loose and confident with their cool leadership in the dugout and focused play on the field.  Speedster Bryce Kapitzky dazzled the crowd of 120 plus with a pair of sparkling acrobatic plays in the field, each leading to sensational double plays.  Kapitzky, a human highlight reel all season long, pitched three scoreless innings to start the game.  His prowess was matched by fireballer Brady Pemstein who brilliantly shut down the mighty Rays offense the rest of the way.  All night long this pitching duo dominated by throwing hard strikes while consistently moving the ball all over the plate. 

Strong armed catchers Jack Rouleau and Brennan Baldwin anchored the National’s defense and kept the opposition from advancing on the bases.  The defense was stellar behind the smart play of Maxx Wayne, Joe “Hawk” Lavin and Rahil Shah.

Joey Dreiling’s hustle and aggressive base running led to his scoring two runs and Matt Steindel sparked the ball club with his huge clutch RBI.  While the Nationals steadily added to their run production, it was hard hitting Aaron Steindel’s line drive RBI to right field, his third hit of the night, which sealed the championship victory.

The stalwart Rays had a spectacular season.  Their team roster was solid and included Adam Babin, Josh Dyer, Conner Epstein, Scott Finley, Brian McNair, Michael Mussar, Ryan Nix, Travis Nix, Nick Sanders, Erick Smith, John Strojny and Nick Thurston.

The Nationals and Rays put in a solid effort and should be proud of their accomplishments this season.