EAST TAWAS – July 1, 2005 - West Branch’s Minor League baseball team came within one out of being eliminated from in pool play last week, but won a top seed to next Saturday’s District 8 quarterfinals. Huron Central North beat West Branch earlier in the week, but had to settle for a #2 seed after falling to Huron Central South, which was eliminated despite topping the North Squad. Huron East went winless but nearly knocked West Branch out of the tournament.

The pool of four teams was so balanced that it’s hard to imagine that playing the tournament over again would have brought about the same results.

A tournament filled with dramatics was capped by West Branch’s 8-7 victory over Huron East on Friday when Brandon Benac stole home with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Benac’s steal spoiled a three-run Huron East rally with two out in the top of the sixth that erased a 7-4 West Branch lead.

West Branch built a 4-0 lead in the first with the help of three Huron East errors and singles by Benac and Seth Roy. Huron East used aggressive baserunning – eight stolen bases, including a steal of home in the third by Nick Kolnitys – to chip away at the WB lead.

Huron East closed to within 5-4 in the top of the fifth, but West Branch picked up two critical runs in the bottom of the frame as Kyle Bachelder’s two-run single drove home Travis Tarrence and Nathan Hewitt.

West Branch was one out away from victory in the top of the sixth, but with two out Cory Chamberlin drove home two runs with a two-out double to make it 7-6. Kolnitys walked and stole second, and a wild pitch brought home Chamberlin and allowed Kolnitys to take third. With a full count, Kolnitys tried to steal home for the lead, but Bachelder tagged him out at the plate to preserve the tie.

Benac started the winning rally with a leadoff walk and stole second. With oone out, Tarrence reached base on an infield single, and Hewitt took first base on catcher’s interference to load the bases. With two outs and a full count on a Jake Hughes, Benac took off from third base on the catcher’s throw back to the pitcher and slid in under the tag for the game-winning run.

Earlier in the tournament, West Branch defeated Huron Central South 12-4. But Huron Central North put West Branch on the brink of elimination with a come-from-behind 8-7 victory.

Huron Central North staged sixth-inning rallies in each of its three games, winning two of them. Against West Branch, North snapped a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the sixth as Jonathan Rowbottom walked, Frank Thayer singled and Ryan Richardson singled home Rowbottom with the game-winner.

Huron Central North trailed Huron East 7-4 before scoring four runs in the sixth inning, capped by Tyler Janish’s two-run single. Richardson and Clay Loomis each had singles in the inning to go with a pair of walks to set up Janish’s game-winning hit.

Huron Central South, which also beat Huron East 7-6, handed North its first defeat in the final game of pool play by hanging on for a 9-7 victory.

South scored all of its runs in the second, third and fourth innings. Dalton Potocki’s two-run triple highlighted a three-run third for South, while Jim Cousins had an RBI single and Reid Yocum added a two-run single in a four-run fourth.

North rallied from a 9-5 deficit to score two runs in the sixth and twice brought the tying runner to the plate before finally going down.

With West Branch, North and South each finishing 2-1 in pool play, tie-breaking procedures were employed to determine which two teams advanced to the July 9 Lewiston quarterfinal. West Branch took the top seed with Huron Central North finishing second based on total runs allowed in their three games, while Huron Central South finished out of the running. Huron East had the toughest luck of the tourney, losing each of its three games by one run.

North plays at 1 p.m. on Saturday, followed by West Branch at 3:30. The winners play in a semifinal contest at Lewiston on Tuesday, July 12.