8U Broncos Deliver What Every Dad Wants For Father's Day: A Championship

The faithful of Bronco Nation rolled into St. Clair this Father’s Day weekend looking to continue their winning ways.  They would not disappoint, and before the day was out the 8U Northville Broncos would win their 4th consecutive tournament, and remained undefeated in the process.

The Broncos began the tournament with a game against Richmond.  The Broncos wasted no time and jumped out to a quick lead. The Broncos leadoff hitter Dominic Minghine remained hot and started with a leadoff single and scored the game’s first run.  The Broncos would add 5 more that inning on 7 hits.  Brady Heron would get things going in the second with a double, and then scored one of the two runs in the 2nd inning. The Broncos would add 10 more runs over the next 2 innings.  Will Boisineau cracked the Broncos’ first homer of the tournament in the fourth for the Broncos final run of the contest. The Broncos also played stellar defense, with 3 shutout innings before giving up 4 runs in the 4th inning, but the Broncos would win this one in a mercy shortened game, 18-4.

The Broncos came out swinging in the 2nd game, which was unfortunate for their opponent the Hitz.   In the first inning, Nick Helner doubled and drove in Minghine to start things off.  That was followed up by Caden Besco’s first bomb of the tournament putting the Broncos up by 3.  They would add three more that inning and take a 6-0 lead into the second. The 2nd inning saw both teams put up goose eggs, but in the 3rd the Broncos jumped on them again, throwing up another 6 runs.  Trevor Schueller had a great game going 3 for 3, and scored a run. Carter Jurcisin would score the Broncos’ final run after he doubled in the 3rd, putting the Broncos up by 12.  That’s how this one would end, because the Broncos played perfect defense shutting out the Hitz in another mercy shortened game after just 3 innings 12-0.

The Broncos headed into the final round robin game looking for a win and possible number one seed for the championship round against IRA#2.  As has become the norm, the Broncos charged out to a quick lead scoring 6 in the first inning while holding IRA#2 scoreless.  In the second inning the Broncos would score 5 more.  Jack Wilczewski scored after connecting for his first of two doubles.  The second inning fireworks continued when Besco delivered his 2nd homer of the tourney.  Andrew Miller helped with the Bronco scoring in the 3rd inning after collecting his second hit of the game.  The Broncos added 5 more that inning, going up 17-2.  IRA#2 would add one more in the top of the 4th, but that wasn’t nearly enough as the Broncos won 17-3.

That win propelled the Broncos to the #1 seed and sent them up against the 4th seeded Madison Heights squad.  This contest would definitely test the mettle of the Broncos. Madison Heights was not intimidated by the Broncos impressive run to the championship round, and jumped all over the Broncos scoring 5 runs in the top of the first inning.  The Broncos came up in the bottom of the 1st expecting to respond in kind, and when Minghine laced a double to the fence, the Bronco Nation thought we would be back on top quick, but instead we failed to score and ended the 1st down by 5. The Broncos played some amazing defense from that point on, and that would be a huge difference maker.  In the second inning, the Broncos recorded their second straight scoreless inning. But in the third inning, the Bronco bats would finally come to life. The Broncos scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 3rd, including Gabe Clark who went 2 for 2 in this important contest.  The Bronco attack Continued in the 4th when Will Boisineau, Joey Broughton, and Isaac Pace hit 3 doubles in a row, scoring in the process.  Evan Deak would add the Broncos final run on his second hit of the game.  The Broncos went on to win this one, 9-7 sending them to face IRA#1 in the championship final.

IRA#1 came into the game looking for revenge for the beat down the Broncos delivered to their sister squad. The Broncos were looking for their 4th straight championship victory, and only one team could win and get what they were looking for.  On this sunny Father’s Day that team would be the Broncos. The Broncos were not going to play out of a hole this game.  They shut out IRA#1 in the first, then jumped on them in the bottom of the 1st.  Pace hit a bases clearing triple and scored the innings final run with 5 big runs in all. The Broncos would add 5 more in the bottom of the 3rd, but IRA#2 would keep battling.  They chipped away at the Bronco lead, but ultimately came up short losing to the Broncos 10-8.

This tournament was a huge test for the Broncos.  The final two games were tough games against good teams, but Bronco baseball prevailed.  Their disciplined play was the difference, and their reward was a 4th straight championship.  Happy Father’s Day Bronco Nation, we hope you enjoyed your special gift.