BLANKING GOOD: Northville posts two shutouts in district title effort
Members of Northville’s baseball team celebrate with the Division 1 district trophy after defeating Livonia Churchill 4-0.
Getting a runner to third base was a chore for the Northville baseball team’s pair of Division 1 district opponents Saturday afternoon.
Reaching home proved to be impossible.
Bolstered by outstanding pitching, air-tight defense and just enough timely hitting, the No. 1-ranked and host Mustangs won their second consecutive district championship after blanking Salem and Livonia Churchill by identical 4-0 scores.
The victories earned the winners a berth in Wednesday’s 4:30 p.m. regional semifinal game against Novi at Northville.
Big celebrations can wait
After reliever Caden Besco overpowered the final Charger batter in Saturday’s nightcap (Besco also earned a save in the triumph over the Rocks), the Mustangs reacted with a subdued celebration, minus the usual post-final pitch player pile in the middle of the diamond.
“With so many players back from last year’s team that reached the quarterfinals, this team has its sights set on reaching the final four at Michigan State, so they expected to win today,” Northville coach John Kostrzewa said, describing the relatively subdued post-game reaction.
“Different teams have different dynamics. Some are more celebratory than others.”
Churchill, which reached the championship game by edging Canton 1-0 in the 10 a.m. semifinal, gave the Mustangs all they could handle, trailing just 2-0 after five innings.
Chargers played loose, confident
Despite losing to Northville 11-1 in a KLAA conference semifinal game May 22, the Chargers played loose and confident, although they were doomed by the absence of clutch hitting.
The quiet bats could be attributed to the brilliant mound work of Besco and Saturday’s title game starter Dominic Minghine, who yielded just two hits and three walks over the opening four innings.
“My slider felt good today; all of my off-speed stuff was working,” said Minghine, who improved to 6-1. “I attacked with my fastball early to try to get ahead.
“I try to get weak contact out of the hitters and I trust my defense behind me.”
Infield defense superb
Of the 21 outs recorded by Northville pitchers, only two left the infield.
With Northville leading 2-0 in the top of the sixth and one out, Churchill’s Tyler Pilarski singled.
However, the Mustangs countered with a slick Leo Miksitz-to-Connor Vissotski-to-Joseph Broughton 6-4-3 double play.
“Our pitching and defense have been great all year,” Kostrzewa noted. “Defensively, we pick up the ball on a regular basis and have been consistently making the routine plays, which is huge.”
Kostrzewa gave special props to junior catcher Trevor Schueller, who caught back-to-back games in relentless high-80s temperatures.
“Plus Trevor had a couple of timely hits in the first game and had a hit and a walk in the second game,” Kostrzewa added.
The Mustangs notched the only run they’d end up needing in the first inning of the final.
Mississippi State commit Donte Nori led off with a walk but was erased when Carter Jurcisin’s screaming liner was snagged by Churchill right-fielder Tyler Milewski, who fired to first baseman Jack Jones to complete a double play.
Evan Deak followed with a two-out double and scored on Luke Dieringer’s sharply-hit two-bagger.
Northville made it 2-0 in the fourth when Broughton reached on an error and scored on Cullen Foley’s single.
After Foley reached third on an error, Churchill ended the inning with a well-executed double play: Jones secured a high, curving foul ball before firing it to catcher Justin Deitert, who tagged out Foley who had tagged up on the play.
Northville added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth, with the key hit a Broughton single that plated Deak, who led off the frame with a single and stole second.
“This feels good,” said Nori, moments after the Mustangs were presented with the district trophy. “Even though we expected to win this, I’m proud of the team for getting the job done.
“Hopefully we have opportunities for bigger celebrations in the next couple of weeks.”
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