A 14-inning marathon for the Northwoods League World Series championship ended in defeat Thursday for the La Crosse Loggers baseball team.
A one-out, sacrifice fly to center field in the bottom of 14 gave Kalamazoo the 7-6 win — the Growlers second title in the past three years.
The Loggers were looking for their first title in 12 seasons.
They lost 9-8 in last year’s NWL semifinals.
Up until that the winning run, neither team had scored after the seventh inning. That “drought” seemed even longer because of a rain delay, as well.
Kalamazoo was down 6-1, before scoring two runs in the sixth and three in the seventh to tie the game.
The Loggers, who were down 1-0 after the first, scored a pair of runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings.
To get to the championship, the Loggers had a peculiar season — especially if compared to last year.
This summer, La Crosse finished with the best first-half record in the Great Plains East division to guarantee a playoff spot.
And luckily they did, because they were the worst team in the division the second half of the season.
Last season, that was the complete opposite. They were the worst team to start and finished with the best second-half record.
And, the past two seasons, they played St. Cloud — which won it last year — in the semifinals.
They easily beat St. Cloud 8-1 on Wednesday to get to the NWL World Series. In last year’s semifinal, the Loggers came from behind twice — first overcoming a three-, then a four-run deficit — and took a one-run lead into the top of the ninth inning, only to see St. Cloud win it, 9-8, with two runs.
TOP PHOTO: Kalamazoo celebrates winning the Northwoods League World Series after a bottom of 14 sacrifice fly to beat the La Crosse Loggers 7-6 (PHOTO: Screenshot @NWLbaseball on Twitter)