District 12 Big League baseball team over comes early loss in state tournament and makes it to finals

Local Sports Journal

There are many lessons in the dust of the ball diamond. One local summer baseball team learned second chances do come.

1st row – Jake Hardy. 2nd row L to R – Trevor Mosher, Laketon Belinger, Austin Sandin, Adam Callow, Adam Wiegand. 3rd row – Mr. Callow, Owen Verge, Jake Wall, Nick Taylor, Ryan McIntire, Coach McIntire, Mr. Verge.

“We lost our very first game to Niles 11-1,” said District 12 Big League baseball coach Brian McIntire, whose  team played last week in the Big League Michigan State tournament put on by Little League of America in Blissfield. “We got dimed and we heard a bunch of crap from the other teams. We overheard other players wondering how a team would come all the way from Muskegon and get their butts kicked.”

Luckily, the tournament was a double-elimination format and the District 12 team was still alive.

“We walked our way through the loser’s bracket to play in the championship game,” said McIntire.

After falling to Niles in what seemed like embarrassing fashion, the District 12 team won its second game, 5-1, over Taylor.

The team’s third game was a rematch with Niles, who had lost and made its way to the loser’s bracket. The District 12 team turned the table on Niles and won 7-0.

Next up was Macomb and a 11-1 win put District 12 in the championship against a very strong Blissfield team.

Blissfield walked away with a 12-0 win, but overcoming that early 11-1 loss to Niles made the trip to Blissfield worth it for the players of the District 12 team.

“I can’t say enough about all these kids,” said McIntire. “They were two wins away from representing Michigan in the Big League World Series.”

Representing District 12 were 10 players from the greater Muskegon area. Jake Hardy, Trevor Mosher, Laketon Belinger, Austin Sandin, Adam Callow, Adam Wiegand, Owen Verge, Jake Wall, Nick Taylor, Francis Decker and Ryan McIntire.