Reeths-Puffer was the lone area team to reach Marsh Field and the
final four of Saturday's GMAA baseball tournament, defeating Ravenna 6-3
in a quarterfinal game before falling to top seed Fruitport 13-3 in the
semifinals.
The Rockets, the No. 5 seed, had to travel to
Ravenna for the quarterfinals, but played a solid game, jumping ahead
early and then rallying late for the win.
R-P's Brendan
Guikema got things rolling quickly, lacing a RBI double in the first
inning to open the scoring. Later in the inning, he came across to score
himself when Tyler Sykes drew a bases-loaded walk.
Ravenna
answered with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the first, and
the score stayed 3-2 Bulldogs until the fourth. Jack Yonkman tied
things up with a RBI single, and Guikema came up big again later in the
inning with his own run-scoring single. Paul Smith added a RBI single in
the fifth, and Sykes scored in the sixth on a wild pitch.
Yonkman
had two hits, as did Guikema, Smith and Bentley Kops. Guikema got the
win on the mound, allowing only one earned run on four hits and striking
out 10.
The top seed Trojans, though, dispatched R-P by mercy
rule in the semifinals, exploding for six runs in the fourth to end the
game. R-P managed three hits against Garrett Olson, and Fruitport
jumped ahead 4-0 in the first inning en route to the win. Ethan Frang
had a double in the game.
No. 6 seed Montague had designs on a
deep run in the GMAA, but were turned back by North Muskegon in a
nail-biting quarterfinal, 1-0. The only run of the game came in the
fourth inning when the Wildcats unsuccessfully tried to stop a squeeze
play at home plate.
In the seventh, Montague got two on base
with only one out, but Levi Auger's line drive to center field was
caught and resulted in a game-ending double play.
Cole
Herremans pitched very well, allowing only three hits in 4 2/3 innings,
but unfortunately for him, two came in that pivotal fourth inning. He
struck out seven. The Wildcats managed three hits on offense.
Whitehall
lost a walk-off thriller to Oakridge in Friday's play-in round, 5-4.
The two teams were vying for a spot opposite top seed Fruitport.
The
Eagles won the game in the bottom of the seventh inning on a sacrifice
fly after a walk, a stolen base and a bunt single put them in position
for the victory.
The finale spoiled a remarkable comeback by
Whitehall, which battled back from a 4-0 first-inning deficit and
finally tied it in the seventh inning when Evan Thomas scored Justin
Jensen on a groundout. Jensen led off the seventh with a walk and
reached third on a Emmett Hecht single. Hecht also drove in a run with a
fifth-inning single during the comeback.
Hecht got three hits
in the game, and Thomas drove in two runs. Jensen allowed one earned
run and six hits in six innings, striking out seven.
