Inspired Norway earn first trip to final to face defending champions Beal City

EAST LANSING – Cameron Varda’s single, scoring Ian Popp with two outs in the sixth inning Friday, may have been the greatest moment in Norway’s brief 15-year history as a high school baseball program.

That gave the Knights a 3-2 victory over Marine City’s Cardinal Mooney in an MHSAA Division 4 semifinal at Michigan State University’s McLane Stadium.

But maybe it wasn’t the best time of the day. Coach Tony Adams had a surprise for his team, which hails from the western edge of the Upper Peninsula near the Wisconsin border.

UP legend Jason Whitens, a 2017 Powers North Central alumnus who led the Jets to three Division 4 basketball titles and two 8-man football championships, was on hand for the game and spoke is spoken to by Team Norway after the program’s first semi-final appearance.

Whitens played basketball for Michigan State after beginning his career at Western Michigan. He is now an assistant strength coach for the MSU men’s basketball team.

“It’s Jason. I worked at North Central for a few years and became really good friends with his mom and dad, Gerald and Faye, and that’s the kind of kid they raised. Back home, he’s larger than life,” Adams said. “I knew he was going to be there and I said, ‘Hey, do you want to say a few words?’ because I knew he would. I thought it was a phenomenal moment for our kids.

Norway (28-3-1) looks to make the weekend even more memorable by taking on powerful and perennial defending champion Beal City (33-6) in Saturday’s final at 2:30 p.m. Beal City defeated Vermontville Maple Valley, 5-1, in Friday’s first semifinal.

With Norway and Cardinal Mooney (23-11) tied at 2 in the sixth inning and with two outs, Knights No. 9 hitter Popp singled up the middle. He attempted to steal second base and, as the ball skidded to the backstop on a wild throw, he never stopped running and reached third base safely. Leadoff hitter Varda delivered a line drive single to center field to give Norway the lead.

Starter Cole Baij worked the sixth inning for the Knights and Owen Baij closed out the seventh inning.

“I started off with a two-out single. I wasn’t really thinking about it, but (my coach) signaled me to fly and I was going and I looked at him and he told me to keep going, so I thought Cameron had put the ball in play and had made a good shot,” Popp said. “He told me to slide and I slid and it turned out the ball went behind the receiver. Overall, it worked out. went very well.

Varda said, “I was just thinking, ‘Put the ball in play, score the runner on third.’ I just took a short swing, put the ball in play and scored it.

Norway had strikes on the ball throughout its lineup, finishing with nine total hits. Owen Baij and Alex Ortman had two hits each.

Cole Baij earned the pitcher victory for Norway. The right-hander allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits with three strikeouts and four walks in six innings. Owen Baij allowed one hit and struck out one with no walks in his only inning to pick up the save.

Mason Martin took the loss for Cardinal Mooney replacing George Szep. Martin allowed one earned run on four hits with one strikeout and no walks in two innings.

Cameron Spezia went 2-for-4 to lead the Cardinals.

“It’s tough, but at the end of the day, they made more plays than us and that’s how they won the baseball game,” Cardinal Mooney coach David Bowen said. “It just comes down to execution; that’s why you play a baseball game. They understand. They don’t like it, but they understand.

Whitens delivered an inspiring message to the Norwegian team, proving that “UP Power” is still going strong.

He said Yooper’s pride was definitely a real thing.

“We are such a strong community when you look at it. We’re such a small community when you look at it,” Whitens said.

“I grew up 15 minutes from Norway. There’s a lot of connections, a lot of my good friends are from Norway, a lot of my dad’s friends are from Norway, so there’s a lot of close connections. Any time you see a UP school competing for a championship here, you always root for them. Those “UP Power” chants never get old in my head.

Norwegian players and coaches, who used to cheer for Whitens, now find him shooting for them — and that couldn’t be cooler for the Knights.

“It was really cool (with Whitens’ speech) because when we were younger and growing up and watching him play and everyone in the UP knew who he was, and seeing what he did in his journey, it was awesome,” Popp said. “And now that he can talk to us and give us some wisdom, it’s very cool.”

Click for the full box score.

Beal City 5, Vermontville Maple Valley 1

The Beal City baseball machine was in full swing Friday morning at McLane Stadium.

Seven players had hits, the defense made a few worthwhile plays to prevent a big inning and Josh Wilson was effective on the mound.

Beal City (33-6) is seeking a second straight Division 4 title and sixth overall. Maple Valley, appearing in its first semifinal in 49 years, closed the season 29-8.

“It’s these guys. It’s a tribute to these guys – these guys play good ball and they’re good kids with great families and a great program. They bought into my style of baseball and they did a great job with it,” said Beal City coach Brad Antcliff, who returned to the team last season after stepping away from 2017-2022 for focusing on his girls and their softball teams. .

Beal City wasted no time getting the upper hand against Maple Valley. After Wilson retired the Lions in order in the top of the first inning, the Aggies went to work in the bottom half scoring three runs with no outs.

Cayden Smith led off with a double to right field. He took third on a passed ball and scored on the same play with a head-first slide home after the ball slipped away from the Lions receiver.

Jack Fussman’s triple to the right corner scored Owen McKenney, who had walked. Wilson followed with a double to center field to score Fussman.

Beal City struck throughout its lineup and continued to keep the pressure on Maple Valley pitcher Jakeb McDonald. Jake Gauthier also doubled for the Aggies.

“The bottom half of the order has reached a huge level in the postseason so far, and that puts a lot of pressure on the pitcher to take every hitter seriously,” said Wilson, who led the Aggies with two RBIs.

Wilson, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior right-hander, also took care of business on the mound. He allowed one unearned run on three hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in a complete game. Wilson (8-3) also retired the Lions in order in the sixth and seventh innings.

“I felt good. The first two innings I was struggling a little bit, couldn’t really get in the zone,” said Wilson, a four-year varsity player. “I found it and the defense played well behind me.”

Teegan McDonald led Maple Valley, going 2-for-3 with a fourth-inning RBI double that brought the Lions within 3-1. In the fifth, Beal City right fielder Bennett Gilde made a nice sliding catch near the line to start the top half of the inning, and second baseman Cuyler Smith made a leaping catch down the line to there end.

The Lions had become accustomed to winning close matches and coming back during the tournament, taking them 3-2, 5-4 and 4-2 in two regional competitions and a quarterfinal. They continued to battle against the Aggies but couldn’t come back this time.

“We know it takes 21 outs to end a game, and we’re going to fight for every one of them,” Maple Valley coach Bryan Carpenter said. “I hope (the semi-final experience) makes them hungry. I hope they now believe that this is possible and that we can do this regularly. This doesn’t have to happen every 49 years for Maple Valley.

Antcliff is seeking his fourth Finals championship as Beal City’s baseball coach. He also guided the Aggies to titles in 2009 and 2010. This is his eighth 30-win season in 12 years at the helm.

Beal City has been a model of consistency over the years. Friday’s game showed a few reasons why that’s the case.

“Our 1 to 9 are solid. We might not do it every time and with good hitters, but at any given time I feel like we can have nine hits in a row. We do the little things well, eliminating cavities and all that, and that’s a testament to these guys and their buy-in (to the culture),” said Antcliff, who expects his team to need it more to add another championship on Saturday.

“Win the first pitch…We’re going to have to bring our ‘A’ game and see what happens.”

Click for the full box score.

PICTURES (Top) Norway’s Cole Baij delivers a shot during his team’s Division 4 semifinal victory Friday at McLane Stadium. (Middle) Beal City’s Cayden Smith scores under Maple Valley’s Jakeb McDonald (18).