Rapids, Hibbing in 7AA finals
Duluth News Tribune, May 28, 1980
by MARK STODGHILL of the News-Tribune staff
GRAND RAPIDS -- It will be an all-Iron Range final for the Region 7AA baseball championship here at 7:30 p.m. today.
Hibbing and Grand Rapids earned championship berths by scoring semifinal wins before 450 fans at the American Legion Field Tuesday night.
Todd Grina scored from second base on a throwing error in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Grand Rapids a 5-4 victory over Lake Superior Conference champion Proctor.
Hibbing rode the two-hit pitching of Shawn Laine to blank St. Francis 6-0 in the other semifinal...
...Grand Rapids Coach Bob Streetar said he had no qualms about bringing in sophomore pitcher Craig Yelle to face Proctor in the seventh inning: "I knew he could throw strikes and he threw them," Streetar said simply.
That he did. Yelle, who spent much of the year on the B-team, got out of a bases-loaded no-out jam by getting two strikeouts and an infield groundout to keep [Rapids] tied with Proctor 4-4 entering the bottom of the seventh.
[Rapids] centerfielder Jeff Skelly was responsible for getting Grand Rapids that far. His fourth-inning grand slam home run off Proctor starter Jason Malec accounted for the only runs entering the Grand Rapids eighth inning.
Proctor battled back from its 4-1 deficit with a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Mike Woods ignited the Rails in the seventh. He led off with a double down the left field line and scored on Scott Pionk's single. The singling Matt Downs also came home when Dan Norton's ground ball scooted through the shortstop hole to tie the game at 4-4. But Yelle shut things down the rest of the way.
Malec worked the first seven innings for the Rails and gave up only five hits. He struck out five and walked three.
Woods had three of Proctor's 10 hits...
[Grand Rapids] victorious in extra inning ball game
Grand Rapids Herald-Review, May 29, 1980
Despite Jeff Skelley's 354 foot fourth inning grand slam, the Grand Rapids [baseball team] needed an extra inning to put the Proctor Rails out of competition in the Region 7AA semifinals Tuesday night by a score of 5 to 4.
The winning run was scored when Proctor committed a throwing error in an attempt to make a double play, allowing Todd Grina to score. Grina had singled to center to lead off the bottom half of the eighth inning. Tim Graupmann safely made it to first on what was supposed to have been a sacrifice bunt, putting runners on first and second. [Grand Rapids was] in scoring position and took advantage of the throwing error.
Sophomore pitcher Jeff Yelle pitched the team out of what looked like an impossible position by striking out two batters in the seventh inning when the bases were loaded. Yelle completed the game after relieving Jeff Magner who relieved starter Jeff Tollett.
Tollett started the game and pitched good ball, but was jerked by coach Bob Streetar in the top of the seventh when Tollett began to lose his control when he gave up a stand-up double to Proctor's lead off seventh inning hitter.
Magner took over mound duties and allowed two runs which tied the game before he was replaced by Yelle.
Fine defense play was turned in by Jeff Magner in the first inning when an over the shoulder catch which averted the scoring of two possible runs by the Rails. The catch, at the time, appeared to be the standing defensive play of the game but another accidental double play took its place in the third inning when catcher Graupmann dropped a third strike ball but was able to recover in time to throw the batter out at first. First baseman Mike Miller returned the ball to the plate to Tollett who tagged out a Rail runner attempting to score.
The double play ended the inning, keeping both teams in a scoreless tie.
The first run of the game was scored by Proctor in their half of the fourth inning. [Grand Rapids] then scored four on Skelley's grand slam to take the lead.
The lead was narrowed in the sixth when the Rails scored another run, making the score 4 to 2. They added a fourth run in their half of the seventh inning to tie the score. [Grand Rapids]' failure to add a run in the seventh put the game into extra innings.
Under the pressure of the extra innings [Grand Rapids] proved their mettle and scored the winning run.