The New York Mills 13-15 Babe Ruthers took a longer road than anticipated to the championship of District 2. They head to Fergus Falls Thursday, August 5, to begin state tournament play at 5:30 p.m. at the MSCTC College field, as the top seed from the district.
"Overall we played a great tournament," Head Coach Tim Kupfer said. "We went in undefeated and took our first loss, but the kids battled back never giving up, which was what we did all year."
After an opening round 11-6 victory over Blackduck and a second round loss to Staples, the Mills nine found themselves on the verge of elimination from the district tournament Thursday afternoon.
NY Mills was down 13-6 to Vergas in the bottom of the seventh when they went on a nine run tear that included nine hits and two bases on balls to take the lead 15-13.
Vergas came back strong in the top of the seventh with two runs off three hits, tying the game at 15.
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Adam Patron dropped a walk-off, bloop single into right field scoring C.J. Mucahy in the bottom of the ninth to eliminate Vergas from the tournament and keep their chances at the title alive.
"We took one game at a time and came back the long hard way to win the tournament," Kupfer said. "That says a lot about these kids. They never give up and keep coming."
A rematch with Staples was looming but NY Mills had to get through Bagley first. They did, 5-3, behind the pitching of Perham draftee, Mulcahy's four-hitter.
In game seven of the tournament, the hosts beat Staples 7-5 behind a complete game on the mound from Tyler Patron. Daniel Kraft smacked a solo shot to get the scoring started for Mills. Kraft was 2-3 at the plate with two RBI. Austin Erickson was 2-4 with a run batted in.
Park Rapids awaited the winners in the championship game. Technically, NY Mills would have to beat Park Rapids twice to take the title.
The second game Friday ended in a 10-7 win for NY Mills. The winning pitcher was Austin Erickson. Erickson pitched four innings and had three strikeouts. Adam Patron pitched the last three innings and fanned three.
Brandon Kupfer led the way with two hits and three RBI.
This set up a final game that was set to be played on Saturday. But the Park Rapids had some issues with weddings and not having enough players. They opted for the second seed and did not play the final game conceding the tournament win to NY Mills.
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