EXPRESS QUALIFY FOR REGION 11C PLAY

July 29, 2006

The Kimball Express have qualified for Region 11C play as they defeated the Eden Valley Hawks, 7-2 in Central Valley League playoff action this past Saturday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Field.

Jim Brubaker’s solo homerun in the sixth inning ignited a three run inning as the Express broke open a game that was deadlocked at 2-2. A Brooks Marquardt bunt single and a Scott Marquardt rbi single plated the other two runs in the inning for the Express. Kimball added to that lead in the bottom of the seventh inning scoring two more as Joe Krippner singled and Brooks Marquardt grounded out to second with Ramsey Simons scoring on the play from third. Simons had a great day at the plate going 2-3 with a double. Krippner went 2-4 on the day with a double and two rbi. Adam Beyer’s solo homerun in the third inning got the Express on the board first.

Pat Arnold started on the mound and went seven complete innings picking up the win. He allowed six hits on the day striking out two and walked three. Jim Brubaker finished the game off for the Express pitching the eighth and ninth innings striking out two.

Rail Report

The win Saturday gives the Express a Region 11C berth. This year’s region tourney will be held in Howard Lake, hosted by the Howard Lake Orphans. Four teams from the CVL qualify. Other teams joining the Express are the Eden Valley Hawks as they defeated the Luxemburg Brewers in the elimination game this past Sunday. The Watkins Clippers and Cold Spring Rockies will represent the CVL North Division. Four teams from the North Star League will round out the eight team regional. Regional play begins August 4, 5, 6 and continues the following weekend August 11, 12, 13 with two teams qualifying for the state tournament held in Red Wing and Miesville.

Up next for the Express are the Eden Valley Hawks as the two teams meet for seeding purposes. Saturday they meet in Kimball at Veterans Memorial Field at 2:00. If the Hawks win the two teams will play again Sunday at 2:00 in Kimball. Once the number on and number two seeds are figured out, both teams will be able to draft two players from either St. Nicholas or Luxemburg. Getting the number one seed is huge as it makes a difference as to drafting first and also either playing Friday night or Saturday afternoon in that first regional contest. The number one seed gets to play Saturday where the number two seed plays Friday night at 6:00 which would make for a chaotic Friday afternoon for guys to make it to the park after working all day.