MARINETTE — Over three days and 16 games, eight of the top Legion baseball teams from Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula and Canada duked it out for the top spot at the annual Firecracker tournament at Pedersen Ball Park.
The tournament, which took place Friday through Saturday at both Dale Minzlaff and Haase fields, featured host Marinette, in addition to Menominee, Escanaba and Gladstone from the U.P.
Green Bay Southwest, Watertown and Manitowoc represented Wisconsin, while Sault Ste. Marie provided the proceedings with a dash of Canadian flavor.
The Firecracker moved to pool play for this year’s edition, with the eight teams divided into two groups. Each team played one contest against the other squads from their respective pools on Friday and Saturday. before taking on the corresponding seed from the opposite grouping on Sunday.
Marinette, Menominee, Escanaba and Watertown made up pool A, while Manitowoc, Green Bay Southwest, Sault Ste. Marie and Gladstone made up pool B.
In the end, Green Bay Southwest emerged victorious after wrapping up a perfect 4-0 record over the weekend.
Southwest kicked off the tournament by taking down Gladstone 6-2. Post 53 proceeded to best Manitowoc and Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday to punch its ticket to the championship game, where Escanaba awaited.
For their part, the Cubs breezed through the first two days of the tournament, as Esky notched a 15-4 win over Marinette early Saturday morning after rain caused the two teams to call off the action in the top of the fifth Friday night.
Escanaba continued to roll, shutting out Menominee 6-0 before collecting a 6-1 triumph over Watertown.
The Cubs grabbed a 3-0 lead early against Southwest but Green Bay capitalized on two errors to score three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to seize a 4-3 edge.
An RBI-single by Adrian Mercier tied matters up at 4-4 before Southwest added three runs in the bottom of the sixth to secure a 7-4 triumph over the Cubs.
Escanaba finished the three-day grind with a 3-1 record.
Marinette went 1-3 throughout the tournament, with Post 39’s lone win coming in a 21-5 thrashing of Menominee in the nightcap of Saturday’s action.
Frustration was the theme for Marinette in this year’s Firecracker, as Post 39 watched early leads against Escanaba and Watertown evaporate before a spirited comeback bid against the Soo fell just short.
Post 39 jumped on Esky 2-0 before the Cubs snatched the lead back with a six-run outburst in the top of the third.
A similar fate befell Marinette against Watertown, as Post 39 led the entire game before Watertown pulled off some late-inning magic to record a 5-4 win on Saturday.
With nearly half of its roster comprised of 14 and 15-year olds, Menominee struggled against the Firecracker’s more seasoned units.
The Red Wave were winless at 0-4, kicking off the tourney with a 15-2 loss to Watertown before ending the weekend with a deflating 14-4 defeat at the hands of Gladstone in the seventh-place game on Sunday.
Menominee drew first blood on Sunday after Tyler Bouty smacked a double to score Aiden Beal but Trevor Thorbahn unloaded a two-run home run, the first of his career, to put the Indians on top 2-1.
The Red Wave tied the score in the top of the third after Robert Finger crossed home plate on an error, but Aedan Creten responded with a solo homer to make it a 3-1 contest.
Gladstone tacked on three more runs in the frame to seize a 6-2 advantage before John Soderman belted the Indians’ third moonshot of the day to make it an 8-2 affair.
Two runs in the top of the sixth helped the Red Wave trim their deficit down to four but momentum quickly swung back in favor of Gladstone, as the Indians reeled off five runs in the bottom of the inning to seal the 10-run mercy rule victory.
“There are some bright spots as well as mistakes that come from being so young,” Menominee coach John Lauzer said. “We just need to make sure we’re going forward and getting better, which is happening, but sometimes you still see those mental lapses out in the field.”
Gladstone, who lost to the Soo 2-0 and 13-2 to Manitowoc, finished with a 1-3 record.
As Menominee and Gladstone locked horns at Haase Field, Marinette was busy battling back against the Soo next door at Dale Minzlaff Field.
Post 39 led 3-0 in the top of the second thanks to a two-run double off the bat of Chase MacGregor, but the Soo responded with a five-spot in its half of the inning to take a two-run lead.
A pair of runs in the bottom of the third coupled with another score in the bottom of the fourth pushed the Soo out to an 8-3 lead, but a solo shot from Weston Hanson cut Sault Ste. Marie’s lead in half, while Ethan Doubek was able to score on a fielder’s choice to get Marinette within three.
Marinette added another run in the bottom of the sixth to make it an 8-6 game.
Post 39 managed to get a pair of runners in scoring position with two outs in the top of the seventh, but Logan Marvin was a groundout victim as Marinette’s rally came up just short.
“We gave up six or seven runs early on but our guys battled back. I feel like we are starting to see the ball better at the plate, but we had a couple of drives that were right at somebody and that’s baseball,” Marinette coach Brian Lesandrini said. “We just have to keep swinging and sooner or later, things will start to fall for us.”
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