In doing right thing, Northwest Legion gets 15-5 win
Northwest Legion Post 690 proved that when you do the right thing, good things happened to you.
Northwest Legion opted not to forfeit Friday, which could have given it a competitive edge in Saturday's 1st Division Cook County finals. Instead, they played and rolled past the Northside Braves 15-5 in seven innings at Recreational Park in Arlington Heights.
With the victory, Northwest will face Arlington Post 208 in Saturday's finals. The teams will play at noon and with a win there, Northwest would claim the County title. If Arlington wins, the teams would then meet at 3:30 p.m. for the title.
Despite being undefeated in the tournament, Northwest had considered forfeiting their game Friday.
The unique scenario was set in motion when Arlington won its loser's bracket by forfeit when the Chicago Grizzlies had only 8 players for their game.
By forfeiting, Northwest could also have saved on its pitching, and by tournament rules, would have been in the title game against the winner of Arlington and the Northside Braves.
Northwest coach Kevin Miller considered that option, but quickly dismissed it.
"We thought about forfeiting when we arrived," Miller said. "Because it could have put us at competitive advantage on Saturday. But that is not what Legion baseball is all about. So, in the spirit of Legion baseball, we decided that it was much better to play ball."
Sean Fege threw 6 innings for Nortwest, while allowing just 2 runs. Fege, who was a catcher for all 4 years while playing at Elk Grove, was not surprised to get the start.
"Coach told me yesterday that I was going to throw tonight, said Fege, who allowed 6 hits while striking out 2 and inducing a pair of double plays.
"I was just trying to throw strikes and let my defense come up big for me."
Northwest was also able to use the game to get some extra at bats for the team, which had scored just 6 runs in their previous two games.
"We had a bunch of good at bats," Miller said. "On Thursday we got stagnant at the end on offense. So today we had some positives with our approach to hitting."
Northwest broke the game open early, scoring 7 runs in the first two innings.
Connor Quinn led the assault with 2 hits and 4 RBI, but left the game with an injury in the 6th. Brandon Beck had 2 hits and 2 RBI, Josh Bergbreiter had 2 hits and an RBI, Adam O'Malley had 2 hits and an RBI while Fege had a hit and 3 RBI.
Beck, who is a pitcher and first baseman caught his first game Friday. He said that he and his team were exited to be able to play.
"That's why we are all here," Beck said. "To play baseball. We don't care about all the other stuff. We just want to play ball."