Monroe and Summerfield will carry the flag for the Monroe County Region.
The two baseball teams won Regional semifinal games on Wednesday, June 3 to earn the right to play Saturday for titles.
The news was not so good for New Boston Huron and St. Mary Catholic Central.
The Chiefs and Falcons saw their seasons come to an end.
Details on all the games follow.
DIVISION 1
Monroe 5, Livonia Franklin 0
SALINE – Asher Simmons was dominant as Monroe, which came into the state tournament with a losing record, continued its amazing run.
Asher went the distance on 92 pitches. He gave up just one hit and struck out seven.
“Asher was in complete control,” Monroe coach Greg Depew said. “It was probably the best game he has ever pitched.”
Franklin’s only real threat came in the fifth inning when it put runners on second and third with one out. Simmons got out of the jam with a foul pop out and a strikeout.
Monroe opened the scoring with a two-run single by Aiden Homer in the second inning.
Carson Liedel touched off a three-run third inning with a triple.
Homer and Dalen Cosby led the offense with two hits each.
The Trojans climbed over .500 at 18-17.
“The boys keep on shocking teams,” Depew said. “No one believes in us except the guys in that dugout.”
The Trojans move on to play Dexter for the Regional title at Northville at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
“We lost to Dexter three times, 1-0, 3-1 and 7-4,” Depew said. “It should be a good game.”
DIVISION 2
Tecumseh 4, New Boston Huron 3
ADRIAN – Tecumseh grabbed the lead with two runs in the top of the seventh inning.
Huron had a chance to pull out a walk-off win, but left the tying and winning runs on second and third in the bottom of the inning.
“All throughout the game we had runners in scoring position, but didn’t get that big hit,” Huron coach Phil Yancey said.
The big hit and little fundamentals eluded Huron.
“All year long we’ve had success with the bunt game,” Yancey said. “Today we bunted two right back to the pitcher and missed a bunt in the seventh. … We didn’t do the little things we did all year to win 31 games.”
Cash Moczdlowsky pitched well and led the Huron offense with two hits.
Huron, ranked No. 2 in the state, finishes the season at 31-6.
“You can play a good game and still wind up losing,” Yancey said. “We have 15 juniors who are all coming back.”
DIVISION 3
Plymouth Christian 12, SMCC 6
PLYMOUTH – St. Mary Catholic Central started fast against the defending state runner-up in Division 4, but could not close out the win.
The Falcons scored three runs in the top of the first inning and added another run in the second for a four-run lead.
Plymouth Christian won with six runs in the bottom of the second and six more in the sixth.
“It was tough,” SMCC coach Jared Janssed said. “We had the lead early, but we had two many walks. Obviously, it was not our day.”
Lukas Linzell ripped a pair of run-scoring singles for the Falcons. Grant Potcova and Tyler Bashaw added two hits each.
The Falcons finish 25-8.
“That’s our most wins in 10 years,” Janssen said. “We won our first District title in nine years. I still think we’re one of the better teams in Division 3.”
DIVISION 4
Summerfield 12, Dansville 2
PETERSBURG – Josh Horak broke out of a slump at the right time.
The Summerfield junior singled, doubled and tripled to drive in three runs.
“That was awesome, exactly what we needed,” Summerfield coach Reid Olmstead said. “He was pretty hot at the plate early in the season, then cooled off.”
Summerfield was hitless until Horak got the offense started with a second-inning single.
Horak also had the second hit for the Bulldogs, a triple in his second at-bat of the day that drove in a run and touched off a five-run fourth inning.
Russell LaRocca also had three hits. Clark Ciacelli doubled twice and Reece Kalb and Trent Miller contributed two hits apiece.
Kalb allowed one run over the first four innings, Jude Flowers tossed two shutout frames and Rylee Schiffler finished the last inning.
The Bulldogs will take a 17-7 record to Spring Arbor College for the Regional finals against Kalamazoo Hackett on Saturday, June 6.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: State-tournament dreams still alive for Monroe, Summerfield baseball
Reporting by Niles Kruger, The Monroe News / The Monroe News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Niles Kruger, The Monroe News | USA TODAY Network
