Lake Leelanau St. Mary softball went into Friday’s MHSAA Div. 4 softball tournament Friday as an underdog, facing the No. 1-seed Buckley Bears in the district semifinal. Despite the odds, the Eagles came out victorious to win its fourth district championship in a row 4-2.
“It felt really good to win for four years in a row. It felt extra special for my senior year, though,” St. Mary senior Delana Kirt said. “I don’t want it to end yet … It’s hard to get four district championships in a row. It was just exhilarating for me.”
The Eagles move on to the regional tournament Saturday at Frankfort. The Eagles will battle the Panthers at noon with the winner facing Bellaire or Holton to decide a regional championship at 2 p.m.
Frankfort will be a tough match-up for the Eagles as both teams have yet to see each other on the diamond this season with both playing similar competition including defeating Onekama by almost the same score earlier this season.
St. Mary got the scoring started in the first inning of the District semifinal. Buckley would quickly respond with a run of their own in the second before the Eagles responded with three more runs in the bottom of the third inning.
Both teams had seven hits during the game, but the Eagles capitalized when it mattered most.
St. Mary was led on the mound by eighth-grader Allison Duperon who went 4.1 innings and struck out four in the upset win.
“I was really happy to be on a team that had such good defense that could back me up,” Duperon said. “It was one of the best games I pitched, my change-up was working ... throwing the teams off who could hit against faster pitchers.”
Duperon says she was more nervous about batting than pitching because, “pitching is just what I love to do.”
Kirt came in relief and struck out one to put the game away. Kirt knows its going to take a winning mindset to compete for a regional championship.
“A good mental mindset and just playing together, and if we get our bats going, we’ll be good,” she said.
St. Mary sophomore Daisy Serrano hit a 2-2 pitch to knock in the winning runs for the Eagles to move on to the district championship game.
“They walked (senior Leah Fleis) because they knew she could hit. And so coach said, ‘be a confident hitter and just hit the ball,’” Serrano said. “I was shocked that I hit it because I got struck out last time, so I didn’t know how I was gonna be able to do it … It gave me a lot of confidence, and everyone was happy, proud that I hit it.”
To capture a district championship, the Eagles turned around immediately and battled Forest Area. Despite the heat, St. Mary was up for the task.
St. Mary let the bats loose against the Warriors of Forest Area in a 22-12 high-scoring affair.
The Eagles racked up 20 hits in the win.
St. Mary junior Cathryn Mikowski, Kirt and Duperon combined for the win from the pitcher’s circle in the district championship.
Mikowski led the offensive effort with five hits, six RBIs, and scoring three times. Kirt scored four times on three hits and two RBIs. Della Bunek had three hits, four RBIs, while Elena Grant had three hits and one RBI on the day.
St. Mary overcomes 7 runs to beat Central Lake
In the final game of the regular season Wednesday, St. Mary had to use some rally-cap magic for a seven run comeback win against Central Lake.
The Eagles came back down seven in the bottom of the sixth to force extra innings (9-9).
The Trojans scored in the seventh, but St. Mary would have the last word as Lydia Bramer crossed home plate to tie it 10-10. After a pair of Eagles got on base, Central Lake threw a wild pitch to score the winning run for St. Mary to win 11-10.
Eagle eighth-grade pitcher Allison Duperon earned the win with seven strikeouts in seven innings of work.
St. Mary senior Della Bunek led with three hits, three RBIs, Eagle junior Cathryn Mikowski had two hits and Bridget Kohler had two RBIs.
St. Mary senior Elena Grant was honored between games as she played her last home game in the blue and white.
In the second game of a double- header, St. Mary defeated Central Lake 21-9 in four innings.
Mikowski earned the win with eight strikeouts. She also scored three times and had one RBI. Bunek had two hits and four RBIs.
Lakers fall to Panthers
Glen Lake softball ended its season with a 16-1 loss to Frankfort. Emily Bailey was the losing pitcher with three innings pitched. Ella Flores, Bailey, Laila Shimek, and Elodia Peplinski went 1-1 Ella Flores scored the sole run on an RBI single from Grace Noonan, who batted 2-2 on the day.
Suttons Bay ends the season against Forest Area
Suttons Bay softball ended its season with a 16-1 loss to Forest Area in the district semifinals Friday.
Stacia Shananaquet had two hits with one of those being an RBI triple that Keke Williams scored on after she walked. Suttons Baby ended up 0-15 but improved a lot as a team from day 1.
“Seniors Minnie Bardenhagen and exchange student Maya Pichon will be sorely missed next year,” Suttons Bay coach Gary Galla said.
