ADRIAN, Mich.---The American Legion Baseball Class A state tournament came to abrupt halt Friday night when one of the undefeated teams was declared to be ineligible and was kicked out of the six-team event at Adrian College.
The North Branch WFM/Post 457 team, based out of Lapeer (near Flint), had defeated Hudson and Kingsford on Thursday with strong pitching performances in both games, and was in the midst of a winners bracket final Friday night against the Breckenridge Post 295 “Sneaky Lynx” team from Mt. Pleasant when all of a sudden, everything was put on hold.
The Breckenridge team protested the North Branch roster, with the game being played in the fourth inning at Nicolay Field, and North Branch leading, 3-1.
After a long discussion, the North Branch team was declared illegal by American Legion Baseball Department of Michigan because it had players from so many communities that it greatly exceeded the total school enrollment allowed under the Legion Class A team rules.
The Kingsford Greens had only one loss, 5-2, to the now declared illegal North Branch team.
Kingsford earlier on Friday battled through the loser's bracket for two wins, 10-3 over Stevensville-Lakeshore, and 8-2 over Hudson.
Kingsford is the defending state champion from the 2025 tournament, with no losses this summer to eligible teams.
Breckenridge was also undefeated in the tournament, having beaten Hudson, and leading the stopped Friday night game.
The Greens will face Breckinridge Saturday at 12:30 CT/1:30 ET at Adran College. WZNL-FM (94.3) will continue to cover the Kingsford Greens throughout the weekend.
This is not the first time there has been controversy in post-season American Legion Baseball. It was a few years ago that a playoff game in Gladstone was stopped much like this game was. In that case, Iron Mountain had used a 20-year-old player in the Zone tournament. That team was disqualified after a stoppage in the sixth inning, after a review by tournament officials.
And more recently, at the Michigan Class A state tournament in Trenton, the Marquette Blues complained bitterly that Upper Peninsula teams (three were in the six-team tournament that year) were blindsided by a “super team” put together by the host team. That Trenton team won the state championship over Escanaba on the mercy rule. Nothing was determined to be illegal about that team.
