It was a week of exciting seventh innings for the Kimball Cubs. On Saturday, April 30, the Cubs rallied in the last inning to win 9 to 8 over Royalton. Earlier in the week the Cubs lost two tough games; 7 to 6 to Howard Lake Waverly-Winsted and 13 to 9 to Eden Valley-Watkins. Both games slipped away in the last inning. April 25 Senior Paul Hughes led the rally in the HLWW game. Hughes hit was 4 for 4 at the plate, hitting two doubles and driving in four runs. Kimball had to come from behind in the fifth and sixth inning to tie the game, only to see it slip away in the bottom of the seventh In the fifth, senior Derek Kunkel reached on a one-out error. Sophomore Jason Tenney followed with a double. Both were driven in by Hughes’ double, who would also score on senior Aaron Rossman’s single. In the sixth the Cubs got going on three straight one-out singles by senior Steve Berscheid, junior Dan Stein, and Kunkel. With two outs Hughes singled to bring in two runs and tie the score at 6. The Lakers would score in the bottom of the seventh to win the game. April 28 Kimball would take a 5 to 1 lead in the bottom of the third inning, but would later have to rally to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth against Eden Valley-Watkins. Steve Berschied got things started in the bottom of the third with a single followed by another single by Jason Tenney. Matt Dingman reached on an error to load the bases. Erich Deutsch would single in a run and the Cubs would also score two runs on balks. Derek Kunkel would double in a run and Paul Hughes would also drive in a run to give the Cubs a 5 to 1 lead. The weather made for tough pitching conditions and EVW would take the lead back in the top of the fifth 8 to 5. Kimball would get two back in the bottom of the fifth with singles by Deutsch, Hughes and Steve Schutz. Aaron Rossman would drive in a run with a sacrifice fly to right and with bases loaded Berschied drew a two out walk. After another EVW run in the top of the sixth, the Cubs would tie the game on five hits in the inning. Leading off the inning Dingmann singled and was moved up by a bunt by Deutsch. Two straight singles by Kunkle and Hughes would bring in one run and with two outs Rossman would single in the tying run. EVW would score four runs in the top of the seventh to win the game. April 30 A tied 1 to 1 game going into the top of the fifth inning almost got away from the Cubs. Royalton 7 runs in the last three innings two break open a tight ball game. But Kimball had other plans in the bottom of the seventh. Erich Deutsch led off with a single to center and scored on a double by Derek Kunkel. Royalton’s lead was cut to 8 to 4 on Paul Hughe’s two-run homerun that bounced off the top of the left field fence. Then with one out Jeff Hunt reached on a walk, followed by Kevin Sommers. With two outs Jason Tenney singled to load the bases. The ninth batter of the inning Matt Dingmann, singled in a run to keep the bases loaded. Deutsch then followed with his second hit of the inning, a drive to left centerfield that would clear the bases and tie the ball game. The triple was Deutsch’s third of his career to tie the school record. He would score the game winner when Kunkel hit a high chopper to the shortstop who’s throw was off the mark. The win was the third of the year for Kimball against eight losses. All three were won in the seventh inning.
