Wins proved to be elusive for the Claremont U17 baseball team at the VFW Alpha Division State Tournament played in Northville last Friday through Sunday, but the Honkers were awarded the prized Sportsmanship Award in the six-team tournament.
In pool play on Friday, used to determine seedings for bracket play, Claremont fell to Canton 8-0 and Warner-Ipswich-Northwestern (WIN) 13-0. Tri-Valley topped the Honkers 9-1 in the first round of bracket games on Saturday and Canton posted a second win over the Honkers in the fifth place game 8-2 on Sunday.
“We’re a young team with half of our players 14 and under,” noted Honkers’ boss Joe Gustafson, “so it was a challenge being in the Alpha Division. But it was fun to play against that level of competition and to know that we can hold our own.”
Divisions are determined by the population of towns of players on the roster. Claremont had players from Claremont, Britton, and Langford, boosting the Honkers to the top division.
Gustafson saw steady improvement from his ballclub during the season, which finished the year with a 6-13 record.
“Aside from one game in the tournament our defense improved during the year, our pitching was greatly improved, and we started hitting the ball towards the end of the year,” concluded the Honkers coach. “I was really happy with how everybody progressed.”
Canton 8
Claremont 0
Canton scored in every inning and limited Claremont to just a single hit, a Grant Cutler single. Wes Morehouse was on the mound for the Honkers.
Claremont 000 00 – 0 1 2
Canton 132 2x – 8 12 2
Wes Morehouse and Chris Cutler; Kayden Chaulk, Alex Opland (4) and Jacoby Ulrikson
WIN 13
Claremont 0
Claremont again was limited to just one hit and WIN pushed across runs in all four innings of the game decided on the 10-run rule. Kassen Keough doubled for the Honkers and Nick Cutler took the pitching loss.
WIN 145 3 – 13 13 2
Claremont 000 0 – 0 1 2
Mac Heinz, Lincoln Kroll (3) and Chays Mansfield; Nick Cutler, Korbin McKane (4) and Chris Cutler
Tri-Valley 9
Claremont 4
Claremont out-hit Tri-Valley 5-2 and had four earned runs to just one for the winners, but nine errors proved costly for the Honkers.
Grant Cutler ripped an RBI double, and Korbin McKane, Keough, Rennan Bruns, and Nick Cutler all singled for Claremont. Keough went the distance on the mound, allowing just two hits while fanning four in seven innings.
Claremont 000 010 3 – 4 5 9
Tri-Valley 042 120 x – 9 2 1
Kassen Keough and Chris Cutler
Canton 8
Claremont 2
Claremont cut a 5-0 deficit to 5-2 in the fourth innings but couldn’t get any closer.
Keough and Nate Schuller each singled for the Honkers. Bruns and Schuller each pitched three innings and had three strikeouts each.
Claremont 000 200 0 – 2 2 4
Canton 122 111 x – 8 6 4
Rennan Bruns, Nate Schuller (4) and Chris Cutler; Kayden Chaulk, Jacoby Ulrikson (3) and Landon Hill
