Final four encore

by Peter Jakey–Managing Editor

That “believe” spirit has taken Huron softball back to the final four.

The players continue to believe in one another and encourage each other through every situation.

There has been a lot to believe in as the Hurons advanced to the state semifinals in East Lansing and are two victories away from a Division 4 state championship. They defeated Central Lake, 4-1, in Tuesday’s Division 4 quarterfinal game at Traverse City West High School.(Watch a video of the police escort through town—-> 2414-return escort

Celebrating their return to the Division 4 final four (Photo by Peter Jakey)

The Lady Trojans came to hit, but the Hurons were ready to play defense and won the playoff game with their gloves, committing no errors and capitalized on Central Lake’s.

The Hurons led 2-1 before tacking on two insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Trojans scored their only run in the first.

“(Central Lake) kept putting the bat on the ball and we made some great defensive plays,” said Huron coach Karl Grambau, who is making his third trip to the state finals as a softball coach. His 2004 team finished as a state runner-up.

Huron shortstop Courtney Streich believes the sky’s the limit for the 2014 Hurons. “We just have to keep it up, and keep going, and we’ll be state champions.”

Starter Nikki Radke, who pitched all seven innings, also made clutch pitches in key situations to keep the Trojans from scoring any more runs. She’s excited about going back to the final four.

“This is my senior year and there is no bigger dream than going to East Lansing,” said Radke.

It’s the first time in decades the finals are not being held in Battle Creek.

First baseman Morgan Hall said there were a lot of expectations put on this year’s team to get back or go further. “As a team, we really pulled through,” said Hall. “Now that we are going back to East Lansing, everybody is really excited. The team is finally peaking at the right time, I think. I hope we do really well.”

Central Lake came out swinging the sticks. The Trojans’ lead off hitter belted a double to the fence and two batters later, she came home on a RBI single for a 1-0 lead.

It did not take long for Rogers City to answer.

Leadoff hitter Logan Fleming came up in the bottom of the frame and singled through the right side. She was sacrificed to second by Streich and stole third ahead of a dropped fly ball hit to right field by Sarah Meredith. The run scored on the error and Meredith motored into second with one out. Hall walked and the next two batters went down on strikes.

Radke set down the Trojans in order in the top of the second.

Autumn Idalski and Rachel Chojnacki started off the second inning by working Trojan pitcher Alexis Carpenter to full 3-2 counts. Idalski fouled several pitches back before striking out, but Chojnacki walked. It would be an important at-bat.

Cassie Brege sacrificed her to second and Fleming hit the first of her two doubles. The ball went over third base and down the left field line. It easily scored Chojnacki to give the Hurons a 2-1 lead.

The Trojans loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth, but the threat ended when Meredith dived to catch a weak pop-up near the plate. It was one of many spectacular plays made by the Hurons in the field. Early in the fourth inning, Brege’s diving grab in center field recorded the first out on the frame.

In the fifth, the girls flashed the leather again.

The Trojans’ leadoff hitter singled, but was snuffed out on a terrific play along the third base line when Fleming snagged a hot grounder and fired to second to get the force out. Grambau said it’s a play they worked on in practice.

Radke would strike out the next two. She kept the ball low in the strikeout zone and made the big pitches when she needed to.

“Nikki is a real gamer,” said Grambau. “I give her a lot of credit. She works hard on her game and it is paying off.”

“I dug in deep because the pitches were needed at that time,” said Radke.

The Hurons picked up two runs in the bottom of the fifth to take some pressure off. Fleming doubled and scored when Streich’s fly ball to center was dropped for a 3-1 lead. With Streich at second, Meredith ripped a scorcher deep in the hole up the middle and Streich rounded third and was headed home, but the throw home was off line and got away from the catcher and the Huron’s lead was 4-1.

The Hurons needed three outs to stamp their ticket to East Lansing. It started out fairly easy as the first two batters went down; however, the Trojans top of t

he order came up and put two on second and third.

There was a conference on the mound to talk about the situation and that if the batter at the plate singled that the Lady Hurons wanted to keep her at first.

Radke also wanted to tell her team to “calm down and just have fun with it.”

The next batter grounded to Streich, who fired to first for the final out. Radke finished with four strikeouts, but did not allow a walk.

Next stop is the campus of Michigan State University, and like Tuesday morning, the girls will receive a police escort at 9 a.m. Friday through downtown Rogers City.

“The support from our community has been great,” said Grambau. “ We had a big crowd of Huron fans in Traverse City and it really helped us.”

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