Michigan State Championship

Van Hoosen Farm, Rochester Hills – The Independents took their carriages into the wilderness again, and visited the comely, burgh of Rochester Hills to once more enter into the championship fray of Michigan. The Rochester Grangers are well known to be one of the best clubs in not only Michigan, but also the western part of these United States. The Bay City nine has been fortunate enough to defeat the Grangers in the past, but never in Rochester Hills. This would be their third effort at Van Hoosen Farm, and they were hopeful that they would put on a better showing on this day.

The temperatures were sweltering on this day, and there was no hope for shade on the ball grounds as the two clubs assembled for the coin toss. The Bay City nine won the toss, and elected to strike first. The Bay City gentlemen were able to tally one ace in their at bats in the first innings behind the fine striking of Branden “The Rope” Revette and Trevor “Big Wood” David. The Grangers were able to answer that run with one of their own when Mr. McKay would tally for the Rochester Hill nine after securing second base on his opening strike. At the end of the first innings the match would be tied at 1-1.

The Bay Citys would open the second innings by tallying two more runs when Misters Johnson and Brissette would ring the bell after successfully reaching first sack, and then taking their third and second on a muffed ball by the Granger Catcher. A clean safety by “Hooks” Freehling brought the runs home safely. These runs would put the Independents ahead in the contest again at 3-1. The Grangers though, would not easily be put down in their second innings. After Mr. Wynn lost the first hand for the Grangers, the Rochester strikers would pound the pill with impunity pushing 9 runs in before losing another. The Granger uprising would only be put down through a bully effort by the Bay City second sacker, Dean “Sawmill” Koch. There were runners at second and third sack with only one hand down when “Kaz”, the Granger striker, stepped to the line and drove a howitzer towards the aforementioned Mr. Koch. With all of the sand of a charging Billy Yank, Mr. Koch flung his body in front of the sphere and bottled it in style. The catch caught the runner on second, Lefty Wynne, napping and Mr. Koch was able to flip it to second sack and get two hands on one play. After two innings the Grangers had taken the lead for the first time at 10-3.

The Bay City nine, short handed and being pounded by both the blistering heat and the Granger strikers strode to the stripe with defiance in their hearts and power in their bats. The fine striking of “Doc” Garcia, “Sawmill” Koch, “Shoeless Jeff” Dinauer, and “High-Steppin” Johnson would put three more runs in the Independent’s ledger for the day and bring the hometown nine a little closer to the leading Grangers. Ray “The Banker” Banister would step between the lines for the Bay Citys and pitched some whitewashing against the Grangers in the third. At the close of the third innings the score stood at 10-6 in favor of the Rochesters.

In their fourth innings the Bay Citys would even the match with 4 more runs with Misters Banister, Revette, David, and Decuf adding their names to the scoring list. The most powerful drives in the innings belonged to Mr. Revette and Mr. Dinauer who were each able to reach their second on long drives to the out field. The Granger strikers would tally in their fourth innings as well, but Mr. Banister and the Bay City defense would hold them to only two aces. At the end of the fourth innings the contest was still a tight scratch at 12-10 in favor of Rochester Hills.

The fifth innings would start in fine fashion when “Twinkle-toes” Brissette and “Hooks” Freehling would each reach base with no hands lost. They would take their third and second on another muff by the Granger catcher. The Bay City hopes at tying the match would fade as the next three strikers would find their hands lost to sky balls, and foul tics to the catcher. After having failed to tally for the first time in the contest the Independents took to the field, and found themselves scrambling in the heat when Granger striker after Granger striker reached base safely. At the conclusion of the fifth innings the score now stood at 17-10 in favor of the gentlemen from Rochester Hills.

Being down, but not yet defeated, the Bay City nine tried to muster their strength once more behind the muscle of “Doc” Garcia and “Sawmill” Koch. Each of these two gentlemen were able to reach their second with mighty blasts to the long field. Mr. Koch would be driven to the home plate by yet another safety from Mr. Dinauer to bring the score to 17-12. The Bay City rally would crumble again due to some fine fielding of the Grangers, and the home town boys would once again leave strikers on the bags. The Granger batsmen would answer again for 4 more runs to make it 21-12.

By now both clubs had been beaten into submission by the blazing sun, and their efforts had worn them thin. Whitewashing would be the color of the concluding innings with only the Grangers finding one more ace in the seventh innings. The Bay Citys would find their Waterloo in Rochester Hills again this season, and would depart with a loss of 22-12. However, the Independents could take solace in the fact that they stood in and took the Granger shots with grace and resilience and were defeated, but not disgraced.