2018 Bossier City Rats Win 11th Title in 16 Years in Red River (LA) Adult Baseball League

Red River (LA) Adult Baseball League, 35+ Division

Bossier City Rats 6, Shreveport Storm 5

‘Buckley’s Single in Ninth Secures Championship’

Submitted by Zane Nipper, City Rats Manager

The City Rats have won 11 championships dating back to 2002. However, there has never been a more dramatic one as the City Rats waited until the ninth inning to push across the winning run and take away a 6-5 victory over the Shreveport Storm and the 2018 Red River crown.

Starting pitcher Jarrod Nipper threw an astonishing 180 pitches over 8 2/3 innings but the tired warrior gave up five runs in the ninth as the Storm tied the game. Vulture Joe Lockhart came in to shut the door, throwing only three pitches to let the offense take over.

Team MVP Zane Nipper tore a bicep tendon and was out of action but was still pushing the buttons to make everything work. Nipper explained, “We were playing in our first playoff game and I tore my bicep tendon swinging at an 80 mph fastball that my mind said I could catch up to but my body said not this time! Thank goodness it was the first playoff game and not the last one!”

Nipper went on to describe the big game. “In the championship game we played the Shreveport Storm headed up by Charles Dean. We have become pretty good rivals and friends over the years. The game started off back-and-forth and the score was 5-0 Rats over eight innings. But they scored three runs with two outs in the top of the ninth. The Storm fought back but we managed to scratch a run across on Brent Buckley’s single that lined off the pitcher and trickled to the outfield and scored the winning run from third. Brent has saved his best game for the championship two years in a row now. He was definitely the game MVP. This makes 11 championships in 16 years.”

The City Rats are made up of a mixture of veterans and youth, including vets Scott Hiers, Jay Williams, Zane and Jarrod Nipper, David Wyss, Greg Garner, Joe Lockhart, EJ Simpson, Rick Stujdhar and Brent Buckley and their core of young ‘Rat Bats’ Justin McCabe, Matt Houston and Seth Brown.