Petoskey Royals 15U baseball honors Ryan Beigle with first pitch ceremony
PETOSKEY — The weekend may not have gone right to plan for the Petoskey Royals 15U team during their hosted Sunset Showdown tournament, though many within the Petoskey baseball community have had a lot more than wins and losses on the mind.
Earlier in the week, Petoskey resident Ryan Beigle unexpectedly passed away, sending a jolt through the Petoskey community.
Ryan’s brother, Rob Beigle, has been heavily involved in coaching multiple levels within Petoskey baseball, including last summer’s Junior Little League All-Star state championship team.
When the 15U Royals hosted the Sunset Showdown over the weekend, Saturday night’s 6 p.m. matchup with Total Travel out of South Lyon came with a special moment beforehand to recognize and honor Ryan.
A moment of silence opened a pre-game ceremony, which was then followed with a first pitch thrown by Ryan’s eight-year-old son, Jacob. Jacob Beigle delivered the pitch to cousin and Petoskey Royals 15U team member, Jordan Beigle.
After sending the strike into his cousin, Jacob also acted as the team’s bat boy for the night.
Along with Jacob, Ryan Beigle is survived by his wife, Marjorie, as well as son, Caleb (4), and daughter, Elizabeth (2).
A GoFundMe is set up to help support the Beigle family and can be found at: https://gofund.me/0647b22f
In the action on the field, the 15U Royals finished with a 1-2-1 record overall for the weekend, while scoring 31 runs to their 26 given up.
The Royals opened with 7-7 tie against the Saginaw Bay River Dawgs, earned a 14-4 victory over St. Mary’s Baseball, fell in a 9-8 matchup with Total Travel, then dropped a 6-2 game against the Bloomfield Sting.
Total Travel and the Westside Rattlers each finished 4-0 in their pools in the 15U tournament, while the overall win on the 14U side came by the Saginaw Golds with an 11-1 win over the Michigan Batmen.
The Golds and Batmen each went 4-0 in pool play, as did the Motor City Hit Dogs.
The weekend tournament was the second of five Petoskey Youth Baseball Association Sunset Showdown tournaments for the summer.
The next hosted tournament will come between Friday and Sunday, July 8-10 in a 16U event.
Contact Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny