Ely takes home tourney

Ely’s American Legion baseball team showed more than a little bit of resilience in winning the six-team Ely Midsummer Classic.After a disheartening, potentially demoralizing loss to Chisholm in the second of four tournament games, Post 24 bounced back with impressive wins over Hibbing and Cloquet to take the home tournament for a second straight year.Ely broke out of a long offensive slump with 14 hits in a 10-4 triumph over Cloquet last Sunday, and the hosts rallied past Hibbing for a 6-4 victory last Saturday night.Those wins, along with a 4-2 decision over Virginia in the opening game, helped Ely overcome an 8-7 defeat against Chisholm last Saturday, in a game in which the local club led 7-3 going into the final inning.Two costly errors, including one with two outs in the seventh inning, cost Ely the game.But the loss didn’t seem to have any lasting impact, as Ely came up with solid outings against both Hibbing and Cloquet.“The most impressive thing was how we bounced back,” said Ely Head Coach Tom Coombe. “We could have gone in the tank after losing like we did against Chisholm. I was really happy to see us come back and play so well.”Nick Furnstahl shook off a shaky first inning and pitched Ely to a 6-4 victory over Hibbing.Hibbing nicked Furnstahl for three runs in the first, but the senior-to-be settled down from there, retiring 16 of the last 17 batters he faced.Josh Shain’s solo homer in the sixth tied the game at four, but Ely came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning.Pinch-runner Paul Starkovich scored on a throwing error while Kevin Pope gave Ely an insurance run with a sacrifice fly.Earlier, Ryan Potter had a two-run single for Ely while Colin Moberly and Aaron Thom had run-scoring hits in the third.Furnstahl went the distance, scattering seven hits and issuing no walks.“Nick has thrown twice for us now and he’s had two excellent games,” said Coombe. “He really adds to our pitching depth.”In the finale, Ely turned things over to Scott and the Legion ace fanned eight, gave up just four hits and allowed no earned runs.Cloquet took advantage of two errors in the second to tie the game at two, but Ely broke the deadlock in the fourth with a five-run, six-hit barrage.Scott gave Ely the lead with a run-scoring hit and Jake Curtiss stroked a two-run single during the rally.“We haven’t had an inning like that in a while,” said Coombe. “We’ve been struggling at the plate but we finally broke out against Cloquet.”Scott went three-for-five with three runs scored, while Curtiss had two hits and finished with four runs batted in. Potter, Pope and Jordan Richards all added two hits.The victories against Hibbing and Cloquet erased the disappointment of the Chisholm game.Robbie Reichensperger scored on a passed ball to give Ely a 4-3 lead and a three-run sixth, which included hits by Tyler Willis, Pope, Moberly and Billy Tibbetts, extended the margin to four.That wasn’t enough, as Chisholm scored five times in the seventh. Back-to-back doubles knocked Tibbetts out of the game with Moberly coming on in relief. Chisholm got to the new pitcher with two hits and a pair of walks, while an error extended matters.With Ely up 7-6, the game seemingly was finished with a ground ball back to the mound, but Moberly’s throw evaded Scott at first and Chisholm scored twice on the play.Reliever Joe Foley retired Ely in the seventh to give his team the win.“That was a tough, tough loss,” said Coombe. “We had it but just couldn’t hold on. We tightened up and they took advantage.”Ely was held to six hits.Phil Brodeen went six strong innings, giving up seven hits, and Scott pitched a scoreless seventh to beat Virginia in the first game of the tournament.Ely scored four times in the fourth inning, without the ball ever being hit out of the infield.Jay Olson reached on an error to start the frame, and Scott, Pope and Moberly all had infield hits. Pope finished with two hits in the game for Ely.Virginia scored single runs in the fifth and sixth, and threatened by putting two runners on base in the seventh against Scott. The hard-throwing lefty settled down from there, striking out the side to finish the game.• Ely went 3-1 to win the tournament, while Virginia took the tiebreaker to win a four-way tie for second at 2-2, along with Hibbing, Chisholm and Cloquet. Nashwauk-Keewatin lost three of four games.