LocalSportsJournal.com
They may have suffered a setback that put a blemish on their nearly perfect record, but the Muskegon Catholic Crusaders still accomplished what they set out to do on Saturday – claim a city baseball title.
The Crusaders rebounded from a somewhat surprising loss to Holton earlier in the day to capture the Tier 2 title of the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Baseball Tournament with an 11-6 win over Oakridge at Marsh Field.
It’s the second year in a row MCC has claimed the city title.
“I believe both Oakridge and ourselves have played eight games this week, so you saw a lot of tired bodies out there,” said MCC coach Steve Schuitema. “But I thought we swung the bats pretty well.
Nick Holt delivers the pitch for Muskegon Catholic. Photo/Tim Reilly
“Oakridge is a team that came in with just a couple losses, so we knew they weren’t going away. That’s a really good baseball team.”
Oakridge shot itself in the foot early in the finals with costly errors that helped the Crusaders jump out to an 8-1 lead.
But even with ace Nick Holt on the mound, MCC couldn’t cruise to the win.
“Nick last threw on Tuesday, so he came in rested, but he just didn’t have it today,” Schuitema said. “Fortunately, Anthony Woodard really pitched very, very well (in relief). He threw the last three innings and did a great job.”
Earlier in the day, MCC rolled past Ravenna, 11-1, behind a no-hitter from pitcher Zach Huston, but the Crusaders’ bats were silenced in a tight setback to Holton.
MCC advanced out of pool play, however, due to a tie-breaker.
