Hot bats lead Doggy Paddlers to conference championship game

Published 12:14 pm Monday, August 3, 2026

QUINCY — Led by its explosive offense, The Doggy Paddlers advanced to the Prospect League’s Western Conference Championship game by virtue of their 10-6 win over Burlington at QU Stadium Sunday night.

It would have seemed like the Bees had the Doggy Paddlers’ number headed into Sunday night’s Prospect League Northwest division championship playoff game. Looks, however, can often be deceiving.

Having been dominated by the visiting team 9-3 in the regular season series – including a weekend double header sweep – Quincy was going to have to pull out its arsenal of hitting dynamite, which had proven itself many times this year, to get the post-season win over the Bees.

And that they did.

A two-run effort in the third inning, followed by back-to-back three run innings in the next two stanzas, paced the Doggy Paddlers to victory and to live another day. They now travel to Cape Girardeau, Mo., for a Tuesday night Western Conference Championship clash against the Catfish, a 17-7 winner of the South Division’s playoff matchup against O’Fallon Sunday night.

The first pitch for Tuesday night’s conference championship game, which will be played at Capaha Park, is set for 6:30 p.m.

Down 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning, the Doggy Paddlers finally got on the scoreboard with a Nick Griffith homer down the infield line and later a Harry Fandre single advanced Kamryn Link to home base. The good guys took the lead in the bottom of the fourth when hometown hero, Brady Kindhart, along with Jamie Rasmussen, scored on a Dean Staudacher single to center field. The Quincy scoring in that stanza ended with a Link single to center field that allowed Staudacher to get to home plate.

A Burlington homer at the top of the fifth closed the Bees’ gap to 5-4, but a three-score fifth inning by the Doggy Paddlers’ padded the Quincy lead to 8-4 with scores from Ignacio Gonzalez, Rasmussen and Kindhart.

The Bees got a score in the top of the seventh, but the Doggy Paddlers’ bats remained hot, gaining another two runs in the bottom of the inning to go up by a 10-5 count. Kindhart stole third base and then scored on a throwing error by the Bees’ catcher and Staudacher got to home plate in that inning to up Quincy’s lead in the game.

Burlington garnered another run at the top of the eighth inning, but that is all she wrote in the game, and it was too little, too late for the Bees in their comeback bid. The teams had 10 hits apiece in the game, with three errors committed by the visitors and one from the Doggy Paddlers.

Nick Wilson (5-3) got the win on the mound for the Doggy Paddlers, pitching five innings and allowing five hits and four runs. Ethan McMasters recorded the save for Quincy, pitching four innings and giving up two runs and five hits to the Bees.

How Both Teams Got to Sunday’s Playoff Game

Quincy, won its way into Sunday’s game by virtue of winning the Northwest Division of the Prospect League’s Western Conference in the first half of the season, while the Bees secured their right to the post season after winning the first of two games against the Doggy Paddlers Saturday and thus clinched the division’s second-half crown.

The Doggy Paddlers entered Sunday night’s playoff game against the Bees following a gallant effort versus Burlington in the first game of a double header Saturday as regular season play wrapped up at QU Stadium over the weekend.

In Saturday’s twin bill, which was forced by a cancellation due to inclement weather in Burlington on Friday night, the Doggy Paddlers hung strong, even erasing a 10-run deficit at one time to come within one run of beating the Bees in game one of the two games. Burlington dominated at bat in the twilight game, pummeling the home squad on way to a 10-run victory over Quincy.

By virtue of its 15-14 win in the first game, the Bees won the right to nail down the playoff spot to play against Quincy Sunday. They went on to sweep the double header, taking a commanding 11-1 win in game two.

With the losses Saturday, the Doggy Paddlers wrapped up their regular season with an overall 26-29 record.