The 12 and under Tri-County Broncos baseball team didn’t fair as well as they would have liked, dropping all three games in the North Zone tournament in Joliet.
In the first game, Tri-County took an early 2-0 lead but in the top of the fourth, after two outs, a walk, an error and a 3 run home run; it was all Tri-Village, the Michigan state champion, needed to cruise to a 5-2 victory.
Tri-County had their chances early, leaving the bases loaded once and men on second and third twice in the first four innings, as they couldn’t get the big hit.
In the second game, the Tri-County team was just outmanned, losing 23-2.
Tri-County committed seven errors and walked 10 batters while also giving up three home runs.
”The team from Channahon was loaded with size and talent we had yet to see in all three tournaments we played in,” said head coach Jeff Kordys. “ Sometimes you just face a team that is a whole lot better than you.
The final game was against the host team from Crest Hill in Joliet.
Tri-County lost 13-5 but the game was close until the bottom of the 6th inning when Crest Hill scored seven runs.
Tri-County cut the lead to one three different times, but didn’t have much left in the tank as Crest Hill pulled away in the end.
The winner of the tournament was Oak Park, who advanced to the Pony World Series in Monterey, California.
Although Tri-County didn’t win a game in the zone tournament, the short all-star season turned out to be very successful.
The Broncos won the region tournament in Du Quoin, finished runner-up to Jefferson County in the section tournament, and earned a birth in the zone tournament, a tournament representing thirteen states from around the Midwest.
“The amazing part about our team is that they were brought together in a two-hour time frame without a practice because their first game was the day after the team was assembled,” added Kordys. “All the other teams have been together and playing games since May.”
The team is made up of seven Chester boys, including Blake Eggemeyer, Andrew Friess, Luke Hartman, Garret Hoffman, Trevor James, Drew Kordys, and Matthew Smith.  The team has one player from Steeleville, Parker Lutz, and five players from Ava. They are Jake Compton, Hank Garver, Trent Koch, Landon Korando, and Hunter Lodge.
The head coach is Kordys, assisted by Dan Compton and Steve Friess.