The Fourth of July had already come and gone, but that didn’t stop the Mudville Nine 13U baseball team from providing a few additional offensive fireworks at the inaugural Summer Slam tournament at Otsego’s Memorial Park.
Mudville Nine, based in the Otsego/Plainwell area, scored 51 runs and finished a perfect 4-0 in the round-robin tournament to take top honors in the event that took place on Saturday, July 7, and Sunday, July 8.
Three of Mudville’s four wins came via the mercy rule.
Mudville clinched the championship in its final game with a 10-0 victory over Hillsdale, as two pitchers combined for the one-hit shutout.
Colin Wesseldyk started the game on the mound, allowing no runs, no hits and no walks with four strikeouts. The only base runner he allowed came on a first-inning error.
Vance Muenzer worked the final two innings of the mercy-rule-shortened game, allowing only a leadoff single in the fifth inning. But that runner was quickly erased thanks to an unassisted double play by shortstop Culver Neldon.
Muenzer didn’t walk a batter and struck out one.
Offensively, Muenzer led the way for the weekend, going 8-10 with two triples, two doubles, four runs and seven RBI. Evan Leece went 7-for-12 with a home run, two doubles, seven runs and six RBI, while Neldon went 6-for-12 with eight runs and three RBI.
Colin Wesseldyk (4-for-14 with a home run, three runs and two RBI), Drake Buell (3-for-13 with four runs and four RBI) and Callum Wesseldyk (3-for-10 with four runs and three RBI) added at least three hits for the weekend.
Casey DeYoung and Aiden Tolliver each singled twice, while Zack Vist added a single and five runs. Tyler Somers also singled.
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