Extra-inning specialists earn Battle Creek berth
Fans of Huron softball need to have good hearts to survive the scares put into them by watching their team. The Hurons won 5-3 in 11 innings over the Mason County East Lady Cardinals. Again the Hurons (30-9) pulled out a dramatic finish to move into the state semifinal round. Rogers City plays Vandercook Lake (33-3) Friday at 10:30 a.m. Friday with the winner to play the winner of the St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic (38-2) vs. Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes (25-10) game. It is the second time the Huron softball program has made the state semifinals. The 2001 team coached by Charlie Fairbanks, went 33-9 on the way to the Division III runnerup trophy. ?It was our goal to get to Battle Creek and we believe that if we just keep playing Huron softball, good things are going to happen,? said coach Karl Grambau.
IN TUESDAY?S quarterfinal, the Hurons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. After junior pitcher Ashley Fleming drew a two-out walk, Jess Konieczny drilled a single. Then C.J. Calabrese delivered a long bases-clearing double to give the Hurons the lead. Konieczny, who had three hits on the day, notched her second single in the fourth inning, coming around to score to give the Hurons a 3-0 lead.
THEN THE LADY Cards got to Fleming in the fifth. She allowed just two hits through the first four innings while striking out four. That all changed in the fifth when the Cards sent eight batters to the plate, scoring three times aided by three Huron errors. She allowed a single in the sixth, and seventh, then runners reached base on Huron errors in the eighth and ninth innings. Meanwhile Cardinal starter Sara Marek got the heat going, allowing just four Huron runners from the fifth through ninth innings. Konieczny singled in the sixth, senior catcher Heather LaLonde singled in the seventh, and Fleming singled in the eighth. None of them advanced past first base. The Hurons went down in order in the ninth.
IN THE Huron tenth, LaLonde drove a double to right center. Pinch runner Katie Krueger came in, but she was left on base after Megan Hanson struck out, Laura Konieczny flew out to center and Cassy Brege struck out. Then the cardiac kids went to work in the eleventh. Fleming struck out, and then Jess Konieczny flew out to deep left.
Calabrese drove one by everyone in the outfield for a triple. Tiffiny Krueger, the d
FLEMING STRUCK out the first batter in the bottom of the 11th, then the next batter doubled. The game ended when the next batter lined to Fleming, who flipped to second for the double play, sending the Hurons into the semifinals for the second time in four years.
THE HURONS made it to the quarterfinals with two dramatic wins in the regionals. In each game, the Hurons scored the decisive runs in the top of the final inning. Game one against Gaylord St. Mary went to Rogers City, 4-2, in eight innings, and game two with Ellsworth went to the Hurons, 5-4.