2015 Rats Withstand Storm to Capture 35+ Crown in Red River (LA)

Red River (LA) Adult Baseball League 35+ Division

Bossier City Rats 10, Shreveport Storm 6

‘Hiers and Garner Take Charge at the Plate and on the Hill’

Submitted by David Pratt, league President

The 35+ Division Red River Adult Baseball League Championship featured one “winner take all” game between the top two seeds, the top-ranked Bossier City Rats (10-2) and the second-seeded Shreveport Storm (9-3). The two teams had met three times in the regular season with the Rats winning two of those contests. Each of those games was very competitive and the title game would prove to be no different.

The Rats won the 2014 regular season and post season crowns, but after also winning the 2013 regular season, it was the Diablos that won the tournament championship. The Diablos, who later became the Storm, would once again aim to repeat that feat in 2015 after the Rats laid claim to the regular season title for the third consecutive year.

The Storm struck quickly to start the game when Charles Dean led off with a triple and scored on Scott Taylor’s ground out. Their lead did not last long as the Rats answered with three runs in the bottom of the opening frame, taking advantage of three errors and adding three hits. Shreveport answered the call in the top of the third with three more runs, highlighted by Dean’s RBI double. E.J. Simpson drove in Scott Hiers for the Rats in the fourth to tie the game at 4-4.

The lead would change hands two more times for a total of six times in the first six innings before Bossier City pushed across two runs in the sixth inning to take the lead for good on the strength of a RBI single from Hiers. The Rats added two more insurance runs in the eighth inning and nabbed their 10th overall championship across three age divisions and two leagues, by the score of 10-6.

Dean finished 4-for-5 with three runs and a RBI while Zack Pringle and Bill Hardy each tallied a pair of hits in the loss for the Storm. Hiers, Simpson, and Zane Nipper all collected two hits to pace the Rats offensively and Greg Garner tossed all nine innings to earn the win on the mound.

Hiers was selected as the championship team Most Valuable Player. He hit .679 on the season with 17 RBI in 10 games played. He also pitched his way to a 2-0 record with a save to go with a 2.12 ERA. The Rats’ manager is Darien Dukes.