The only team to give the Bowling Green East 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars a fight in the District 1 Tournament was Owensboro Southern. BG East won the first meeting by one run, then steamrolled the remaining tournament field to set up a rematch for the championship.

It started out as another close fight, then came the fifth inning.

With two outs and no base runners, BG East went off for seven runs and cruised to a 14-5 victory to claim the District 1 Little League championship Tuesday night at Phil Moore Park.

“It feels good,” starting pitcher BG East pitcher Jackson Lee said. “We just had to do anything we could to win.”

BG East trailed by two runs in the first inning and crept its way into a tie after three. It held a one-run lead with two outs in the top of the fifth. Two errors and a single loaded the bases for Cameron Obee, and the rallying rhinos went to work.

Obee is the younger brother of Devin Obee, who built his reputation as a power hitter for the 2015 and ’16 BG East teams that went to the Little League World Series. Those teams used a stuffed lion that hung on the dugout fence as its rallying motivation.

The 2018 BG East 9- and 10-year-olds are using a stuffed rhino, often placing their fist on their foreheads representing a rhino’s horn.

Obee zipped a two-run double into left and looked to the BG East dugout with fist to forehead.

The rout was on.

“Supposed to be thick-skinned, can handle the heat and stampede and all those things,” said BG East manager Rick Kelley, who coached both Little League World Series teams. “We’ll take whatever we can to get to state.”

Now BG East awaits the announcement of its opponent at the Kentucky Little League State Tournament beginning July 21 in Lebanon.

“We match up probably with anybody because we do have some depth in pitching and our hitters are hitting well,” Kelley said.

Lincoln Fowler (four hits) and Obee (three) accounted for half of BG East’s 14 hits against Owensboro Southern. Lee shook off a shaky start in allowing two runs before settling down for 3 2/3 innings and reaching the pitch count limit.

Fowler entered and retired three batters and allowed four hits while the BG East offense went to work.

“We’ve had a team effort of everybody hitting,” Lee said. “They’re all pretty good and we can trust each other.”

Following Obee’s two-run shot, Fowler pushed across two more to stretch the lead to 9-4. An error and RBI singles from Embree Dotson and Christopher Cohron made it 12-4.

Obee and Fowler brought in two more runs in the sixth for a 10-run lead.

“That speaks highly about the team and how they pick each other up,” Kelley said. “Really proud of the overall performance. Our pitching was really good. Jackson Lee came in and settled down after the first inning and Lincoln Fowler came in and did a great job at the end.”

Once BG East edged Owensboro Southern 4-3 to open pool play, it dominated Hopkinsville, East Daviess, then Franklin-Simpson in the semifinals by a combined score of 42-2.

Owensboro Southern jumped on Lee early with two runs on three hits and two walks. BG East finally got on the board in the third on Griffin Veazey’s single and tied the game by scoring on a passed ball. Obee scored the go-ahead run on another passed ball later in the inning.

Owensboro Southern tied it back up in the bottom of the third before BG East took the lead for good on Veazey’s sacrifice fly in the fourth.

“I think Owensboro Southern is always one of the top teams in the state and they demonstrated that again,” Kelley said. “Any time you play them, you know it’s going to be a tight game and it can go either way. This was another great Little League baseball game. The score maybe doesn’t reflect it but, again, with two outs we were able to rally with seven runs.”

Bowling Green East 003 272 – 14 14 1

Owensboro Southern 201 101 – 5 8 5{&end}