By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The 2005 Niles Classic was held this past weekend at Thomas Stadium where eight teams battled for a shot at the championship win.
The Norwood Blues were able to do just that in the final game against Bristol where it took a 15-5 win. The Blues also walked away from the trounament undefeated with a 4-0 record. Post 143, Bristol took the second place finish with a 3-1 record.
Post 163, St. Joseph finished third, Post 204, Three Oaks/Sawyer finished fourth, Niles Babe Ruth finished fifth, Post 161, Mishawaka finished sixth, Post 50, South Bend finished seventh and Niles South County finished eighth.
In the opening games Friday afternoon, Bristol shut out Mishawaka with a 7-0 win.
Three Oaks/Sawyer took an 11-3 win over South Bend where Kyle Tracey was the winning pitcher.
Niles South County suffered a 12-4 loss to St. Joseph.
Jason Duis took the loss on the mound and added a single offensively.
Other top hitters for Niles were Josh Beers with a double and Dustin Anderson with two singles.
Niles Babe Ruth was shut out by Norwood, 5-0 where Casey Udell was the lone top hitter with a single.
On Saturday, Niles babe Ruth took a 4-1 loss to Three Oaks/Sawyer.
David Moran suffered the loss on the mound to Quinn Watkins.
Top hitters for Niles were Chris Carpenter with two hits and scored Niles' only run, Jeff Cooper had a double while Billy Syrette had an RBI single.
Niles also suffered a 2-1 loss to South Bend on Saturday.
Zach Bennett was the winning pitcher against Tyler Szymczak.
Syrette had the only hit in the game and drove in Niles' only run.
Bristol was able to grab a 9-2 win over St. Joe where four players had home runs.
Sean Stone, Brandon Tepe and Mike Pratt all hit one run home runs and Jon Rolon had a two run home run.
On Sunday, St. Joe took a 5-1 win over Three Oaks/Sawyer to give it the third place finish.
Niles Babe Ruth picked up its first win of the tournament against Mishawaka, 8-2.
Adrian Davis was the winning pitcher for Niles against Brian Forray.
Syrette started the game with a stand-up double followed by Davis' single.
A sacrifice at bat for Cooper gave Niles one run for the first inning.
Davis got another single in the third followed by Cooper to load the bases. A sacrifice or Andy Low brought in one run for Niles. Two more runs followed by Kory Bridges' hit into right put Niles up 4-1.
Matt Koller and Syrette both doubled in the sixth inning. Bennett sacrificed to clear the bases and bring in the runs. Cooper the doubled followed by Low's double to bring in another run. Casey Udel then it an RBI single to put Niles up 8-1.
Mishawaka made one last attempt in the bottom of the seventh, but could only bring in one run and ended the game with an 8-2 loss.
Niles South County suffered a 15-5 loss in five innings against South Bend.
Ronnie Clemons was the winning pitcher for South Bend against Anderson.
Top hitters for Niles were Jake Messner, Bobby Anton abd Zach Bloss who all singled and scored while DJ Wolnik and CJ Hammond both singled.