Peru 10s hold off late Streator rally to capture D-20 Minor championship

Peru records final out with potential tying run on second base

Peru All-Stars pitcher Alex Lamps misses the tag on Streator's Zerek Sibert at the plate in the 10-Year-Old District 20 Little League championship game on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, at Jim Bottomley Field in Oglesby.

OGLESBY – The Peru 10-Year-Old All-Stars held a six-run advantage over their Streator counterparts heading to the top of the fifth inning of Wednesday’s District 20 Minor League championship game.

However, as it had the past few games fighting back through the losers’ bracket, Streator battled back to score three in the fifth, plated another in the sixth and had runners on second and third with one out.

But from there, Peru’s Alex Lamps came on to strike out a batter, then put a successful tag on a runner trying to score on a wild pitch to earn the save and end his team’s 8-6 victory at Sunny Jim Bottomley Field, sending them to the upcoming sub-state tournament in Sterling.

Members of the Peru All-Star team celebrate after defeating Streator in the 10-Year-Old District 20 championship game on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, at Jim Bottomley Field in Oglesby.

Streator grabbed the early lead with two runs in the top of the first, as a pair of errors preceded a run-scoring passed ball and an RBI groundout by Braydon Vickers.

“The two runs we gave up in the first inning was a little hard to watch, because they scored on errors,” Peru manager Miguel Hermosillo said. “Then we made a couple of little mistakes in the last couple innings that hurt us, but in the end we were able to finally get that final out.

“Streator has shown the resiliency the last few games they’ve had, getting down and coming back, so I knew they were a gritty team that was going to keep fighting.

“My guys played a really good game. It was great to see them holding that district banner.”

Members of the 10-Year-Old Streator All-Stars meet in between innings of he District 20 Little League championship game on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, at Jim Bottomley Field in Oglesby.

Peru took the lead for good in the second, as Grady Mueller and Mick Hermosillo began the frame with singles off Streator starter Joey Studnicki (4 IP, 1 BB, 1 K). Mueller scored on a passed ball before Max Garcia smacked an RBI single to center. With two outs, Brody Fletcher drove in Garcia with a base hit to right.

In the third, singles by Andrew Hermosillo, Mueller, Nick Hermosillo and Brendon Suarez (RBI) pushed across two tallies to make it 5-2.

“After falling into the bottom bracket, we’d won four straight games, three by one run including two in extra innings to get here,” Streator manager Randy McCloskey said. “They were all blood-pressure raisers for sure. I couldn’t be prouder of how these guys battled the last week and a half. They were a fun group to coach.

“Joey and Noah [Rodriguez] both pitched really well and threw strikes. Peru has a really good team, and the difference tonight was they were able to put the bat on the ball and put the pressure on the defense.”

Peru added three more runs in the fourth, starting with Andrew Hermosillo driving in Dylan Grzybowski, who had singled and moved to third on two throwing miscues. Later, Andrew Hermosillo scored on a fielder’s choice ground out by Owen Fivek, with an error allowing the final run to score.

Streator rallied with two outs in the fifth. Studnicki singled off Peru reliever Fivek (2 1/3 IP, 1 BB, 3 K) ahead of Vickers reaching on an error. Rodriguez followed with an RBI hit before a two-run single by Zae Moton (two hits) made it 8-5.

In the sixth, an error and singles by Zerek Sibert and Brooks McCloskey started the inning, but on McCloskey’s hit a runner was caught off third for the first out. Sibert scored on a wild pitch before Lamps came on to record the final two outs.

Mueller finished allowing just one hit with three strikeouts in three innings on the mound, and posted two hits along with teammates Nick Hermosillo and Fletcher to pace an 11-hit attack.

“I felt like I pitched pretty good,” Mueller said. “I was a little nervous before the game, but once I threw my first pitch, I was good after that.”

But was he nervous in the top of the sixth?

“Nah, [Alex] is good, and I knew he could shut them out,” Mueller said. “I’m excited to get to play more baseball this summer. ... This is a fun team to play on.”