Portagers top Lakers in two-day marathon
Onekama advances to district semis
By MATT WENZEL
Manistee News Advocate Sports Editor
Published: Thursday, June 2, 2011
BEAR
LAKE — Nearly 24 hours after building a big lead, Onekama was forced
to break out the bats and construct some more offense.
After having their nine-run advantage shredded to three by a pesky
Bear Lake squad, the Portagers put the Lakers away for good with a
couple big innings Wednesday for a 23-12 win in the conclusion of a
suspended Division 4 district quarterfinal that began Tuesday and
was called because rain rendered the field unplayable.
“I told the kids before the game that Bear Lake isn’t going to lay
down,” said Onekama coach Phil Sedelmaier. “I don’t care what that
scoreboard says, they’re coming back and they’re ready to play.”
Indeed, they did. The Lakers
tacked 10 runs on the board over a three-inning span to pull within
one swing of the bat.
"That's what I wanted to see,"
said Bear Lake coach Garrett Waller. "I was proud of them for doing
that."
“Sarah got into a little bit of
trouble with walking and it seemed like every time there was a walk,
there was a hit behind it,” Waller said. “We just couldn’t get
enough stops.”
Onekama, however, responded
back with eight runs over the final two innings to secure a spot in
Saturday’s 10 a.m. district semifinal against Brethren at Frankfort.
“It was very hard,” Onekama’s Jennica Mathieu said of the layoff.
“We had to get used to it, get back in the swing of things. We were
supposed to push ourselves a little bit more, which we did.”
The suspended game picked back up in the bottom of the third inning
with Onekama leading 12-3 as Bear Lake had the bases loaded with one
out. The Lakers quickly put two on the scoreboard as Emily Bergren
issued a pair of walks with nowhere to put the batters and Hannah
Harrington scored on a wild pitch to make it 12-6.
“It was hard for Emily getting started,” Sedelmaier said. “Usually
you can walk a batter or two and you’re not scoring any runs. But,
to come back with bases loaded and a 1-2 count and to try to pick up
where you left off, it took her a while to get going.”
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Onekama centerfielder Ashley
DeRooy makes a running catch during Wednesday’s Division 4 district
quarterfinal win against Bear Lake. (Matt Wenzel/News Advocate)
Bergren eventually picked up the
win while recording 14 strikeouts.
Bear Lake senior Sarah Hilliard struck out 10, but also struggled with
the strikezone.
Mathieu hit a two-run double in the
top of the fourth as Onekama scored three to go ahead 15-6. Bear Lake
plated two in the bottom of the frame, then added four more in the fifth
— highlighted by RBI singles by Madeleine Smeltzer and Sara Babcock — to
pull within three at 15-12.
“We were hoping (it would be easy to finish off Bear Lake), then they
came back saying, ‘we’re going to win,’” Mathieu said. “That’s a good
team that comes back like that.”
With their lead whittled down, the Portagers responded with three in the
sixth inning and five in the seventh to close it out.
Mathieu finished the two-day affair 4-for-4 with two doubles and six
RBIs, Brooke Sedelmaier had three hits and scored five runs while Kaylan
Fitch had three hits and three RBIs. Bergren and Carly Clark each had
two hits while Nicole Slater tripled and drove in three.
“The top of their lineup can hit,” Waller said. “We just couldn’t stop
them. They just played better than us, that’s all there is to it.” |