Sports Writer

FELCH — The 2020 Felch Labor Day Championship hardball tournament wrapped up Monday afternoon, with Team 906 defeating Belleville, Wis. 6-2 in the championship game at Felch Memorial Field.

Belleville played in three straight games Monday, reaching the championship game out of the loser’s bracket. Team 906, was undefeated throughout the tournament, winning one game each day, Saturday through Monday.

“The difference in this game and in the tournament itself fo

r us was staying in the winner’s bracket,” said Team 906 manager Willie Fontana. “They played twice as many games this weekend as we did; they were tired and it showed.”

Ryan Boettcher was the starting pitcher for Team 906, and he went the distance allowing 10 hits, only one walk, while striking out three batters. Boettcher was named Tournament Most Valuable Pitcher for his performance throughout the tournament and on Monday.

Boettcher got his team on the scoreboard with an RBI single in the top of the first, scoring lead-off hitter Bobby Beauchamp. 906 added another run as former North Dickinson and Northern Michigan football player Bradley Gustafson reached safely on a fielder’s choice, scoring catcher Kenny Pekarek to give Team 906 a 2-0 lead right out of the gates.

Belleville added a run in the bottom half of the inning, with leadoff hitter Matt Everson scoring the run, to make the score 2-1. Everson was named Tournament MVP.

Team 906 added to their one-run lead in the top half of the second inning when Boettcher flew out to centerfield, scoring designated hitter Brent Chartier, who walked to begin the top half of the inning.

The next three innings of the seven-inning game went by fairly uneventful with no runs crossing the plate and neither teams pitcher allowing more than a base runner or two per inning. The top of the sixth inning is when a usually routine play became a crowd-pleasing time of the baseball game.

With one out, Chartier reached base with a single. The 43-year-old, who was played in 29 Felch Labor Day tournaments, was removed from the game for pinch-runner Logan O’Neil. Beauchamp cracked a base hit to left-center field and O’Neil took off from second base and was rounding third in an attempt to try to score.

O’Neil touched third base awkwardly, lost his balance, stumbled down the third baseline and dove headfirst into home and was called safe by home plate umpire Jim Bal. Belleville’s catcher bobbled the throw that came in from the outfield, allowing O’Neil to score.

O’Neil, a North Dickinson graduate, gave the crowd and everyone in attendance a good laugh, as he was smiling from ear to ear as he picked himself up off the ground, giving his team a 4-1 lead.

Team 906 added two insurance runs in the top half of the seventh inning, on a throwing error by the Belleville second baseman, to make the score 6-1. Belleville added a run in the bottom half of the final inning, but to no avail. Team 906 took home their second ever Felch Labor Day Tournament championship.

“This is my core group of players, but we added four new players for this weekend,” Fontana noted. “Chase Carlson was a rookie in the tournament this year, our 44-year old third baseman Jeff Krejcik, this was his first time playing for our team, and he played great all weekend.”

Fontana noted that a few of his players are Wishigan and Superiorland league players, but are veterans on the team. Fontana, a northside of Iron Mountain native, also noted that not having the Wishigan league this summer, made it hard to convince a couple team members who didn’t play in the tournament, to come play, due to not having played since last summer.

Tournament Director John Benzie noted that the crowds were great all four days with Saturday having the largest crowd of the weekend. Benzie expressed appreciation to the Felch community for their support of the tournament, in its second year back from a one-year hiatus.

The “unofficial” largest 50/50 drawing in tournament history occurred on Saturday, according to public address announcer Warren “Windy” Wickman. Championship Monday public address announcer ‘The Todder’ Lindeman, amused the crowd with his patented one-liners, which was to nobody’s surprise.

Wickman and long-time Felch Rangers Wishigan league team manager Andy Anderson were honored by Benzie prior to the championship game for their nearly 50 years of support and involvement in the tournament. Those photos will run in the coming days.

Belleville 100 000 1 — 2 10 1

T906 210 001 2 — 6 10 2