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All three starting pitchers threw complete games last weekend as the Wildcats won the Forest Lake Legion Tournament. In the opener Friday, June 22, the Wildcats beat the Woodbury Royals 7-4 with Dan Kaiser on the hill. Mike Welle went all the way against Stillwater as Aaron Rivard's two-run double in the bottom of the sixth lifted the Wildcats to a 4-3 victory over the Ponies. And Ryan Rivard, helped by two terrific catches by right fielder Tom Fitzer, allowed just one unearned run as the Wildcats beat Richfield 4-1 to take home the championship trophy.

Chisago Lakes 7, Woodbury 4

The Wildcats overcame a 4-3 deficit after two innings with single runs in the third through sixth innings to beat Woodbury 7-4 in the opener. With one out in the bottom of the first, Tom Fitzer singled and Eric Reed reached on an error. Dan Kaiser's single up the middle, Ryan Rivard's double to left-center and Aaron Rivard's groundout each drove in a run to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead. But the Royals came right back in the top of the second. Two hits, two walks, a balk and an error gave Woodbury a 4-3 lead.

The Wildcats tied it in the bottom of the third. Kaiser singled and Ryan Rivard's second double of the game moved him to third. Aaron Rivard's sacrifice fly scored Kaiser to make the score 4-4. Tim Johnson led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk and went to second on Andy Slagle's groundout. With two outs and Johnson on second, Reed singled to left. The third-base coach sent Johnson home. The throw and Johnson arrived at the plate at about the same time, but Johnson made a nice dive to avoid the tag and put the Wildcats up 5-4.

In the fifth, Ryan Rivard led off with a single and was erased on a fielder's choice off the bat of Aaron Rivard. One out later, Andrew Verhey's double to the right field corner easily scored Aaron Rivard with the Wildcats' sixth run of the game.

In the top of the sixth, Johnson made a great running catch in deep right center field to take away a potential extra-base hit. In the bottom of the sixth, Fitzer tripled to left-center with one out and scored on Reed's line drive single to left to put the Wildcats up 7-4. Kaiser allowed just four hits and struck out four on the day. He struck out the final batter in the bottom of the seventh to complete the victory and send the Wildcats to the semifinal game of the eight-team tournament.

Chisago Lakes 4, Stillwater 3

Mike Welle kept the Ponies off-balance with an assortment of breaking pitches, Tom Fitzer bunted in a run with two outs and Aaron Rivard capped off a three-run rally in the sixth as the Wildcats beat the Ponies 4-3 to advance to the tournament's championship game.

The Ponies scored single runs in each of the first two innings to go up 2-0. In the bottom of the third, Andy Slagle tripled with two outs. The next batter, Tom Fitzer, surprised everybody by laying down a bunt on the first pitch. Slagle crossed the plate easily as Fitzer reached first. The ball kept rolling right along the chalk down the third base line. The Ponies willed it foul, but the ball stopped right on the line, allowing Slagle's run to count and the Wildcats to pull within 2-1.

The Ponies threatened to break the game open in the top of the sixth. A single, a walk and two more singles plated one run and left the bases loaded with one out. The next batter hit a grounder to first. First baseman Tom Fitzer threw home for the second out, leaving the bases still loaded with two outs. Welle got the final batter to ground out to Andy Slagle at short to keep the score at 3-1.

Then the Wildcat hitters went to work. Eric Reed and Ryan Rivard led off the inning with singles. Reed scored on Welle's single to makes it 3-2 Ponies. Aaron Rivard then ripped a ball into the left-center field gap for a two-run double to put the Wildcats up 4-3. Welle pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to nail down the win as the Wildcats advanced to the championship game.

Chisago Lakes 4, Richfield 1

The Wildcats scored two unearned runs in the top of the first and Ryan Rivard allowed just three hits as the Wildcats beat Richfield 4-1 to win the tournament.

Andy Slagle reached on an error and stole second to lead off the game. With one out, Eric Reed singled to move Slagle to third, and then stole second. Slagle scored on Kaiser's groundout to get the Wildcats on the board. Ryan Rivard then reached on an error, scoring Reed to make the score 2-0. Richfield scored in the bottom of the second to close the gap to 2-1.

With one out and the score still 2-1, a Richfield batter hit a ball deep into the right-center field gap in the bottom of the third. Speedy right fielder Tom Fitzer chased the ball into the gap, leaped and caught the ball behind his head to take away an extra-base hit. In the fourth, the Richfield leadoff hitter blooped one into right, but Fitzer raced in to make a diving catch to keep the bases empty.

The Wildcats stretched their lead in the top of the fifth. Slagle walked to lead off the inning and Fitzer singled. Reed and Kaiser each drove in a run with a single to make it 4-1 Wildcats.

In the bottom of the sixth, the first two Richfield batters reached base on a hit-by-pitch and an error. But, Ryan Rivard induced the next three hitters to hit into force plays, including two balls to second baseman Quinn Collins, to end the inning without any runs scoring.

The first Richfield batter in the seventh was also hit by a pitch, but the Spartans couldn't capitalize on it as Rivard got three of the next four batters to ground out to end the game and give the Wildcats a 4-1 win and the tourney championship.

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