Class B & C
Petoskey, MI
This is the 8th Annual Dick Harbaugh invitational, now memorial tournament. Dick Harbaugh and Rex Marquardt were inducted into the MASA Hall of Fame in 2002 for their many years of service and along with Ed White, the three men were instrumental in building the reputation for tournament softball in Petoskey as one of the best. These three men organized and ran tournaments for over 30 years beginning in 1970. "After a long, full life of 93 years, Dick Harbaugh passed away peacefully at his home on State Street in Petoskey, surrounded with love from his family. A memorial service is being planned for later this spring with details and a complete obituary at that time." Petoskey News Review 3/2/17 |
Team Manager Dick Krueger
This tournament was called after 3 1/2 games due to storms, heavy rain and forecasts of rain over the upcoming 24 hours.
Tiffany's was declared Champion with their 2 wins while being the only team to play twice. Read game three details. (Picture of Team Manager Dick Krueger)
Gray Sox were declared Runner-up as they were the only other team with a win. (Picture of Team Manager Jeff Weaver)
Game One: Tiffany's-11 (10 hits) over Bradley Braves-1 (2 hits). WP-Kyle Gnatkowski (2 H's, 7 K's, 1 BB), LP-Dylan Cuddahee (2 IP, 9 R's, 10 H's, 1 K, 2 BB's) with relief from Keith Phillips (2 IP, 1 R, 0 H's, 2 K's, 2 BB's). Tiffany's - Jay Hoisington, Steven Hecht and Todd Sprowl each had 2 hits with a double, Cam Wiechman homered, singles by Kyle Gnatkowski, Callen Bowden and Brad Gnatkowski. Braves - Greg Smith homered and Brad Buel singled.
Game Two: Gray Sox-5 (6 hits) over Wranglers-3 (4 hits). WP-Fabio Silvestre (15 K's, 1 BB), LP-Zack Lach (6 K's, 5 BB's). Gray Sox - Jared Knuth had a homerun and a double, Deke Knuth and Ben Knuth each homered, Aaron Davis and Reid Benson each singled. Wranglers - Zach Lach had 2 hits, Alec Bergman hit a 3 run homer in the 6th inning to make it 4-3, Aaron Kraft singled. Jared Knuth homered in the top of the 7th to go up 5-3.
Game Three: BEST FAST PITCH GAME I'VE SEEN IN A LONG, LONG TIME!! Saturday 10:00 am Tiffany's vs. Homer Aces. Jon Gwizdala pitching for Tiffany's and Brian Edwards pitching for Homer Aces. Top 1: Homer Aces go down in order with 2 k's. Bot 1: Tiffany's Jay Hoisington leads off with a single, Kyle Gnatkowski lays down a sac bunt but an errant throw by the catcher at first has him safe at first, runners at 1st and 2nd. Runners advance on a wild pitch. F4 for first out. F3 for second out. Hoisington attempts to steal home on the throw back to the pitcher and is called out on a close play at the plate for the 3rd out. Top 2nd Aces: K, F8 and then K-E2 to reach first base. Botti steals 2nd base, 3rd out called strike three. Bot 2nd Tiff's: in order, 2 K's. Top 3: K for 1st out, bunt single by John Shields for the first hit of the game, next 2 batters strike out. Bot 3 Tiff's: 2 K's, a walk, third out grounder to first base unassisted. Top 4th Aces: lead off walk, strike out, strike out, 5-3 for the 3rd out. Bot 4 Tiff's: lead off walk, stolen base for Weichman, F6 and 2 K's to end inning. Top 5 Aces: 3 K's. Bot 5 Tiffs: 6-3, K, BB and 3U for the 3rd out. Top 6: 4-3 and a K for 2 outs, BB, stolen base, passed ball gets runner to 3rd, another walk puts runners at 1st and 3rd, strike out to end the inning. Bot 6th: single by Kyle Gnatkowski, called out for leaving early on a stolen base attempt, F8 and F5 to end the inning. Top 7th Aces: K, 1-3 and K. Bot 7th Tiffs: 6-3, F9, walk ground out fielders choice with shortstop unassisted at 2nd base to end the inning. Top 8th inning with international tie breaker Kyle Klepper starts at 2nd base, John Shields 9 hitter leads off with a bunt that pitcher Jon Gwizdala lays out for toward home plate but comes up short for Shields 2nd bunt hit of the game, with all of the confusion and the middle infielders to the corners on the bunt, Shields goes all the way to 2nd as he won the foot race with three others, runners now at 2nd and 3rd, no outs. Gwizdala strikes out the lead off and #2 hitters for 2 outs. Preston Sherman hits a hot ground ball comebacker at Gwizdala who gets a glove on it deflecting to 3rd baseman Todd Sprowl who narrowly gets him out at 1st base to end the inning. All in attendance roared with excitement and applause at the wild end to the threat of having runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs in extra innings. Bot 8th Tiffany's Collen Bowden starts out at 2nd base. 9th hitter Todd Sprowl sac bunts to get Bowden to 3rd base. Jay Hoisington works the count into a long at bat and then lifts one to center field for the sac fly out #2 RBI game winner with a throw to the plate that was a step late. The crowd goes wild and then it started sprinkling...
G3: Tiffany's-1 (2 hits), Homer Aces-0 (2 hits). WP - Jon Gwizdala (19 K's!, 2 BB's), LP - Brian Edwards (7 K's, 4 BB's). Tiffany's - Jay Hoisington and Kyle Gnatkowski singled. Aces - John Shields had 2 bunt singles. Congrats to both pitchers who threw phenomenal games and the defense!, saw some great defense with every pitch having the game on the line!
Game Four:: Bradley Braves vs. Gray Sox - halted in top 3rd at 12:47 pm. Gray Sox up 4-2. When play was halted, Greg Smith was on 1st base with one out.
Dylan Cuddahee was pitching for Bradley Braves (4 R's, 4 H's, 3 K's, 1 BB), Lane Bender was pitching for Gray Sox (2 R's, 3 H's, 4 K's, 1 BB). Braves - Singles by Brad Buell, Greg Smith and Tony Peters. Gray Sox - Matt Stuhr homered and singled, Zak Wasserman and Reid Benson singled.
And 5 hours later, this is what things looked like: (Video) / (Lake in Foul Territory Picture)
And the storm with high winds, thunder and lightning was supposed to roll in over the next few hours...
Participating Teams:
1) Wranglers from Lyons - paid in 2020
2) Homer Aces from Homer - paid in 2020
3) Tiffany's from Frankenmuth - paid in 2020
4) Bradley Braves from Moline - paid in 2020 by Majestic Taxidermy who had to drop out due to injuries
5) Gray Sox from Sawyer - paid December 2020 (requesting late Fri PM game)