The St Michaels Varsity Baseball team lost 2 to 1 in the Maryland State 1A final match to Mountain Ridge High School from Allegany County. It was a beautiful day at Ripken Stadium on Saturday when the Saints took the field at 4pm, but the sun failed to shine on the Saints. Even with outstanding defense in the form of a beautifully executed double play, it was simply not enough to hold off the unrelenting Miners offense. With the score tied at one in the bottom of the seventh, a well placed hit drove the Miners runner at third base home for the winning score. Bobby Schultz was the pitcher for the Saints.
This may just have been Mountain Ridge, Miners year. Not only did they win the 1A State baseball championship, but the Mountain Ridge Girls won the 1A State softball championship earlier in the afternoon at The University of Maryland.
The Saints can hold their heads high. No one in the Bayside Conference thought the Saints would be representing Talbot County in the Championship game. They did it on sheer guts and determination. We need to remember that the Saints graduated 11 seniors last year including 8 starters. The only returning starter was Dustin Jones who played great at Short Stop and pitcher all season. The players that represented the Saints this year were young and a little inexperienced but held tough all season. I expect that the Saints will be considered a little higher in the rankings, now that we have shown what we can do with what was suppose to be a rebuilding year.
We also must acknowledge the leadership of the entire coaching staff. The Saints have what a lot of sports orientated folks believe is the best head baseball coach at the high school level in Brian Femi. Brian relies heavily on his assistant coach, Bill Burton and should, as they are both members of the Maryland State Baseball Hall of Fame. The other assistant coaches play an important part in making the Saints a team to be reckoned with all season long. Scott McKelvey, Kevin Wile, Greg Phillips, and John Grow round out what may be the best coaching staff in the State of Maryland.
The Saints have been serious contenders for the Maryland State Championship the last five years, winning the title three times, making it to the final game and semi-final game the other two years. Like I stated earlier, the Saints can hold their heads high, they earned it.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.