Timing is everything in baseball.
And the timing was perfect for Monroe, New Boston Huron and St. Mary Catholic Central on Saturday, May 30.
All four teams played their best baseball of the season to claim District championships.
Monroe won the Division 1 Tournament at Saline, Huron ruled the Division 2 event at Airport and SMCC brought home the Division 3 crown from Erie Mason.
Results from all of the Districts involving Monroe County Region teams follow.
Division 1 at Saline
Monroe came into the state tournament with a losing record, but emerged with a District title trophy.
“We played really good today,” Monroe’s first-year coach Greg Depew said. “We a lot of stuff outside of baseball, just to be a family. Today we played as a family. We fought together as a family.”
The 17-17 Trojans started their day with an 8-5 win over Belleville in the semifinals.
Cooper Robinson racked up 12 strikeouts in that game while Tavin Parkhurst racked up three hits and Asher Simmons, Carson Liedel and Caden Pfeiffer added two each.
Monroe topped Bedford 10-5 in the championship game. Strong pitching by Simmons and Landon Loveland was backed by four hits from Liedle and two apiece from Parkhurst, Simmons, Loveland and Aiden Homer.
Bedford reached the finals by tripping state-ranked Saline 2-1 in 8 innings.
Evan Bullard went the distance on the mound with no walks.
“He did a great job of clutch pitching,” Bedford coach Craig Trychel said.
Jaxson Lestock had two hits and Griffin Brush singled home the winning run.
Lestock also had a pair of hits against Monroe.
Bedford finishes at 17-11.
“When we played clean, we were fine,” Trychel said. “We just didn’t do that enough.”
Division 2 at Airport
Huron showed why it is ranked No. 2 in the state with a pair of overpowering wins.
The Chiefs crushed Summit Academy 16-0 in a three-inning semifinal game, then cruised past Airport 12-1 in the finals.
“They guys really started hitting the ball two weeks ago and they’ve been hitting it every since,” Huron coach Phil Yancey said.
Huron (31-5) took a advantage of a lot of Summit mistakes in the first game.
Jackson Surma didn’t give up any unearned runs in the championship game and helped his own cause by going 3-for-4 and driving in two runs. Cash Moczydlowsky and Max Mores added two hits each.
Wally Sisler was 2-for-2 for Airport, which came from behind for a 5-4 victory over Jefferson in the semifinals.
“Our senior pitcher Drake Ferris did what he’s done all year,” Airport coach Jeff Goins said. “He kept his cool when we got behind.”
The Jets finish 21-12.
“I thought the kids did a great job all year,” Golns said. “They worked hard and played together.”
Division 3 at Erie Mason
Steel Decatur did not give up an earned run against the state’s highest-scoring team in Division 3 to pitch St. Mary Catholic Central to a 9-2 win over Whiteford in the finals.
“Steel has done that all year,” SMCC coach Jared Janssen said. “He only gave up one earned run against (New Boston) Huron and carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Airport.
“He doesn’t throw overly hard, but can his spots He’s a classic Greg Maddux kind of pitcher rather than the modern flamethrowers.”
He struck out eight.
Aaron Fowkes, Lukas Linzell, Grant Potcova and Jake Angove had two hits each to lead the offense.
The 26-7 Falcons got 11 strikeouts from Blake Lechy in a 12-2 semifinal win over Erie Mason. Brock Cousino had a big game at the plate, driving in five runs with three hits. Angove also had three hits and Tyler Bashaw two.
Whiteford reached the finals with a 16-1 rout of Taylor Prep.
Division 2 at Adrian
Milan rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull out a 5-4 win over Dundee in the semifinals before falling 11-0 to Tecumseh in the championship game.
Ryan Hatfield had two hits and drove in a pair of runs against Dundee to back strong pitching from Cam Dessellier and Nickson Smith.
Brayden Mason went 2-for-2 and Evan Bennett drove in two runs for Dundee.
Division 1 at Southgate
State-ranked Woodhaven was too much for Gibraltar Carlson, taking a 6-1 victory in the semifinals.
Allen Park beat the host school 6-3 in the other semifinal.
Woodhaven earned a 3-0 win in the finals.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe, Huron, SMCC use perfect timing to keep baseball dreams alive
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