Winterrowd Funeral wins wild, extra-inning Streator Little League city championship

STREATOR – The Winterrowd Funeral Home-sponsored Streator Little League team had a tradition this summer when times got tough.

“One thing that the boys have been doing all year is, any time attitudes get down, Connor Koetz leads a prayer,” Winterrowd coach Mike Volkman said. “It’s the weirdest little ritual, but it’s worked. We’ve had several comebacks.

“I don’t know [what they say] exactly. I’m not a part of it. It’s the boys in the dugout.”

Whatever was said, more often than not it’s been successful. It was again late Wednesday night in Winterrowd’s 18-15, extra-inning win over top-seeded Hatzer & Sons for the league’s Major Division (12U) city championship.

“Everyone all around, fantastic job,” Coach Volkman said.

Winterrowd responded to Hatzer & Sons’ game-tying, six-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning with a three-run top of the seventh, Kaleb Cartwright driving home Carter Fraga with the go-ahead run on an RBI groundout. Caleb Miller than came on in relief for the soon-to-be city champs and worked the only 1-2-3 inning of the night, striking out the side in the home half of the seventh to close out the thrilling, marathon win.

“I felt like I was going to lose it for my team,” Milelr said of taking the mound in the high-pressure situation, “but then I started gaining confidence.

“It feels really good to win this one, and [it was exciting] that I got to pitch, because I haven’t really gotten to pitch a lot. Plus I hit the ball.”

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Hatzer & Sons baserunner Patrick Luckey (2) and Winterrowd Funeral middle infielder Jaxon Eplin share a laugh during the Streator Little League Major Division city championship game Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at Southside Park in Streator. (MaKade Rios for Shaw Media)

Miller (1 IP, 0 R, 3 K) notched the save in relief of starter Elliott Volkman (3 IP, 4 R, 7 K), reliever Connor Koetz (2 IP, 7 R, 4 K) and winning pitcher Jaxon Eplin (1 IP, 4 R, 1 K). They were also among Winterrowd’s most effective hitters too – Eplin with two runs scored and three RBIs; Koetz providing a double, triple and four RBIs; Volkman with two hits and four RBIs; Miller with two hits and four runs scored; leadoff man/catcher Kaleb Cartwright with two hits, four runs and two RBIs; and Clark Bush scoring a pair of runs.

For Hatzer & Sons – which trailed from Winterrowd’s three-run top of the first all the way until its own six-run bottom of the sixth, Maddox Lansford scoring the tying run on a two-out wild pitch with Jiovante Green at bat – the offensive leaders were also many.

Cooper Masley and Makel Warner each singled home runs. Ben Brown tallied three singles and two runs scored. Westin Sullivan had one hit and scored three times. Rhett Lepper provided a run batted in, and Pat Luckey, in addition to catching all seven innings, had a single and scored thrice.

“It was a lot of pressure, but I think I handled it pretty good,” Luckey said of catching the entirety in the late-June heat and humidity. “It was a pretty good game.”

Sullivan (3 IP, 6 R, 7 K) started on the mound for the city runners-up and regular-season top team, relieved by Lepper (1 IP, 6 R, 2 K) and hard-luck losing pitcher Max Warwick (3 IP, 6 R, 4 K).

“Amazing comeback,” Hatzer & Sons coach Ben Brown said. “Our pitching got behind a little bit, but the sticks made up for it. [Winterrowd] just played a little better, got the hits when they needed them. ...

“To come back down six in the last inning and push it to extra innings with a guy on [second] base? We played well.”

Rhett Lepper (11) of Hatzer & Sons pitches Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at Southside Park in Streator. (MaKade Rios for Shaw Media)

Minor League (10U)

Streator NAPA 13, Gavin’s Lawncare 5: In the Minor League city championship also at Southside on Wednesday, NAPA pulled away for the title led by a hit and two runs scored from both Dylan Brown and Matthew Thomas, two runs scored after drawing walks by Jake Ostring, Henry Reel and Derek Wissen, and the pitching of Brown (3 IP, 3 R, 6 K) and Thomas (2 IP, 2 R, 6 K).

For city runner-up Gavin’s, Reid Austin singled and scored three runs, Cam Tutko recorded a double and three RBIs, Percy Jackson scored two runs, and Tutko (2 2/3 IP, 8 K) was the pitcher of decision.