Montague baseball stunned by Shelby in district finals after dramatic win over North Muskegon

SHELBY — Coming into Saturday's district tournament, Montague coach Jeff Moss predicted that if his team could get a couple of early runs in the semifinal against North Muskegon, star pitcher Eli Petersen could carry the Wildcats to the finals.

He was right on the money - the 'Cats got two first-inning runs and Petersen pitched a four-hit gem to deliver a 2-0 win - but no Montague partisan would have predicted the kind of game Shelby would play in the finals.

Tigers' pitcher DayDay Garcia was spectacular against Montague, and the defense behind him was equally impressive, denying the Wildcats their anticipated district title in a 2-1 upset loss.

"I just hate that we're not moving forward," Moss said. "I could barely talk out there (in the postgame meeting) because we all thought we were moving forward. We didn't take it for granted, but we beat them twice pretty easily (May 17). But I always say beating a team a third time is the toughest thing to do."

Shelby made several terrific defensive plays down the stretch of the game, from a diving catch by Trevor Weiss in center field to a remarkable job by first baseman Neil Gowell to cut off a grounder to get an out before it could reach the outfield. Montague didn't draw any walks against Garcia, who needed only 72 pitches despite giving up six hits.

"The pitching was good," Moss said. "Anybody who can do that has got command and control. We put a lot of balls in play, but they made some incredible plays."

The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the finals when Karter Johnson lofted a bloop single into the outfield, the team's third straight hit after the first two batters made outs. The hit scored Petersen.

Shelby, though, quickly tied the game up thanks to a couple of wild pitches after Garcia drew a walk and stole second base. The game stayed tied at 1-1, with each side working out of a couple of jams along the way, until the sixth.

In the sixth, Shelby had two runners on base with two out when the Tigers' No. 9 hitter, Jaden Furman, connected on a RBI double that proved to be the difference in the game. Montague did not get another runner on base, thanks in large part to the Shelby defense. Cole Moss' line drive into the outfield to lead off the sixth appeared ticketed for a base hit until Weiss chased it down, though the Wildcats' dugout argued it was trapped.

"If he doesn't catch that, we've got a leadoff triple, and probably things are going to happen," coach Moss said. "But hats off to them. They made every possible play they could make today, and that's how you win a district championship."

Cooper Bradley and Petersen each had two hits for Montague in the finals. Cole Herremans battled through 5 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and striking out eight before Petersen came on for 1 1/3 hitless innings of relief.

Montague's 2-0 win over North Muskegon earlier Saturday was among its most dramatic of the season. Moss and Chase Kurtzhal each delivered run-scoring singles in the first inning against Norsemen ace Logan Slimko, a Dartmouth signee, and Petersen took over from there. Only one North Muskegon player got as far as second base in the game as Petersen pitched a gem, striking out 10 without a walk. It was enough to outduel Slimko, who fanned 13 without a walk and allowed only three hits.

"I knew if we could get a couple runs there and protect it with 'Petey' pitching that we'd be alright," Moss said. "I'd have liked a couple more, because 2-0 in any type of game is not fun to sit around for seven innings on."

One obstacle Montague faced, Moss said - and it's the nature of the all-in-one-day district tournament - is that the Wildcats poured a lot of themselves into that semifinal, then sat and waited while Shelby beat Western Michigan Christian in the other semifinal before having to hype themselves up once more.

"The hardest thing for these kids is bringing all that energy to a 10:00 game, sit for two hours, and try to rebuild (the energy)," Moss said. "We tried. We weren't flat, but we definitely didn't have the same energy we had at 10:00. By no means were they taking Shelby lightly. We were just sitting in the sun, ate late, and I was worried it was going to happen, and it happened. But we still played well, we pitched well and got out of some jams early and kept us in the ball game."

It was an unfortunate end to the careers of seven outstanding Wildcat seniors, including starters Fletcher Thommen, Bradley, Dylan Bailey, Herremans and Petersen. The ending was made all the more bitter by the belief that this team could've made a deep run; the next game would've been against a Kent City squad the Wildcats beat by mercy rule in March.

"The seven seniors that are leaving built some milestones here for the younger guys to come up and grow with and try to achieve what (they) did," Moss said. "Eli Petersen, I think he's sitting at 98 strikeouts on the year. You don't see a lot of that. There's some people getting 100 strikeouts in three years of baseball on the mound, and he's got (that many) just this year. We're going to miss that group. Fletcher back there (at catcher), he's a wall...It's been a fun group. They've just been amazing kids."