After capturing a berth in the Zone 3 American Legion regional tournament, American Legion Chief Pontiac won three straight to ad vance to the state tournament at Northwood Institute in Mid and, the second week of August.
Aug. 2, CP trounced Legion Post 32 in Livonia, 20-1 at Farmington High School. Erik Phillips pitched his finest game of the season striking out nine Livonia batters in the firstfive innings. Phillips went the distance allowing only one run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Eleven CP batters scored one or more runs as the team produced 21 hits. Stephen Vanderheyden led the offen sive charge scoring three times, producing five RBI with three hits. Drew Howard also scored three times and drove in three with three hits.
Aug. 3, Chief Pontiac faced the Troy tigers, a team that beat CP July 27th in the district tournament. CP bats stayed as hot as the August sun when Eric Checkley started the game with a blast to the centerfield fence that netted him a stand up double. CP bats stayed hot until they led the Troy Tigers 10-0 in the 5th inning. Steve McIsaac’s pitching dominated the Troy team as he struck out 7 and allowed only four hits. CP’s error-free defense prevented a single Tiger from reaching third base. Joel Lange led the CP offensive, scoring twice on a pair of hits including a 2-RBI double. Drew Howard also scored twice and drove in a run hitting 2/4. Vanderheyden scored once and hit 3/5 with a pair of doubles that drove in two runs. Steve Bazner, Richie Woods, Brian Phillips and Steve McIsaac also scored a run.
Game three on Aug. 4, did not go so smoothly. Chief Pontiac had to face a determined Troy Tiger team on a cool Saturday morning at Farmington High School to determine the winner of the American Legion Zone 3 tournament; CP’s bats had cooled as much as the weather. CP drew first blood in the bottom of the first inning when Eric Ogg started with a hit, stole his way to third base, and Bazner knocked him in. CP committed three errors, and Lange was relieved as pitcher after allowing Troy to score six times. Bazner relieved Lange in the third inning only to give up another nine runs when the team committed another three errors. By the bottom of the fourth inning CP had fallen behind the Troy Tigers 15-1.
Coach Doug Brady made unusual fielding position changes until he found a working combination. Brady pulled Brian Phillips out as catcher and put in Jake Smith. Brian Phillips, a master of the curveball thwarted the Tigers? offense during innings five, six and seven as he took command of the hill and rallied his teammates; Smith gave it his all behind the plate.
CP scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth to set the stage for a seven-inning mercy. CP scored another three runs in the bottom of the sixth to improve the score to 15-8. In the bottom of the seventh inning CP was threatening Troy when they came within striking distance 15-13. Troy answered the CP threat by scoring a pair in the top of the eigth inning 17-13, which held until the bottom of the ninth inning. With a four-run deficit going into the bottom of the ninth inning, Woods started with a hit and was advanced to third by a hit from Eric Checkley. Lange hit a sacrifice fly to score Woods and advance Checkley. An errant pitch hit Brian Phillips, putting him on first. McIsaac came to the plate and blasted a two-RBI double that brought CP within striking distance of tying the game. Ogg nailed a curveball that scored Brian Phillips and McIsaac to tie the game at 17. With Ogg in scoring position, Bazner nailed a line shot to the gap in centerfield that sealed the Tigers? fate; Chief Pontiac won, 18-17. Through the bottom of the sixth inning, CP produced only six hits. In the final three innings they racked up 13 runs with 13 hits. Coach Doug Brady, after getting doused with a five-gallon water jug, was absolutely amazed, ‘unbelievable,? he kept saying over and over. ‘I have never been involved in a game like this, not at this level.?