Village Green is everything but perfect as repeat Pony League champion

BAY CITY, MI – They may forever lament the loss.

But they’ll never need to regret it.

Bouncing back from its first loss of the tournament – halting an incredible 39-game winning streak – Village Green got the win that counted most, downing Lions Club 11-1 to capture its second consecutive Bay County Pony League championship.

Village Green became the first team to win back-to-back titles in the tradition-rich league since Dan Revette’s Lions Club teams of 2012-13. The squad ran the table in the regular season and posted a 21-1 record for the year.

The only thing that eluded Village Green was a perfect season, which escaped it in a 5-2 loss to Lions Club in the winners bracket final on Thursday.

“It took a toll, but we bounced back. None of us lost confidence,” Village Green pitcher Jaxon Jenkins said. “We treated it like just another game. We put it in the past and focused on the next one.”

Last year, Village Green joined the Clarence Snover-coached UCT 51 team of 1980 and the Dale Dunham-led Lions Club team of 1997 as the only undefeated teams in the 70-year history of Bay County Pony League. It gave itself a chance to do it again in 2022.

Village Green rolled to a 16-0 regular season and won its first two tournament games, extending the program’s winning streak to 39 games. But Lions Club spoiled that party.

A squad that posted a 6-8-2 mark during the regular season, Lions Club emerged as the surprise team of the tournament with a run to the title game. Along the way, it handed Village Green its first loss since 2019.

“We kept battling them and kept battling them, and we finally got there,” said Lions Club manager Craig Revette, whose team had lost four one-run decisions to Village Green during its winning streak. “There was quite a roar at the end of that game.”

But needing one more win to capture the crown, Lions Club couldn’t duplicate that magic.

Village Green regrouped from its rare defeat in impressive fashion. It knocked off Elks Lodge 88 6-0 in the losers bracket final then stormed back to defeat Lions Club in a pair of must-win games. An 8-6 win on Friday set up a winner-take-all clash Saturday at Coryell Field.

“They needed that loss to get fired up,” Village Green coach Tom Debo said. “We played a little doggish the last few games. The loss was a letdown, but it fired ‘em up.

“We told them ‘We can still win this. Yes, it’s a loss, but don’t worry about it.’ We knew we had the team to win three in a row.

“They came back with their heads up and produced. They knew they had to – and they did.”

Village Green produced in emphatic fashion in the finale. After Lions Club struck first with a run in the top of the first, Village Green responded with four runs in its first swings. The champs added two runs in the second inning to take command at 6-0.

They would finish it in the fifth, plating five runs for the 11-1 mercy-ruled margin.

Brady Vrabel and Jaxon Jenkins each knocked two hits to lead the attack. Jackson Andreski, Brody O’Loughlin, Dawson Sprunger, Grant Reder, Carson Yurgaites and Drew Goik each added one hit. Goik drilled a two-run double in the fifth then raced home with the championship-clinching run.

“We got up, they got down and we took advantage,” Debo said.

Gavin Escamilla paced Lions Club with a pair of hits while Aiden Revette, Will Martin and Cale Zielinski each knocked one hit.

“I don’t think anybody expected us to be playing in this game,” Craig Revette said. “We tried to get ready for this time of year and they came together at the right time.”

Jackson Andreski came through with a clutch pitching performance in the winner-take-all finale for Village Green. He scattered five hits and struck out two for the victory. Village Green has posted a 42-1 record over the two magical seasons.