MARQUETTE – Pitching is usually the name of the game in baseball. Hitting goes a long way, too.

Put the two together and more often than not, you’ll be successful.

That’s what the North team did Tuesday night in the annual Mid-Peninsula League American Legion All-Star Game at Marquette’s Gerard Haley Memorial Field.

The squad’s pitching staff allowed but five hits while its batters rapped out 20 safeties in a 27-2 win over the South in seven innings.

“The last five (all-star) games have been close,” North comanager Rob Scholie of the Copper Country team said. “It was just a good, all-around performance tonight.

“It’s fun to have these guys on my team and not have to face them.”

Ozzy Corp of Ishpeming set the tone for the North mound staff, pitching the first two innings and striking out five.

“I used mostly my fastball and tried to work the corners,” he said. “You’re competing out there, but it’s fun, too.”

Hunter Larson of Marquette earned the North’s Most Valuable Player nod by going 4 for 4 with a walk, five runs scored and five RBIs.

“You have to go out with a bang,” said Larson, who was playing in his third – and final – all-star contest. He added he had been in a hitting slump of late with the Marquette Blues.

“I just wanted to put the ball in play (when batting). This should be a confidence builder for me.”

Larson broke the game open in the second inning with a two-run triple laced into right field corner that gave the North a 5-1 lead.

“I was looking for something to hit on the right side and he (South pitcher John Edwardsen of Kingsford) came down and in,” the left-handed batter said. “I hit the pitch right and did my job.”

Gabe Rupright of the Copper Country followed with an RBI double, then scored on a groundout to make it 7-1.

The North added five runs in the third, highlighted by RBI singles from Hunter Larson and Rupright, before pushing across 11 runs in the fourth for a 23-1 advantage.

A two-run double by McKinley Larson of Marquette, a single that scored two runs by Hunter Larson and and RBI double by Noah Olgren of Ishpeming highlighted the frame.

“Hitting and pitching – we had them both,” Scholie said. “Everything went well tonight.”

After the South’s Joe Berglund of Kingsford drove in a run with a single in the fifth, the North capped the night’s scoring with four runs in the bottom of the sixth.

A two-run single by Ishpeming’s Dylan Tasson and a single by Al Nettell of the Copper Country that brought in another run sparked the surge.

Nettell wound up with three hits, as did Trevor Bratonia of Marquette. The latter also knocked in three runs, as did teammate McKinley Larson.

Berglund earned MVP honors for the South.

“I’m surprised and overwhelmed,” he said. “I was just glad to come here (to play). I had a blast.

“We gave it a good try, but it was just about having fun.”

South comanager John Linn of Kingsford concurred.

“We just came to have fun.” he said. “The North put the ball in play and we went down early.

“All the kids were playing different positions.”

Craig Remsburg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 251. His email address is cremsburg@miningjournal.net.