STEVENSVILLE, Mich.---Finally.
After all the years of coming up short in the American Legion Baseball tournaments, a state championship trophy is on its way to Dickinson County.
The Kingsford Greens captured the Class A state championship on Sunday, beating Stevensville-Lakeshore on their own field, 8-4, in a winner-take-all contest.
The Greens had lost to that team in a testy game earlier in the tournament, but picked up a 5-2 win on Saturday to force this Sunday baseball. This group of ten kids from Kingsford and Norway combined to form this team, after both high school squads had successful seasons. And now, they share a state championship trophy together.
“These kids from 10u, 12u, they've been so close,” Kingsford Manager Bobby Anderson said. “All-Stars. They were on the brink of being champions, basically their whole childhood, but just came up short every little time. So, it's not just about a trophy for these kids. They've shown perseverance, growth, and so much heart.”
“Watching them finally get this victory, they've worked so hard, there truly is no words. I could not be more proud of this group for what they have accomplished.”
“This tournament meant a lot to me for sure,” Kingsford pitcher Jack Kriegl said. “I think it was a great way to go out as a team. We all grew up playing baseball together, and we will probably never get to step on the diamond all together again.”
“We all used to be on the Wheelhouse team together when we were younger,” Greens pitcher Cam Varda added. “We were really good and played in a bunch of tournaments. It was awesome to be able to get all of us back together on a team again and win it all.”
Kingsford infielder Andres “Pablo” Finley was also emotional.
“It really feels great because I got to play with my bros one more time,” Finley said. “We finally got it done. After all the years of choking in (Little League) All-Stars, or choking in high school. We always had talent on the team, but we could never finish the job. We finished the job!”
On Sunday, Kingsford fell behind 1-0 in the first inning when Kriegl walked in a run, but got out of a wild inning by getting a ground out with the bases loaded. That seemed to give the Greens a boost, although they also stranded the bases loaded in the third inning after they tied the game on an unearned run.
In the fourth inning, Kingsford took the lead on a RBI single by Kriegl, and then Finley made it 3-1 with an RBI double to left field. The Greens had a chance to do more damage, but with runners at the corners, Landon Amundson hit into a double play.
Kriegl, known more for catching than for pitching, had a great bottom of the fourth inning when he struck out all three batters he faced. But in the bottom of the fifth inning,
Kriegl gave up a single and walked two guys to load the bases. Two consecutive sacrifice flies brought Stevensville back into a 3-3 tie heading to the sixth inning.
The Greens got the lead back when Kriegl and Finley both walked to start the sixth inning. Trent McLain, who hit a very long home run in Saturday's win, came through again with a simple single to left field, bringing home Kriegl with th be go-ahead run.
A sacrifice fly by Amundson gave Kingsford a 5-3 lead, leading to a key bottom of the sixth inning when the Greens got into another jam.
Varda came in to pitch, with Kriegl close to his 105-pitch count limit (he finished with 94). He gave up a hit and a walk to start the inning, but Varda picked one of the runners off of the basepaths.
That was big, because Zayne Stober followed with an RBI double to bring Stevensville within 5-4. Varda hit the next batter with a pitch, but was able to get Caleb Steinke to strike out to end a rather messy inning.
Speaking of messy, things fell apart for Stevensville in the top of the seventh inning as Varda walked, stole second, and scored on an error on a Finley ground ball to second base. Then, the next play, another error, as McLain's grounder to short was also misplayed, and Kingsford had a 7-4 lead. Amundson followed with an RBI single to make it 8-4, putting the Greens three outs away from a state championship.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Varda gave up a single and then hit a batter, the home team was in position for a comeback.
But Varda got Jake DenDooven to hit a grounder to Gavin Trevillian at short. Trevillian threw to Garrett Brown for one out at second, and then back to Amundson at first for a huge 6-4-3 double play. Then Varda got Quinn Carmody to ground out to Brown, sending Kingsford into celebration mode.
“All I had to do was throw strikes and rely on my defense,” Varda said. “They had guys on first and second and they hit one right to Gavin at short and he flipped it to Garrett for the double play. It was a huge play. It meant a lot because of what happened in our first game against them. Everyone on the team played hard, and I'm proud of every one of them.”
Stevensville finished its season with a 12-14 record. They had five hits in the game, with Stober getting two of them. Lakeshore made six errors, however, leading to four unearned runs. Their pitchers also walked ten Kingsford batters.
For Kingsford, Kriegl got the win on the mound, throwing five innings and allowing three runs on two hits and four walks. He struck out four batters.
“Coming into the game, my main focus was to just throw strikes and trust my defense,” Kriegl said of his pitching-in-a-pinch performance. “I knew I wasn't going to go up there and strike everyone out. I just had to put it in the zone and trust that my defense was going to make the plays for me, and that's what they did. They made my job way easier.”
Varda had an eventful two innings, allowing one run on three hits, two walks, and he hit two batters. But he nonetheless earned the save, as the Kingsford defense made no errors. And then, it was FINALLY celebration time for the Dickinson County bo
“Usually, you don't win your last game, and we were fortunate enough to do that,” Kriegl said. “I truly couldn't have asked for a better group to win this tournament with, and I am extremely proud of this team.”
“We had no errors and hit the ball,” Anderson said. “I have to give (assistant coach) Dan Brown a shoutout. He brought these kids up from 8u to what they are now. Training every single day, they have earned every single bit of this. And also, Dek Forstrom, Dan Weber, too, who did all of the behind-the-scenes stuff that nobody ever sees. Together, we all brought it back. We brought a state title back to the U.P.”
