Standish-Sterling won its first district title since 2002 with its 10-2 victory over Tawas Area.
Alex Verlac fields a bunt during the Braves' district championiship loss to Standish-Sterling on Saturday.
Alan Poland makes a barehanded play of an SSC ground ball during Oscoda's district semifinal loss to Standish-Sterling.
Brent Baker
SSC's Brent Raymond goes all out to try to catch this fly ball during the Panthers' district semifinal game over Oscoda. The ball was just out of Raymond's reach, but the Panthers took a 10-0 victory, with Raymond stealing four bases in the contest.

STANDISH-STERLING - June 2, 2007 - Considering the hot, muggy weather that made Saturday's Division 3 District 70 tournament an exercise in endurance, Standish-Sterling coach Steve Stodolak would probably have enjoyed the bucket of icewater dumped over his head under just about any circumstance.

Considering it came moments after the Panthers defeated Tawas Area 10-2 for their first district title since 2002, Stodolak was ready to ask for another helping.

"That bucket sure felt good," he said. Getting another bucket dumping will take another tournament win, which the Panthers will shoot for on Saturday, June 9 at the Kalkaska regional.

Saturday's final with Tawas went mostly the Panthers' way, though the Braves were on the verge of getting back in the game in the bottom of the fifth when the contest took an unusual and contentious turn.

The Panthers led 5-1 when Shaun Jordan roped a two-out double and Justin Bielby singled him home to trim the lead to three. Josh Thomas hit a slow bouncer to the right side that went through for an apparent single, but Stodolak argued the Bielby had slowed down on the basepaths in order to obstruct second baseman Dewey Milan's ability to field the ball. After conferring, the umpires ruled Bielby out, and a similar protest by Tawas coach Jason Woelke to have the call reversed went unheeded.

"That interference call was huge," Stodolak said. "You can't stop in front of a fielder or get in his way, even if you don't hit him. They got that one right -- at least I think so. I doubt Tawas feels the same way."

Considering it prevented the tying run -- Alex Verlac, who already had one hit in the game -- from coming to the plate, it was a critical turn.

The Panthers immediately seized their chance to take back control of the game. Garrett Reid led off the sixth with a single and Jason Kandal doubled him home to make it 6-2. With one out, Justin Migut hammered the ball over the center field fence for an 8-2 lead and the game was all but over.

Migut also turned in a sterling performance on the mound, allowing six hits and one walk while striking out seven to pick up the complete-game victory.

"Just came up big, both pitching and hitting," Stodolak said. "Brad Bialobrzeski made some fantastic plays at third today, too."

Bialobrzeski set the tone for the game as he made a diving stop to throw out Tawas leadoff speedster Shaun Jordan to lead off the the bottom of the first. Even though the Braves picked up one run in the inning, the Panthers had scored two in the first on Joel LaPan's two-out base hit.

Reid and Bialobrzeski each had two hits and Reid scored three runs.

"We talked about not having a let-down after (Tuesday's pre-district victory over Roscommon)," Stodolak said. "That was a big game, but you can't overlook anyone. Tawas is a good-hitting team; we made only one error and made the plays we had to to win."

Jesse Siwek had two hits to lead Tawas, while Jordan had a double, and Justin Trout had hit and an RBI.

The Panthers (19-10) open regional tournament play against Newberry.

 

Semifinal: Standish-Sterling 10, Oscoda 0

Standish-Sterling earned a berth in Saturday's district title game with a 10-0 victory over Oscoda.

The Panthers rung up one of the more unusual scoring lines seen on a scorecard -- 1-2-1-2-1-2-1 -- as they alternated scoring one run and two runs in each inning.

Dewey Milan allowed two hits in six innings and struck out 12 to earn the win, while Justin Migut had three hits including a home run, scored twice and had three stolen bases. Jason Kandal and Brad Bialobrzeski each had two hits and Brent Raymond stole four bases and scored twice.

Jason Jimenez and Torib Uchel had the Owls' hits. Jimenez allowed 10 hits in the complete game loss, with giving up seven earned runs and striking out seven.