DC All-Stars Survive; State Semifinals On Sunday

MONTAGUE, Mich.--For the longest time, the Baseball Gods looked at the Delta County Junior Boys (age 13-14) players and frowned.

Those mythical creatures did not offer much help to the boys in red and white as they played in the state tournament on Saturday.

The DC All-Stars couldn't get the big hit, especially with men on base.

Borderline pitches on the corner of the plate always seemed to be called balls when the DC pitchers were throwing. And their opponents seemed to be able to get a pop fly base hit, or a swinging bunt for a hit, almost at will.

Delta County lost to Taylor North Central, 4-2, despite giving up just three base hits. But at the end of the day, those same Baseball Gods finally gave the DC boys a wink and a nod as they held on to post an 8-7 win over Western Grand Rapids.

And so after all of the drama that covered the eleven-or-so hours that the boys spent at the Montague High School Field on Saturday, one thing is clear: the Delta County All-Stars are one ofr the final four junior teams still playing in the State of Michigan.

Delta County will face undefeated North Saginaw Township in the state semifinals.

In the game against Taylor, the Delta County boys stranded 14 base runners, including leaving the bases loaded three times. One of those times, they were loaded with no outs.

At the same time, that suburban Detroit team took advantage of its opportunities.

But before they did, the Delta County team grabbed an early lead as Hunter Garling doubled home Sean Bissell in the first inning.

Taylor quickly tied the game in the second inning as Cody Serafin doubled just out of Garling's reach in center field and scored on a groundout.

Then in the third inning, the District Five champs took the lead on Serafin's RBI single.

There was a good DC defensive play there, as left fielder Jack Valentine got the ball and threw to shortstop Hunter LaMarch, who threw to catcher Sean Bissell to cut down the second runner trying to score.

In the third inning, Taylor took a 3-1 lead when Jeremy Johnson struck out but was safe on a throwing error by Bissell. He scored on a fly ball to left by Tyler Debusk...but Delta County got the double play when Valentine threw to second after making the catch.

They added another run on a balk on the sixth inning to lead, 4-1.

Throughout the game, Delta County had plenty of baserunners. But the boys stranded two runners in both the first and second innings, and left the bases loaded in both the third and the fourth. DC stranded another base runner in the fifth inning.

In the sixth, Bissell got a one-out double, then Brandon Punzel got a single but Bissell stopped at third. He scored on an RBI single by Logan Lamb to make it 4-2, then Nick Aird was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Valentine fanned to end the inning.

It was the third time in the game that the DC All-Stars left the bases loaded. They outhit the Taylor All-Stars, 9-3, but lost the game, 4-2.

Jake Peterson started the game for Delta County, but tweaked a back injury that he's had for most of the summer and had to leave the game after the first inning.

Hunter Garling drives home Sean Bissell vs Taylor

Justin Popelka and Logan Lamb followed him to the mound, with Lamb throwing 70 pitches, allowing three runs (one earned) on two hits in five innings of work.

So, with a disappointing loss in the record books, the DC All-Stars spent a few hours getting a bite to eat, hitting in the cages on the Montague softball practice field, and in Peterson's case, a time in the hot tub to help his injured back.

And then it was time for a do-or-die game against Western Grand Rapids.

It looked like the Baseball Gods would keep frowning on the DC boys as they continued to get men on base only to leave them there.

Three men were left stranded in the second inning, and then in the bottom of the second inning, some misfortune conspired to put the DC All-Stars down by two runs.

Brandon Punzel got the first two outs of the inning, but Bruce Buurstra got a pop fly single, and Troy DeGroot and Jarod Nickel each got infield hits on what amounted to swinging bunts. Adam Kregel then followed with a ground ball that went right under Lamb's glove at third base for an error.

It was 2-0 for Western Grand Rapids at that point.

In the third inning, the bases were loaded on two hits and a walk for DC, but Peterson, returning to the line-up despite the bad back, flew out to left field.

The Baseball Gods finally started to smile on the Delta County boys in the fourth inning. Valentine was hit by a pitch, Nick Aird singled, and Bryant Beem shook off his batting slump to load the bases for the fifth time on the day for the DC All-Stars.

This time, the boys got some help, as LaMarch and Bissell each walked with the bases loaded.

That tied the game, and then Punzel hit a fly ball that brought home the go-ahead run on a sacrafice fly. Later, Lamb ripped a two-run single to left. It was 5-2.

After Valentine walked, Aird came through with a clutch two-it hit to drive home a pair of runs and give Delta County a 7-2 lead.

They added an unearned run in the fourth inning to lead 8-2, but EWestern scored a run in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Collin Stulpe.

That inning saw Bissell awe the crowd by throwing out a baserunner trying to steal third base, and then he got Bennett Norry on a pop fly that required a long run near the dugout to record the out.

Logan Lamb 2nd Hit vs Western

But in the sixth inning, Punzel ran out of pitches.

That meant a "pitch-by-committee" situation for Delta County as they tried to hang on to the 8-3 lead.

Garling came on to relieve Punzel, but walked man and hit another.

A Kyler Tuttle grounder scored one for Western. With the score 8-4, Garling got Stulpe to pop it up in foul gound. Three guys looked at the play, and no one made it, with Bissell making a last-ditch dive to try to catch a ball that wasn't his to begin with.

And sure enough, Stulpe hit a pop fly over the third baseman's head to drive home two runs. It was an 8-6 ballgame.

Things got even more dramatic in the bottom of the seventh.

Aird got the first out, but Nickel ripped a double. Aird got Kregal to ground out, but Trevor Hans singled to bring Nickel home.

But with the tying run on third, Nickel got Jace Beatty to ground out to LaMarch at third base.

The game was over, and Delta County won a nailbiter, 8-7.

Aird and Lamb both had three hits to lead Delta County. Punzel earned the win on the mound, going five innings, allowing four runs (one earned) on seven hits. He struck out four and walked three in his performance. Aird earned the save on the mound.

Dramatic Final Out vs Western.

The boys will face North Saginaw Township in the state semifinals Sunday afternoon. The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600) and streaming audio worldwide on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

Game time is 1:00 ET, with the pre-game show starting at about 12:50.

CLICK HERE to see the story on the team's Friday win over Parchment, including pictures, videos, and audio that we couldn't post until now due to technical issues.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see pictures taken during the Taylor game. You can also hear audio highlights and interviews from both the Taylor and Western games, and one video.

Photos and videos from the Western game will be added Sunday night.
Thanks to Kammie Burks for takling all of these photos and videos!