Midget Black Sox into semi-finals

SAULT STE. MARIE, MI – The Soo Black Sox will be in tough when they take the field on Sunday for their semi-final game at the Paul C. Andary Memorial Tournament.

Despite dropping their final round robin game to Sanford by a 3-0 score, the Black Sox had guaranteed themselves a spot in the semi with their two victories on Friday. Rain cut Saturday's action down to just four games from the originally scheduled eight. All teams saw action in one game on the day.

In the other action on Saturday, Marquette defeated Traverse City 5-4; EUP defeated Petoskey 5-1; and Escanaba defeated Alpena 4-0. The Escanaba victory eliminated EUP from playoff contention following a four-way tie between Alpena, EUP, Sanford, and the Black Sox. All four teams had identical 2-1 records through the round robin, but the Travelers were eliminated based on least runs allowed.

The pairings for the semi-final games are Escanaba and Alpena in the early game, set for 9 a.m. in the Michigan Sault while Sanford and the Black Sox face off at 11 a.m. The championship is set for shortly after the completion of the second semi-final game.

In their loss to Sanford, the Black Sox gave up all three runs in the fourth inning. With one run already in, Sanford scored two more after a throwing error to first base on a strikeout led to a pair of runners scoring.

"Unfortunately we made a few mistakes and Sanford's a good hitting ballclub," said coach Ryan Johns. "Andrew (Toni) pitched a great game and kept us in the game. Unfortunately the errors cost us the lead and we couldn't battle back from it."

Toni finished the game with eight strikeouts scattered over seven innings. He walked three hitters and hit two batters, but was solid otherwise. Greg Bartlett got the complete game victory for Sanford. The crafty pitcher struck out six and only walked three Black Sox hitters in the victory.

"(Bartlett) threw a great game," Johns said. "He kept our guys off balance. We didn't get a guy past first base unfortunately. He pitched a great game and he deserved the win."

At the plate the Black Sox struggled with just one hit, a single by Joey Lesage.

"I think coming out of today's game is going to be a positive," said Johns. "The kids are a little disappointed with the loss but usually that works out. We've got a lot of arms left to come back and battle tomorrow. Tomorrow's a new day."