Onaway tops Posen in district final

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

The Viking softball came away from last Saturday?s Division IV District Tournament with an exciting come-from-behind victory to fight off elimination, but hit a red brick wall for the fourth year in a row in the district title game. Onaway advanced to the regional level with a 4-0 victory over the Vikings, who couldn?t convert on their scoring opportunities. The Cardinals kept their undefeated season alive at 32-0. They were ranked fourth at the end of the season.

?They put up a battle,? said Posen coach Glenn Budnick of his squad. ?After having a shaky first inning, they could have quit and let Onaway run over them. They hung in there and made the plays when we had to make them. We just didn?t capitalize on our opportunities.?

Posen got its leadoff hitter on base four innings in a row from the top of the third to the sixth, yet failed to score. THEIR BEST shot came in the top of the fourth when Leanne Buczkowski and Lindsay Ponik singled. Ponik advanced to second when the throw went to third, so the Vikes had two runners in scoring position with nobody out and still couldn?t get one across as the next two batters struck out and Buczkowski was thrown out at home.

?Their pitcher (freshman) Emily Estep beared down when she needed, to make sure we didn?t score those runs,? said Budnick. ?Maybe it changes the outcome, maybe it doesn?t.? The Vikings loaded the bases in the top of the fifth with two out. Emily Delekta and Anna Couture singled, while LeAnn Strzelecki reached on an error. Estep got her third strikeout in the inning to end the threat.

?If we could have capitalized on one of those, it could have led to more,? said Budnick. ?Estep had a lot of strikeouts against us, and we hadn?t done that in a long time.? Buczkowski struggled with her command in the first two innings, allowing six walks. Onaway scored all four of their runs in the first. They had RBI hits from Molly Cleaver, Sam Brasseur and Kourtni Hyde mixed in with the free passes. With the bases loaded in the second, Buczkowski got a K for the third out, as well as the next six in a row, so she did settle down.

EARLIER IN the day, th

e Vikings were down to their final three outs of the season, but pushed one run across against Hillman in the bottom of seventh to tie the game at one and force extra innings. Posen needed only two batters to get the game-winner across in the ninth. Couture started the bottom of the ninth with a walk, bringing up Strzelecki who laid down a sweet bunt between the plate and the pitcher?s mound. The pitcher couldn?t handle the ball to get the out at first and looked up to see Couture between second and third. She threw wildly over the head of the third baseman. Couture motored into home to give Posen the victory.

The Tigers scored their only run in the top of the sixth, and with their backs against the wall in the bottom of the seventh, Buczkowski reached base on a throwing error by the shortstop and advanced to second. Ponik sacrificed her to third and Buczkowski came home on a wild pitch. ?We executed when we had to,? said Budnick. ?There were three hits by both teams.? Ponik started and struck out 11. The co-North Star League champs finished the season with a 29-8 record.