With the sting of losing a 10 inning shootout to Portland St. Pats and getting swept by Pewamo-Westphalia still lingering, redemption never felt so sweet as the Fighting Bees beat both teams in one day to win the first annual CMAC Tournament Championship on Saturday at Michigan State University's McLane Stadium.
Game one pitted the Bees against the number two seed, Pewamo-Westphalia. Nick Stiles took the mound and went the distance, allowing 4 hits, walking one and striking out 9. Scoring started in the second inning when Brenden Plemmons got the first hit of the game and scored on a wild pitch. The score remained 1-0 in favor of the bees until the 4th when the Pirates were able to sneak two unearned runs on a single, an error and a wild pitch. P-W added one more in the 6th as the Bees were held scoreless for 4 innings to make the score 3-1 in favor of the Pirates heading into the 7th and final inning.
The Bath bats came alive in the 7th to rally as Brenden Plemmons started off the inning with a base hit and Austin Townsend with a hit of his own. This brought Nick Stiles to the plate with two outs and the tying run on base in a do-or-die situation. Stiles came through in the clutch with a two-strike double down the third baseline to score both Plemmons and Townsend and tie the score at 3-3. With the winning run on second base, Ian Milligan stepped up to the plate and belted the RBI single that would ultimately seal the win for the Bees 4-3 and earn them a spot in the championship game with the top seeded Portland St. Pats.
The championship game proved to be another dogfight as the Bees outlasted the shamrocks in 9 innings for the second 4-3 win of the day. Brodie Megill took the mound and pitched 7 innings, walked 7, giving up 4 hits and striking out 8. Nick Stiles relieved Megill in the 8th with the score tied and picked up the win, striking out 4 and walking one.
The game remained scoreless until the top of the third when Grant Svendsen started off the inning with a base hit and stole second. Ian Milligan then hit a RBI double to score Svendsen and Kevin Vermillion followed with a single. Scott Kirkpatrick reached on an error by the Shamrock short stop that scored both Milligan and Vermillion to leave the score 3-0 in favor of the Bees before the inning ended.
St. Pats was able to answer in the bottom of the 4th with two runs and added a third in the 5th to knot the score at 3-3. The tie lasted through the 7th and pushed the game to extra innings until the top of the 9th inning when Austin Townsend was hit by a pitch, Grant Svendsen singled and Nick Stiles reached safely on a fielder's choice bunt. With bases loaded and no outs, Ian Milligan stepped up to the plate and hit a would-be sacrifice fly to right field to score Austin Townsend for the go-ahead run, but the Shamrock right fielder made a beautiful throw to get Townsend at the plate. Grant Svendsen was able to move up to third on the throw home and Nick Stiles drew a throw to second base on a delayed steal that allowed Svendsen to score the go-ahead run.
The Bees then took the field in the bottom of the ninth with a 4-3 lead needing three outs to win the championship. The first batter was out on a ground ball to Brodie Megill at third base, the second batter struck out and the third reached first base on a walk. In a desperation move, the Shamrocks pinch ran and attempted to steal second to move the tying run into scoring position but catcher Brenden Plemmons fired a shot to second and threw him out to seal the win as the Fighting Bees stormed the field and celebrated their championship victory!
Bath's next action is a non-league double header on Wednesday May 26th at Morrice High School at 4:00pm as the Bees prepare for the District Tournament at Laingsburg High School on June 5th. Go Bees!
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