Kearney Little League Minors Tournament Team Wins State
Kearney’s Minors team (10 year olds) won the State Tournament Monday night, July 22nd in Blair, beating the team from Omaha Memorial Little League in the championship game 4-3. Kearney overcame a 3-2 deficit in the bottom of the 6th inning, scoring two runs. The game winning run was scored when Aiden Banda drove in Connor Thiel. Kolden Kohler and Peyton Meier combined to pitch for Kearney in the championship game, and battled hard to limit the high-scoring Memorial team to only 4 runs. Kearney was undefeated during the state tournament, beating Grand Island Northwest LL, Hastings LL twice, and Omaha Memorial LL twice. Also in the tournament were teams representing Blair LL, Omaha Hillside LL and Omaha Keystone LL.
The thirteen players chosen for the privilege of representing Kearney LL in the state tournament were: Dane Arens, Tyson Baird, Aiden Banda, Landyn Howell, Kolden Kohler, Spencer Krueger, Owen Launer, Peyton Meier, Harrison Morris, Brooks Rethorst, Kayl Thatcher, Connor Thiel and Cooper Willis. The team was managed by Terry Kohler. Coaches were Justin Rethorst and Colin Pfeiffer.
Kearney Little League Majors Tournament Team Wins State
Kearney’s Majors team (11 & 12 year olds) won the State Tournament in Blair, overcoming the team from Omaha Memorial Little League in the championship game on Monday night, July 22nd by a score of 13-5. Kearney had the lead 6-5 after 5 innings, and exploded for 7 runs in the top of the 6th to seal the win. This is Kearney Little League’s 4th straight state championship, and 10th in the last 12 years. The team was undefeated during the state tournament, beating Grand Island Northwest LL, Hastings LL twice, and Omaha Memorial LL twice. Also in the tournament were teams representing Blair LL, Omaha Hillside LL and Omaha Keystone LL.
The thirteen players chosen for the privilege of representing Kearney LL are: Bryce Andersen, Owen Axmann, Tysen Cabela, Logan Clark, Bubba Day, Charles Loofe, Derrick Nonhof, Griffin Novacek, Dominic Nowak, Lliam Paschall, Tate Redinger, Kole Throckmorton, and Keaton Wemhoff,. The team is managed by Brent Andersen. Coaches are Ryan Redinger and Russ Wemhoff.
The team now advances to the Little League Midwest Regional, in Westfield, Indiana, where they will battle the state champions from Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota for the Midwest Region’s spot in the Little League World Series. Nebraska will face Minnesota in their first game at the regional. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ at Noon on Saturday, August 3rd.
Special thanks goes to the many volunteers from Blair Little League who stepped in to host the tournament, which was originally scheduled to take place in Kearney. The tournament was moved due to the impact of the flood on hotel room availability.