Sophomore pitches Manistee to Briggs True Value softball title
Manistee defeated Mason County Eastern, 12-1, in the championship game of the Mason County Central/Briggs True Value Invitational softball tournament on Saturday.
In the semifinals, Manistee shut out Ludington, 3-0, while Central lost to Eastern, 10-8.
In divisonal play, Mason County Central was 2-0, Ludington 1-1 and Walkerville 1-1 in Division I. In Division II Manistee was 2-0, Mason County Eastern 1-1 and Hart 0-2.
Sophomore pitcher Julia Maksym did all of the pitching for Manistee.
"She faced 87 batters and struck out 41 of them," said Manistee coach Pam Kaminski.
Maksym allowed only eight hits total and walked two batters.
"A key for us was being able to play the "small ball" game by putting bunts down," said Kaminski. "This helped us to put base runners in scoring positions. Also, it caused confusion when we had a runner on third base which led to the bunter being safe or it allowed our runner at third base to score."
In the championship game, Mel Stickney started on the mound for Eastern. She went three innings, struck out four, walked two and gave up 10 runs, five of them earned, on 10 hits. Kara Bryan finished up.
The teams played in a steady drizzle and Maksym threw three-hitter and struck out eight. She yielded safeties to Eastern's Jessica Budzynski, Crisha Barrett and Janelle Porter.
After scoring single runs in the first and second innings, Manistee broke the game open with four runs in the third.
"Obviously, we have a lot of things we need to work on in practice," said Eastern coach Bill Cole, who felt his team wasn't focused.
Eastern's season record is 14-4.
Eastern outslugged Mason County Central in the semifinals.
"Eastern can hit the ball," Central coach Christy Christmas said of the Cardinals after their semifinal contest."And there were some errors on both teams. It probably wasn't the prettiest game of the year."
Ashley Melchert pitched for an injury-depleted Central team and surrendered 12 hits. She struck out four batters, walked one and hit two.
For Central, now 11-7, Melchert had two hits, one a triple and Cayla Christmas and Rusty Slimmen each doubled in two runs.
For Eastern, Bryan, the winning pitcher, worked the first 6 1/3 innings and Stickney finished up. Courtney Harris, who hit the ball hard all day for MCE, had four hits and scored two runs.
In the other semifinal contest, Manistee blanked Ludington, 10-0, behind Maksym's no-hit performance that included nine strikeouts and no walks.
Taylor Ozimac, who caught all four games on the day for Manistee, led the Chippewas with a three-run homer while Kristen Merkey, Maksym and Traci Guenthardt had two hits apiece.
In Divison I pool play, Mason County Central beat Walkerville, 14-0, behind the no-hit pitching of Ashley Melchert and Rusty Slimmen. Melchert pitched the first three innings, striking out seven, and Slimmen the final two frames.
Melchert was two for three with a home run and a double, scored three times and drove in runs. Slimmen doubled and scored twice.
Against Ludington, Central won, 5-3, rallying to win in the seventh inning. Melchert pithced the whole game, allowing seven hits with eight strikeouts and one walk.
Joanna Andersen was two for four and Melchert two for two with three runs scored for the Spartans, who won the game when Alexia Lavigne had an RBI double and Slimmen an RBI single in the last inning.
For Ludington, Ariel Bowden was three for three.
In Eastern's divsison games, it defeated Hart, 10-0, and lost to Manistee, 3-2, in nine innings.
Against Hart, Bryan pitched a one-hitter with eight strikeouts and four walks. Offensively, Nikki Kolean had three hits and scored three runs, Heather Salmon had two hits and Harris tripled and scored three times.
Against Manistee, Stickney gave up only two hits, striking out 16 and walking one. Harris had four hits and Kolean and Budzynski each scored a run.
Merkey scored the winning run in the ninth on an error.
Also in divison play, Ludington routed Walkerville, 19-1, behind the combined no-hit pitching of Elise Grubb and Alisha Moore. Carolyn Taylor went three for three and scored three times for the Orioles, Grubb was three for three and Katelyn Swanson was three for four and scored twice.
It was the first win of the season for Ludington, against 10 losses.
Reprinted with the permisson of The Ludington Daily News.