Ogemaw Heights celebrates its district championship victory over Pinconning on Saturday.
Coty Swinson is welcomed home by his teammates after his home run off the right field scoreboard pulled Pinny to within 5-4 in Saturday's championship.
The Falcons' Jake Wangler takes a throw at first base during Saturday's district championship game.
Linda Eyer
Brad Bialobrzeski kept Ogemaw Heights' bats under wrap until the fifth inning of Saturday's semifinal.

OGEMAW HEIGHTS - May 31, 2008- Ogemaw Heights didn't exactly get the easiest draw for Saturday's Division 2 district tournament.

But by avoiding the mistakes that had proved so costly in the past couple years' post-season runs, the Falcons held off beat Standish-Sterling 10-2 in the opening round of district play, then held off Pinconning 8-4 in a pair of games that fit in the "closer than the score made it look" variety.

"We executed and made the plays we were supposed to," said Ogemaw coach Jeremiah Peace, "instead of letting things slide through our grasp. There was a lot different feel than the last couple years; there was just so much tension and excitement. These kids had to scrap and claw all year and I think it paid off (Saturday)."

Peace faced a difficult decision in who to pitch in which game. Pinny shared the NEMC title with Ogemaw, but SSC was nipping on both teams' heels all year and nearly beat the Falcons earlier in the season.

Anthony Betancourt drew the start against the Panthers, saving ace Rick Dodridge for the championship game -- provided Ogemaw could get there.

"More than one person questioned my decision to not pitch Rick that first game," Peace said. "We didn't feel that way at all. Betancourt's been with us four years, he's pitched in a lot of big games, he's got great composure. He doesn't throw 85-90, but he gets people out."

Ryan Donahue was the only Panther to fully solve Betancourt, as he had SSC's only two hits in the game.

Even so, the Panthers took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning when Jason Kandal walked and Zach Dziuban was hit by a pitch. Donahue followed with his second base hit of the day, and an error brought home Dziuban for the lead.

Betancourt locked in to retire the last 11 SSC batters in order, while the Falcons finally got to SSC starter Brad Bialobrzeski, who had been Betancourt's equal through the first four innings.

Blaine Powley led off with a single, Chris Bones and Michael Noffsinger walked, and Betancourt tied the game with a one-out single. Aaron Kihn's bases-loaded single got past the SSC outfield to the fence, scoring three runs for a 5-2 lead

The Falcons added five runs in the sixth as Noffsinger and Kihn each had two-run singles to break the game open.

"That play in the fifth was huge," Peace said. "That first game was tense, but I kept telling the kids it didn't matter what the score was in the second or fourth innings, and we finally got something to take advantage of."

Bialobrzeski allowed three earned runs on six hits with three strikeouts in the loss.

Betancourt's two-hitter included one hit and four strikeouts. Jarritt Orlando also had two hits in the game.

That contest just set the stage for the championship game with Pinny, featuring Falcon ace Rick Dodridge pitching against Spartan ace Casey Pashak in what figured to be a low-scoring contest.

Of course, that wasn't the way it worked out.

Dodridge gave the Falcons a 2-0 first-inning lead with a two-run home run, then added to the lead with an RBI single from freshman Chris Bones in the second and run-scoring hits from Kelvin Page and Chris Powley that made it 5-0 in the third inning.

"Casey probably only threw a couple of bad pitches the whole game, but he hung a change-up against Rick that he just crushed. We practiced all week laying off his pitches that look like they're coming in knee-high, and the kids stuck with the plan."

Pinny had its own game-plan against Dodridge, and they hit the ball as hard as anyone has against him this year as four of the Spartans' five hits went for extra bases.

The Spartans got back in it as Tim Darby led off the third inning with a double and later scored on an error. Pashak's RBI double scored Ryan Kleinhans to make it 5-2. Pinny crept closer yet in the fifth as Kleinhans tripled and scored on a groundball out. Then with one out, Coty Swinson crushed one off the scoreboard over the right field fence for a home run that made it a one-run game.

"I don't know how far that would have gone if the scoreboard weren't there," Peace said. "That's as hard as anyone I've ever seen anyone hit one off Rick.

"This wasn't the typical 'Rick is on the mound, everything will be OK. He had to battle through it. Pinny was ready for him."

The Falcons opened up some breathing space in the sixth as they loaded the bases with one out, setting the stage for Betancourt's two-run single to make it 7-4. Kelvin Page was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in another run.

"Those runs in the sixth changed the face of the game," Peace said. "Rick had thrown a lot of pitches, but when I asked if he had enough to go out there in the seventh, he just stared at me.

"And after he threw the first couple of pitches in the seventh, we knew we were in pretty good shape."

Dodridge struck out two batters in the sixth and two more in the seventh to finish with 15 for the game.

The victory earns Ogemaw (27-10) a trip to the Benzie Central regional on Saturday, where the Falcons open against Big Rapids (19-13).