Photos by Scott DeCamp | CatchMark
CALEDONIA — With a rainy forecast Wednesday, Montague’s Division 3 regional baseball semifinal matchup against Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian was an uncertainty.
Once it did happen, the Wildcats left no doubt.
With strong pitching by Kade Johnson and an opportunistic batting lineup led by tone-setter Nick Moss, Montague overwhelmed NorthPointe Christian, 16-1 in four innings, in a game moved under the lights at Davenport University.
Montague (23-14) will return to Davenport Saturday for a 10 a.m. regional final against the winner of Lansing Catholic and Laingsburg, whose regional semifinal was moved to 5 p.m. Thursday because of rain.
NorthPointe finishes with a 22-8 record.
Wednesday’s Montague-NorthPointe Christian game was scheduled to be held at Montague High School at 4:30 p.m., but steady rain throughout the afternoon forced the contest to be moved to Davenport’s artificial surface. The plan was for a 7 p.m. first pitch, but the parties agreed to move the start time back to see if the rain would move through.
It was about 8:25 p.m. once the first pitch was thrown and light rain fell at times, but they got the game in. Johnson struck out the side to start the game, then he delivered a two-run standup triple to support his own cause in Montague’s five-run first inning.
Here are details from the game, including an audio replay by CatchMark SportsNet at the bottom of this story:
Montague pitching:
Kade Johnson (winning pitcher) 3.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 7 K, 3 BB
Nick Moss 0.1 IP, 1 K
Montague hitting:
Nick Moss 3 H, 5 RBIs, 1 R
Kade Johnson 3B, 2 RBIs, 1 R
NorthPointe pitching:
Gibson Adema (losing pitcher) 1.0 IP, 4 H, 5 R
NorthPointe hitting leader:
Gabe Helder RBI 1B in the third inning
Notable:
NorthPointe senior Gabe Helder is committed to University of Illinois, where the 6-foot-4, 180-pounder is headed as a sidearm/submarine pitching prospect.
Graphic by Amy Yonkman | CatchMark
