These girls are state champs to me
by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor
The Onaway softball team (36-1), after defeating Unionville-Sebewaing in the Division IV semifinals, lost to Petersburg-Summerfield (32-5) in the state championship game Saturday, 2-1.
The tournament was played in Battle Creek?s Bailey Park, and both of the Cardinal?s games were played on field No. 3 at the Flannery Field softball complex, where all the softball champs are crowned.
The Cards scored single runs in the sixth and seventh in the semifinal game to defeat Unionville-Sebewaing (USA) 2-1, the returning D-IV state champ, but had the roles reversed in the finals.
With nine outs to go, Petersburg-Summerfield (PS) scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to erase Onaway?s 1-0 lead, which was put on the board when freshman catcher Sam Brasseur hit a solo homer. It was the Cards? only run of the game.
PS sophomore starting pitcher Emily Puterbaugh struck out 17 and limited a very good Onaway hitting club to two hits.
?She was good, very good,? said senior right fielder Kourtni Hyde. ?She had a lot of different pitches she could throw. It kept us off balance.?
?IT WAS a tough game,? said head coach Jodi Brewbaker. ?We knew when we came down here we would face some tough competition. That?s why it is the state finals. ?Sammy Brasseur, when she hit that home run really fired us up. I guess the answer to everything is errors. If we didn?t have the errors we win.?
Other than walks from senior shortstop Amanda Pomranke in the first and Hyde in the second, eight of nine Cards struck out. Freshman starting pitcher Emily Estep, who was named the starter because Amanda Pomranke had an ailing wrist going into the final, surrendered a line hit, but struck out the rest of the batters she faced, for a strong start.
Senior Allie Nave?s running catch in the second kept any Bulldog threat in check. Estep gave up a walk, before getting a pop out to sophomore first baseman Molly Cleaver. Estep got the final batter in the inning on a 3-2 strike on the outside part of the plate. PS got two runners on board via errors in the bottom of the third. Brasseur made a nice diving catch of a bunt attempt in foul territory for the first out. Estep struck out the next batter, as well as the clean up hitter, Taylor Goodin, on three straight strikes.
IN THE top of the fourth, after two had struck out, Onaway?s state title hopes brimmed with excitement for the first time since the start of the game when Brasseur turned on a 2-0 pitch and gave it a ride over the left field fence. ?Now they know we can do it,? shouted Brewbaker as her squad went out to play defense with a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, with the Cards nine outs away from finishing the perfect season, leadoff hitter Kelsea Reed singled to center and went to second on an errant pick off play. Estep got Kendra Craig out on strikes, one of eight she had in the game, and Caitlin Blanchard to fly out to left. The throw from left was into foul territory, so Reed moved up to third.
That brought up Goodin, who was looking for redemption after striking out on three pitches her last time up. She hit a ball to the base of the right-center field fence to tie the game. Puterbaugh followed with a RBI single. She advanced on the throw home, which skipped by Brasseur. That gave PS a 2-1 lead. Hyde made a nice running catch in right to save another run, one of many she made in the tournament. Puterbaugh struck out the next five batters, before Hyde gave Onaway one last chance with a hard hit ball to center, which looked like it might get over, but it dropped in front of the fence for a double. ?I thought it had a chance,? said Hyde. The final Cardinal batter went down on strikes.
EACH PLAYER received a medal during the trophy presentation, and Brewbaker lifted the runner-up trophy in the air, in the direction of the Onaway fans behind the outfield fence. With many tears in their eyes, the Cardinal players then stood along the first base line and watched as their opponents received their awards.
?We wanted it really bad, but they capitalized on our mistakes,? said Amanda Pomranke. ?We always make a few mistakes, but today is not one of those days you want to make mistakes.?
?You can?t blame the kids, they were as nervous as anyone,? said Brewbaker. ?That?s okay, because these girls are state champs to me. If I would have had to have a loss on the season, I guess I would have to take this one.?
PS coach Robert Taylor praised Estep?s performance on the mound. ?That little girl that pitched, she did an outstanding job,? said Taylor. ?We see pitchers like that every day. We play mostly a Division I, II, and III schedule. She kept us off balance and she had a lot more strikeouts that I thought we would have. I give her a lot of credit and that team a lot of credit.?
THE SEMIFINAL game and the ensuing Onaway celebration had all the feeling of a state title win. The Cards got a couple of runners on in the first with a walk from Nave and a Cleaver single, but two were left on.
Estep pitched in her normal rotation spot, after Pomranke won the quarterfinal game in Traverse City. She struggled in the first, with a pair of walks. A quick conference on the mound settled her down and the next two USA batters went down on strikes. While Onaway couldn?t get anything going in the second and third, they seemed to be getting more comfortable at the plate.
Estep helped herself out in the bottom of a second, catching a bunt attempt and firing to second for a double play. USA got two runners on in the third, but Estep again rose to the occasion with a low strike on a 2-2 count.
The turning point for Onaway at the plate was a great battle by Brasseur in the fourth with one out. She worked a walk that seemed to give the Cards a lift. Hyde followed with a walk.
SOPHOMORE BROOKE Szymoniak sacrificed the runners to second and third, before freshman Megan Estep flied out to straight away center. The fielder never had to move. There were no runs, but there was an air of confidence. ?My girls are hitting the ball, they?re getting to her,? Brewbaker remembers saying. ?We had our chances early, but didn?t capitalize on them. You never say die with these girls. They will fight you to the end and today they prove it.?
Their resolve would be tested when USA struck with the first run of the game. They got runners on from a single and an error, before a sinking liner fell off the glove of junior Deanna DeMaestri into foul territory. The run scored and the runners moved to second and third. Estep walked the next batter, before getting out of the jam on a pop to Cleaver.
There were no base runners in the fifth, setting the table for the winning runs. In the top of the six, Pomranke walked and Cleaver was hit above the knee to put two on with nobody out. Cleaver?s courtesy runner was junior Kate Chapman. Brasseur hit into a fielder?s choice to third to advance Chapman to second. Sophomore Melissa Pomranke ran for her.
Hyde reached on a fielding error by the third baseman to load the bases. Szymoniak?s walk on a 3-1 pitch to pick up the biggest RBI of her career and tie the game. . In the sixth, Estep gave up a couple of leadoff walks, prompting a player-only conference. Brewbaker didn?t want to give up a timeout in that situation and go to the mound, so she told Cleaver to settle the freshman down. ?We just had to calm her down,? said Cleaver. ?She needed to take a break and get her head back in the game. I said, ?Dude, you got to do this. You got to get your head back in the game.? Then we started laughing. We said her new name is dude, not Emily anymore.? Estep mowed the next two batters down on strikes and got the final batter in the inning out on a pop to her sister Megan. The Cards started their winning rally when Nave, the most decorated female athlete in school history, ripped a single just under the second baseman?s glove.
With one out, Pomranke singled on the first pitch she saw. Cleaver moved the runners up on a ground out to the pitcher, setting up the winning play with Nave at third. Brewbaker told her to be ready for a passed ball. Nave said, ? ?okay coach, there hasn?t been a passed ball all game.?
Two strikes outs and a pop out in the bottom of the seventh and Onaway was on their way to the finals. ?That was crazy,? said Estep. ?I was so hot. I was tired and so scared. It?s a surreal feeling being here, it?s awesome.?
Onaway won its fifth Ski Valley Conference title, fourth district, first-ever regional, and are academic all-state for the 11th year in a row.