Lou Gehrig Orioles beat Reds for 'AAA' title

The Orioles defeated the Reds, 7-6, to win the Lou Gehrig "AAA" championship. Members of the team, pictured from left, are: first row - Zack Weinberg, Alex Wilson, Andrew Spitznogle, Mike Paolini, Steve Frost; second row - Matt Schwallie, Alex Tzetzo, Mike Shanahan, Ben Wald, Brendan Quagliana; third row - coaches Tom Spitznogle, Chris Tzetzo, Mark Shanahan, Dave Wald and Chris Quagliana.

The top two teams from Lou Gehrig "AAA", the Reds and Orioles, recently battled into extra innings to crown a champion. The Orioles won, 7-6.

The two teams met earlier in the playoffs and it ended with a 6-6 tie. History repeated itself in the championship game, as the two teams found themselves deadlocked again 6-6 after six innings. It was the Reds who got out to an early lead with one run in the first scored by Connor Bender on an RBI single by his brother, Alex Bender.

The Reds also scored four runs in the top of the third inning to take a 5-0 lead.

The Orioles' bats finally came alive in the bottom of the third, pounding out four hits with two walks to tie the score at 5-5. Starting the inning off with a base hit was Zach Weinberg, followed by Stephen Frost and Mike Paolini. Mike Shanahan's double plated the fourth and fifth runs to end the inning.

Andrew White of the Reds scored on a suicide bunt put down perfectly by Alex Bender to take a 6-5 lead in the top of the fifth. But the Orioles again came back in the bottom of the fifth, starting with a leadoff single by Stephen Frost and a key RBI single by Shanahan to tie the game at 6-6.

Both teams loaded the bases in the sixth inning; however, strong defense from both teams prevented any runs from scoring.

In the top of the seventh, Paolini allowed only one base runner before shutting down the Reds, allowing no runs. Ben Wald's single opened the bottom of the seventh for the Orioles, followed by hits from Paolini, Shanahan and Matt Schwallie to load the bases.

The Reds had to bring in their infield and outfield to hold off the Orioles. With one out, the winning hit came off the bat of Brendan Quagliana, scoring Paolini from third with the winning run.