NELL rallies to win district championship

For Northeast Little League’s Shepardson family, life just got a whole lot busier. But in a good way.

A day after Kemper Shepardson pitched NELL’s major all-stars to a district championship, manager Noah Shepardson and son Lennox led NELL’s minor all-stars to a 9-6 comeback victory over Freeland in a decisive if-necessary district final on Monday.

“It’s been crazy, with these boys playing five games in three days. We had Kemper pitching in the championship game yesterday. I had to miss it, but, man, I’m so proud of how his team played,” Noah Shepardson said with a smile. “Now, he gets to go to state in Tecumseh with my wife, and I get to go to state with Lennox up in Harbor Springs.”

Freeland jumped on Northeast early, building a 6-1 lead through the first inning and a half, but that didn’t seem to faze Shepardson’s squad.

NELL outscored Freeland 8-0 the rest of the way, while pitchers Liam Urbaniak and Theo Wrozek slammed the door over the final four innings.

“I reminded the boys of the Bullock Creek game,” Shepardson said, referring to Sunday’s losers’ bracket final. “We got down by six runs, and heads started to drop a little bit. I was like, ‘Hey, boys, we’ve prepared for this. We know what to do when adversity hits. Let’s take it a little bit at a time.’

“ … We basically did the same thing here,” he added. “These boys don’t quit. They look at it as an opportunity.”

Freeland took an early 2-0 lead on a walk, an error, and an RBI single by Declan Hasse in the top of the first inning, but NELL countered in the bottom half with an RBI double to leftfield by Lars Roberts to cut it to 2-1.

Freeland came right back in the top of the second, loading the bases on a walk to Liam Fila, a single by Trevor McCollum, and a hit-batsman. Wally Childs grounded out to drive in a run, a dropped flyball allowed two more runs to score, and, after a single by Pace Myers reloaded the bases, Hasse smacked an RBI single to centerfield to make it a 6-1 lead.

From there, however, it was all Northeast.

NELL answered in the bottom of the second with three runs to cut the deficit to 6-4. Porter Smith got the rally started with an infield hit, Wrozek drew a walk, Shepardson hammered a two-run triple to leftfield, and Easton Cornford lined an RBI double to rightfield.

“We know we’re going to hit. We hit 1 through 12 in this lineup. If we get down, we can come back,” Noah Shepardson said. “ … We are going to hunt fastballs, and we are going to pound the ball. That’s been these kids’ strength all season. We plan on scoring a bunch of runs. We’ll be happy to win a shootout.”

An inning later, NELL loaded the bases on a walk to Greyson Madigan, an error, and a single by Brody Hohler. Roberts drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, and Bennett Martin followed with an RBI infield single to tie it at 6-6.

NELL took its first lead of the day in the fourth, as Shepardson and Cornford singled to put runners at the corners, and Shepardson scored moments later on a wild pitch, making it 7-6.

NELL tacked on a couple of insurance runs in the fifth on a walk to Madigan, a two-base throwing error on a bunt by Urbaniak, and an RBI ground-out by Hohler to extend to a 9-6 advantage.

Wrozek, who had relieved Urbaniak on the mound with two outs in the fifth, walked a couple of batters in the sixth to bring the potential tying run to the plate. He bore down, though, and struck out the next two batters to end the game.

Shepardson was pleased with his pitchers’ composure on the mound.

“I talk to those guys a lot about having fun – staying in the moment and enjoying the experience,” he noted. “A lot of times, you have a 10-year-old out there, and they get nervous. They get a couple of guys on base, and all of a sudden, it’s walk, walk, walk, walk.

“I’m so proud of how these guys have stayed composed, stayed within themselves, bore down, and just continued to pump strikes when it mattered,” he added.

Urbaniak earned the win, going 4 2/3 innings and allowing six runs, two earned, on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.

Wrozek picked up the save, pitching the final 1 1/3 innings and holding Freeland hitless and scoreless.

McCollum took the loss, giving up seven runs, five earned, on nine hits and four walks in 3 2/3 innings.

Shepardson went 2-for-2 with two runs batted in and scored twice for NELL, while Cornford went 2-for-2 with an RBI, Roberts drove in two runs, Madigan went 1-for-1 with a pair of walks and scored three times, and Urbaniak had an RBI and scored twice.

For Freeland, Hasse went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, while Grant Westhoff scored twice.

Looking ahead to the state tournament, which begins Friday, Shepardson said he thinks he has the pitching staff to make some noise in Harbor Springs.

“I like our pitching. I’ve got eight guys I can put on the mound who can throw 75 pitches if need be. I used all eight of them the past three days,” he said. “I think pitching is a huge strength of ours.”