For the second time in the tournament, Bay City SW needed to dig deep and come from behind to beat a feisty Georgetown team 12-7. But as I've said before, it's all about opportunities and capitalizing on them and Bay City SW are masters of opportunity.
Things started off looking good for Bay City SW in the top of the first inning with a 3-0 lead. The runs came from Seth Freed with a single followed by a double from Hayden Clements and a couple of RBI's from Jacob Alarie and Kollin Slachta. But this didn't seem to bother Georgetown as they used three innings to tie the game 3-3.
In the fourth inning, Bay City SW was able to go ahead 4-3 when Seth Freed was able to score on an outfield error and things looked good again for Bay City. But Georgetown wasn't going to just lay down either. In the bottom of the fifth, Georgetown had two big home runs. One was a two-run shot by Eddie Heyboer and a lone home run by Luke Gagnon and Georgetown led 6-4 going into what could be Bay City's final at bat. This was going to be a tough situation for Bay City because Georgetown pitcher, Mike Heyboer had not allowed a hit in the last four innings.
Logan Gatza led of the sixth inning with a single to right field and the crowd went wild with their chants of "we want a rally, we want a rally". I guess the Bay City players wanted one too. With the top of the order coming to bat, Seth Freed came through again with a double so deep that it bounced off the outfield fence. This was followed a walk to Brendan Taberski and the bases were loaded. As would have it, it was also the end for Mike Heyboer having reached the mandatory 85 pitch count.
Georgetown used two pitchers in the sixth inning but not before allowing a sacrifice fly by Kollin Slachta, singles by Taylor Schepper and Justin Gorr, a walk to Logan Gatza to load the bases again and a huge double by Brendan Taberski... opportunity presented... advantage taken. Georgetown went into the bottom of the sixth behind 12-6.
Bay City SW pitcher Taylor Schepper left the game with one out and a two ball count on the batter as he reached his mandatory pitch count. Georgetown was able to score one more run before Bay City reliever Justin Gorr closed out the game and the final score was 12-7
As a last comment. I have umpired in every level baseball regional's and the Little League World Series. I have been under pressure with a "ump cam" on my plate mask and base cap. I was the first base umpire in the Championship at the World Series with the President of the United States looking on and televised on ABC. But I'll share this with you, having over 1,000 people screaming and rooting on their teams is just as exciting and just as rewarding as any of the other Little League games I've umpired in.
In closing I should add that Midland Northeast defeated Grosse Pointe Park by a score of 14-6 and will play Bay City SW tonight in the Championship Game. I'll be at first base. The winner becomes the State Champion and will represent Michigan at the Regional Tournament in Indianapolis which begins next week. Two teams will advance from the Regional as the Great Lakes and Midwest Champions at the Little League World Series.
I will be following the winner of tonight's game to Indy at least for the first weekend. I will follow the two winners as they seek the World Series title.
