It was one of the strangest tournament trails in my 43 years of covering Mifflin County Babe Ruth baseball.
If you have picked Media (15), Bensalem (14) and Pottsville (13) to win the state titles, you would have been the only person in the state of Pennsylvania to choose that trio.
Media wouldn't have been a bad pick in the 15-year-old bracket as it was the state runner-up in 2011 at the 14-year-old level.
But the tournament was being played in Williamsport and West End won the state championship in 2010 as 13-year-olds and Bensalem was the team that beat Media for the state title last summer.
Mifflin County had a very tough schedule as it had to play both West End and Bensalem.
The 15-year-olds lost to West End 6-1, but the first game against Bensalem will be one that will be talked about for years. Bensalem had leads of 7-1 and 10-7 and yet Mifflin County battled back and tied the game at 7-7 and 10-10 and finally won it in the eighth inning, 11-10.
Unfortunately, when single elimination play started, Mifflin County was paired again with Bensalem and lost 7-5.
The 14-year-old tournament was hosted by Mifflin County in Milroy at the Armagh Memorial Field.
Obviously, Mifflin County would be one of the favored teams as it has won eight state titles on the Milroy field. It has hosted 17 state tournaments and has only finished out of the final four twice coming into this year. The last time was 30 years ago in 1982. The other time was in 1973.
And last summer as 13-year-olds, Mifflin County was in the final four and just missed the state finals losing to Bensalem 4-2.
One of the contenders had to be West End. The Williamsport league has become the team of this decade just like Mifflin County was in the 2000's, when it won 10 state titles.
Bensalem was the state runner-up as 13-year-olds last year and with the defending champions, Blue Valley, losing seven players, the field was wide open.
And here is how strange the 14-year-old tournament was in Milroy.
Perry County beat Bensalem 11-7 in pool play and that was the same Perry County team that Mifflin County beat in District 7 play 9-1 and 14-4. Mifflin County was eliminated by Bensalem in the single elimination part of the tournament, 5-4.
And how about the Blue Valley scores? Mifflin County beat Blue Valley 19-3 and Blue Valley turned around and beat West End, 11-4.
Finally on Saturday, after two days of rain, Bensalem won the state title with a 9-3 win over West End, which featured a three-hour rain delay.
Then there was Pottsville in the 13-year-old tournament played in Altoona. Pottsville wasn't even the District 4 champion - it was the runner-up.
First, District 4 (Hazleton to Stroudsburg area) hasn't been the most productive of districts in the state. It has produced only three state champions - all at the 13-year-old level - over the past 20 years.
Going into the tournament, some the stronger teams were from the more powerful districts such as 8, West End; 1, Broomall-Newtown; 3, Middletown Township and the host team, Altoona.
Pottsville got into the tournament when District 2 (Phoenixville) dropped out.
Mifflin County had one of the hardest schedules as it had to play West End, Middletown and Altoona along with Brookhaven (District 6), which was from one of the weaker districts.
Mifflin County went 2-2 in pool play and made it into single elimination. It beat Middletown Twp. and Brookhaven, but loss to Altoona and West End.
But what made the trips to Altoona unbearable was the rain. It rained all day on July 20 and most of the games were rained out, but when the games resumed guess who played: Mifflin County and Altoona, which the host team won 12-1.
Mifflin County played in four of the first eight games. In fact, it was done with pool play before one team even played.
Then because of the rain, the games had to be rescheduled. It looked like Mifflin County wouldn't play the single elimination round until Tuesday. However, Mifflin County got a phone call early on Monday saying that they had to play the game that night.
And who do you think the opponent was? Altoona. This time, however, Mifflin County won 12-8 and advanced to the final four. Mifflin County was scheduled to play each day from July 18 (Wednesday) through July 21 (Saturday) and had Sunday off. That did happen, but with all the rain and rescheduling of games, the Mifflin County players, coaches, parents and fans were in the dark more than in the light.
In the final four, it ran into Pottsville, which was making its first appearance ever in any Babe Ruth final four.
Pottsville won 10-2 and had to face West End. The Williamsport team, which had 10-run all of its opponents in the district, and had man handled most of its opponents in the state tournament, had to be the favored team going in the state finals.
Final score: Pottsville 15, West End 0 in five innings.
It was Pottsville's first state title as it also marked the first one for Media (15). Bensalem (14) now has three.
As I said at the beginning of this column, it was one of the strangest tournament trails ever.
