Turn-up tournament: Snowbirds snap 12-year drought by winning Irish Invitational

MOUNT PLEASANT — On Saturday, St. Mary won the Irish Invitational baseball tournament hosted by Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart for the first time since 2004.

The Snowbirds (20-5, 12-0 Ski Valley) defeated Bay City All Saints 3-1 and the host Irish 10-6 but narrowly lost Traverse City St. Francis, 4-3.

St. Mary relied heavily on junior Josh Nowicki, who pitched a complete game against All Saints and had two RBIs versus Sacred Heart.

The Snowbirds scored all three of their runs in the first inning of their tournament opener against the Cougars.

Nowicki's ground ball to left field scored Nick Torsky, and then a Billy Koenig single helped Drew Long score.

Shortly afterward, Andrew Greif's ground out to second base allowed Nowicki to cross home plate for their final run.

All Saints recorded their lone run in the third inning.

Torsky (three walks) led St. Mary's offense while Nowicki's pitching gem included seven innings on the mound, four strikeouts and only three walks and one earned run.

After a 3-3 score in the sixth inning of Game 2, the Snowbirds gave up three runs, including the game-winner, to St. Francis in the seventh.

A sacrifice fly by Long scored Adam Nowicki to knot it up 1-1 in the first inning.

St. Mary took a 3-1 lead two innings later. Adam doubled to left field, allowing Ethan Szymanski to race home, and then Josh's sacrifice fly drove in his older brother, Adam.

Adam led St. Mary by finishing 2-for-4 batting and scoring two runs while Torsky was 2-for-3 with a walk.

Gage Andrews pitched all seven innings, fanning two Glads and walking only three.

Against the Irish, Greif's ground ball to the shortstop scored Josh for the winning run in the fourth inning.

The Snowbirds went on to add three more scores before the game was finished.

Pacing St. Mary's offense was Koenig, who walked twice and scored two runs while Andrews and John Paul Zielinski, who pitched seven innings and struck out two batters, had two hits apiece.

Snowbirds sweep Trojans in league doubleheader

GAYLORD — The Snowbirds remained undefeated in the Ski Valley after beating visiting Central Lake in a doubleheader Friday.

Torsky pitched a no-hitter, and St. Mary swept the Trojans 10-5 and 6-2 at William Mackowiak Sports Complex.

In the first game, St. Mary erased a 5-1 deficit by scoring five times in the third inning.

That saw Koenig single to center field to score Torsky and Long, and Zielinski's single score Koenig two at-bats later.

Szymanski's single to left field scored Andrews and tied the score 5-5, and then Adam doubled to left field to push Zielinski in for the winning run.

Adam, Torsky, Long (two RBIs), Greif and Szymanski each finished with two hits.

Long, who is 7-0 starting, pitched a complete game and struck out four Trojans despite giving up five earned runs in the first inning.

Game 2 saw the Snowbirds score three runs in the first inning to put away Central Lake early.

Adam scored after Torsky doubled to center field, and then Josh's base hit two at-bats later scored Torsky.

Greif's base hit on a ground ball allowed Long to record the winning run.

Torsky struck out seven batters, walked five and pitched six innings to record his no-hitter.