WYOMING – July 25, 2005 – The West Branch Major League all stars threw a bit of a wrench into the plans of perennial Little League power Grosse Pointe Farms in the first game of their state tournament appearance last weekend.

But after pulling off a 6-3 victory in their opening game, the West Branch squad drew a little more attention than they may have liked. By serving notice that they were one of the teams that had the potential to make a deep run in the tournament, West Branch found itself scouted more thoroughly than they would have liked and dropped their final two games in pool play, 9-8 to Jackson Southwest and 11-1 to Norway.

“When we beat Grosse Pointe everyone started scouting us,” said WB coach Terry Zettel. “All of a sudden we were having kids being intentionally walked, which we hadn’t seen before. The word was out on us.”

Beating Grosse Pointe Farms was no small feat. The tourney-tested team was last year’s state runner-up and threw a pitcher at West Branch that Zettel said stood at 6-2.

“We stayed with him,” Zettel said. “We played small ball in the early innings, and eventually got some hits.”

None of the hits was any bigger than Michael Horn’s three-run double in the fifth inning that highlighted a four-run rally for West Branch, which had trailed 3-0 after two innings. WB added single runs in the third and fourth before breaking loose in the fifth.

John Hughes added two hits and two RBI’s, while Jason Middleton, Anthony Zettel and Jordan Moore each had hits. Ben Elliott scored two runs.

Zettel settled down after the first two innings and finished with a four-hitter, allowing two earned runs and striking out 14.

West Branch had its chances against Jackson Southwest, but couldn’t drive in the key run when it would have made a difference.

“I think we looked past them a little bit,” Zettel said. “We were all excited after beating
Grosse Pointe, and they’d lost 10-0 to Norway the day before.”

West Branch trailed 9-6 heading into the sixth inning, but Anthony Zettel cut the deficit to one with a two-run home run. That was as close as West Branch would get.

Zettel finished with three RBI’s in the contest and Horn had two hits. Hughes, Drew Watchorn, Chris Hebert, Blaise Kihn and Charlie Murdock each added hits. Watchorn, Hebert and Murdock each drove in runs.

Norway ended West Branch’s tourney experience on Monday with an 11-1 no-hit victory. WB scored its only when Kihn’s suicide squeeze drove home Moore from third. Moore was pinch-running for Michael Godfrey, who’d led off the inning with a walk.

“We were dominated,” Zettel said. Godfrey was the only West Branch baserunner in the game.

Grosse Pointe Farms went on to win the pool, beating Norway 10-2 and Jackson Southwest 19-3.

“We really felt like we should have been playing (through the single elimination bracket,” Zettel said. “We just couldn’t get that one win we needed.

“It was a good experience for the kids, though. We beat one of the best teams there, and I think (Grosse Pointe) will make it back to the finals. It was a fun year to coach them. I think the kids and parents enjoyed themselves. (Monday) was a bummer, though.”