Kingsford batters rip I.M. pitching

ISHPEMING - Kingsford American Legion baseball team manager Gary Miller says his team has picked the perfect time to gel as a unit.

No one needs to tell the Iron Mountain Golds. They know. Boy, do they know.

Kingsford laid a beatdown on its arch rivals Wednesday, defeating Iron Mountain 18-6 in opening-round action from the Legion District Tournament in Ishpeming. The game was shortened to seven innings due to the 10-run rule.

Kingsford (16-6 overall) advances to play the Marquette Blues in winner's bracket action at 3 p.m. today in Ishpeming. Iron Mountain (6-16) will face the Ishpeming/Negaunee loser at 6 p.m..

Huge offensive outputs in the second and third innings were the difference for Kingsford on Wednesday.

Already leading 2-0, Kingsford crossed the plate nine times in the second inning to go ahead 11-0. Kingsford fell just three batters short of batting around twice in the frame.

The third inning was nearly as dominant. Kingsford scored six more runs, again seeing every batter come to the plate at least once.

"We've been a little low (on runs) the last three, four games and had a good practice the last couple practices," Miller said. "The kids came and decided to start hitting the ball.

"It's just a matter of getting it in their head to hit the ball and that's what they did ."

The offense was balanced, as well.

Kingsford, spraying hits to all parts of the field, had eight of its starting nine reach base with just as many scoring runs.

That being said, Jake Church - who scored three runs in going 2-for-3 with four RBI - said the team wasn't really doing anything special with regards to its approach at the plate.

"They (Iron Mountain pitchers) were just throwing them in there, grooving them in," Church said.

"So, first pitch you see, you've got to hit it."

Lost in all the offense, but certainly worthy of praise, was the performance on Kingsford starter Sean Williams. While his offense was rapidly changing its numbers on the scoreboard, Williams made sure Iron Mountain's stayed at zero for most of his 5 innings of work.

Using a nice combination of a hard slider, fastball and knuckler, he allowed just four runs and three hits while walking three and fanning eight.

"He's money," Miller said of Williams. "The best thing about him, he never has a sore arm, never complains. He gets the job done."

Iron Mountain manager Bob Palomaki, for one, said he has seen just about enough of Williams this season.

"That kid, we haven't been able to touch him all year," he said.

Kingsford will look to duplicate that type of balance in its performance against the Blues today.

The teams have only faced each other twice this season, splitting a doubleheader in Kingsford early on in the campaign.

"We can beat them," Church said of Marquette. "It's just a matter of hitting the ball and playing good defense."