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ADRIAN, Mich.---The Kingsford American Legion Baseball team completed another big comeback on Sunday to win the Class A state tournament championship.
The Greens, after being dumped into the loser's bracket by an illegal team in the first game of the tournament, battled back to win four games in the loser's bracket, including Sunday's 11-1 championship win over Breckenridge Post 295.
It was Kingsford's second straight state championship, and the Greens did it pretty much the same way by fighting hard through the loser's bracket and relying on every player to contribute something.
Kingsford Manager Bobby Anderson says his team didn't fold after losing a disappointing opener against North Branch, which was later kicked out of the tournament for violating Class A American Legion Baseball rules. That team had more than four times the legal number of kids based on community enrollment in their towns.
“Basically, they understood what the job that was to do,” an emotional Anderson said. “If you want to come home early (with another loss) we could, but we didn't drive eight hours to lose. We wanted to bring home another state championship to the U.P. This one is way sweeter. The U.P., we're a lot of small towns. I inherited this team, and tried to put together 14 guys between the ages of 15 and 19. I think we did a good job.”
The heart and soul of the Greens team, Pablo Finley, who got the American Legion Department of Michigan “Hal Newhouser” Most Valuable Player Award. Finley had 12 hits in 20 at-bats (.600 average) at the plate and had saves in both of his relief pitching appearances. Finley was also the emotional leader, even after that bad opening day.
“I don' know if I should cry, or smile, or what I'm feeling right now,” Finley said. “I mean, growing up, these are my boys. I love being with these boys. I love competing with them in all of the sports. In all three sports (baseball, football, basketball) we were never the never the biggest, the fastest, the strongest, the best, but we fought. That's what we did, and I'm gonna miss it.”
Finley says the main reason he played Legion ball this summer was to be on one more run with his close friend, Trent McLain. And McLain, the boy from Florence, Wis., was nearly as big of a part of this team as Finley was.
McLain, who did not play college baseball last spring, did not just sit around. He kept working hard at baseball, and helping this team win again was his biggest goal.
And McLain did that on Sunday, throwing a two-hitter on the mound with the Greens' rotation pitchers, Owen Baij, Jack Kriegl, and Finley, already maxed out.
McLain struggled to throw strikes early, and gave up a triple to Bodie Hadder in the second inning. Hadder scored on a sacrifice fly to give Breckenridge a 1-0 lead.
In the third inning, McLain walked two batters and gave up a single, so the Post 295 team had the bases loaded with a chance to add to its 1-0 lead. McLain got a swinging third strike on a 3-2 pitch to Blaze Snyder, keeping it 1-0. He never was in trouble again.
“You can't let one inning or a couple of pitches get to you,” McLain said. “You've just got to keep your composure. Before the game, I told everyone in the dugout that they (Breckenridge) were screwed from the beginning before I even stepped on the mound. That's the mentality that you've got to have for every at-bat, thinking that you're the best. Not giving up any of those runs in that situation was pretty big.”
It was, because the Greens took advantage of leaky Breckenridge defense to get extra baserunners, and the bats were going as well. Kingsford tied the game at 1-1 when Norway Knight Cam Varda came through with an RBI single in the third inning.
Then, it was McLain who helped his own cause with a two-run single in the bottom of the third inning to put Kingsford in front, 3-1. It stayed 3-1 until the bottom of the fifth inning, when McLain hit a gap shot to center field, bringing home Finley, who got his second hit of the game and 12th of the tournament. Finley scored all the way from first.
“A lot of practice over the summer, winter, I don't take a break, really,” McLain said. “I mean, yesterday when we played them, I saw two fastballs out of who knows how many pitches I saw from them. I was expecting that again today. You've still got to wait for the fastball, which they gave to me today, and you saw it, to the outfield multiple times.”
That fifth inning saw things unravel for Breckenridge (8-13-1), which simply ran out of pitching. Kingsford scored six runs altogether in that inning to take a 10-1 lead. Norway Knight Landon Ross, who didn't see the field at all in the entire tournament, was put into the lineup on Sunday. And he came through with a two-run hit in that inning.
“He (Anderson) told me, don't make the moment too big,” Ross said. “Just live in the moment. Don't get too full of yourself, don't get too big. That's what I did. A state championship. You don't really get better than that!”
It was also emotional fort Kriegl, who has been one of Kingsford High School's most consistent star athletes for the past four years. He overcame a severe spleen injury suffered in football last fall, but still came back to play for the Flivvers in the playoffs.
Kriegl also played for KHS in the basketball and baseball seasons, and was given the Gil Heard Award of Courage by the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. He was also an inspirational leader, almost as much as Finley was.
“It's awesome to go out with a group that you grew up with and playing with your whole life,” Kriegl said. “These guys are my best friends. I do everything with them, so it was awesome to go out on top.”
And playing with Norway and Florence guys on this Greens team?
“We definitely battled on the field over the years, but once you get to know the people on the other side, they're awesome,” Kriegl said. “They're my best friends, too. Played a lot of baseball with them. It's all fun.”
The championship was sealed in the bottom of the sixth inning when Ross came up with the bases loaded and one out and lifted a fly ball to right field.
“I'm thinking, just put the ball in play,” Ross said. “Honestly, anywhere, but preferably to the right side of the field so Pablo could score. That's exactly what I did.”
It was also an emotional moment for Ross because he was able to play with his Norway buddies, Baij and Varda, one last time.
“It means the world,” Ross said. “I love those guys. Those are my brothers. I've been playing with them since I was seven years old. They're just a big part of my life, and it means the world to win the state championship with them.”
The championship was also emotional for assistant coach Dek Forstrom. He has been coaching for American Legion, high school, and other youth baseball teams for three decades in Dickinson County. Often, a lot of what he does is behind the scenes and goes unnoticed. But the guys made sure to blindside Forstrom with a Gatorade jug bath.
“That was definitely my idea,” Kriegl admitted. “A lot of the guys were like, who should we get, who should we get? Should we get Dek? So, yeah, we got Dek! It was good.”
“Very emotional for me,” Forstrom said. “Our relationship is very special. It started with the game (of baseball) and it will end never. I brought my seniors together and said, this is the last time, but we're always together, we're never apart. Through the adversity and everything else, rules committees and this and that, we won. And it made it better because we won through the adversity."
The top four batters in the Greens lineup, Kriegl, Varda, Finley, and McLain, all had two apiece. Varda and McLain both has three RBI. Ross also had two hits, and thw walk-off sac fly, in the seven hole.
“The shoutout goes to Dave Brown and the Brown family,” Finley said. “They did a lot for us, especially for me. My first year of ISA (travel ball), they really took care of me. They really changed my career. If I didn't go there, I probably wouldn't be playing college baseball anywhere. They pretty much won us these two state championships.”
Finley will be a sophomore at UW-Stevens Point this fall, and his teammate, Garrett Brown, will be a sophomore at St. Mary's University in Minnesota.
Kingsford finished its season with a 20-4-1 record.
Besides the loss to the illegal North Branch team at this tournament, the only losses for the Greens came against a stacked Fond diu Lac team, plus two losses in the Escanaba season-opening tournament when Kingsford was missing several top players.
The Greens also played to a 0-0 tie with Marinette, which won the Wisconsin AAA regional championship and will be playing in the Wisconsin state tournament in Marshfield starting this Tuesday.
