CHAMPIONS
Negaunee Junior baseball team wins states
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PETOSKEY -- For the first time in the history of its Little League program, Negaunee has won the Junior Division baseball state championship.
"This is a big deal for our program," Negaunee LL President Don Gladwell said. "This is the first state championship that we've actually won. We've been to the championship (game) in the past but we haven't been able to bring it back."
After playing games on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, the boys who hope to become future Negaunee Miners came through with one last win and beat Muskegon Roosevelt Park 8-4 to secure the title.
Evan Dellangelo hit a double in the bottom of the first inning and then stole second and third before scampering home to give his team a 1-0 lead.
After three innings, Negaunee had upped its lead to 4-0. Dellangelo, who was also the winning pitcher, held back Roosevelt Park's offense, which had invoked the mercy rule against every team they played before that in the state tournament.
One more run in the fifth scored by Vince Tincknell gave the Upper Peninsula team a promising 5-0 lead headed to the sixth. But Roosevelt Park wasn't done and scored four runs on a bit of sloppy Negaunee play.
"In the sixth inning, we had three errors in a row, but (Muskegon) got back into it … the wheels could have came off. The boys … didn't hang their heads, they went back in, they regrouped, came out swinging and the end result was a championship for us," Gladwell said. "It was great."
To offset Roosevelt Park pulling to within 5-4 in the top of the inning, Negaunee's Brayden Gleason, Killian Ryan and Ethan Gaston each scored in the bottom of the inning.
Back ahead 8-4, relief pitcher Max Frustaglio forced out two batters, then made an impressive catch on a line shot back at him to end the game.
A celebration was scheduled for late Wednesday afternoon at Rivers Field in Negaunee to honor the boys who won their first Little League state title.
"Sometimes there's teams that can't make it downstate because they just financially can't make it happen," Gladwell said, "but our community has always stepped up to the plate and we're very grateful to them for that, too."
This isn't the end of the line for Negaunee, either, as this team will head out to the national tournament's regionals in downstate Midland on Wednesday to open up against the Kentucky representative.
This nine-team event also has the host team from the Midland area and teams from Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. This double-elimination tourney runs through Sunday, Aug. 6, as teams vie for a spot in the 2023 Junior League Baseball World Series in downstate Taylor from Aug. 13-20.
Alexandria Bournonville can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 506. Her email address is abournonville@miningjournal.net.