Portagers bounce back, split with Panthers

By Dylan Savela, Manistee News Advocate
April 12, 2012

ONEKAMA — Down 3-0 after the first four innings against Frankfort Thursday, Onekama was looking for a spark.

A three-run fifth to knot the score might have been it. Though they eventually lost that contest 5-3, the Portagers used the late-game momentum to mercy the Panthers 21-11 in the nightcap for a series split.

“Our bats started coming around at the end of the opener and that just continued into the second game,” said first-year Onekama coach Rob Johnson. “We built a ton of confidence that first game I think. You could kind of see it in their faces.

“It was like they came so close, knew they could play with this team, and the momentum kind of just carried right into the first inning (of the nightcap). We got Frankfort back on their heels pretty quick.”

In the opener, the Panthers scored a run in the first and two in the third, while Onekama was slow to find its rhythm at the plate.

Johnson, however, said he was impressed with his team defensively. “This was our opener, facing a team with six games under their belt already,” he explained. “So, that’s always a challenge in itself. But I was really proud of the way the girls came out and played defense.

“I guess I expected a little more first-game jitters than they showed me. They played pretty level-headed, with some good senior leadership. We started a little slow batting, but defensively they played superb.”

Nicki Slater and Hailey Kott were the only Portagers with a hit to their name, but Onekama scored three runs in the fifth to tie the score. The Panthers, however, responded with two in the sixth and secured the win by holding Onekama scoreless in the bottom half.

After the close loss in the opener, the Portagers exploded for nine runs in the first inning of Game 2 which proved to be too much for Frankfort to fully recover from.

Onekama (1-1) added six runs in the second for a comfortable lead. Frankfort rallied with five in their half of the fourth, but the Portagers brought the lead back to 10 in the fifth before shutting the door defensively for the mercy-rule win.

The Portagers knocked 12 hits overall in the nightcap, paced by Slater’s three hits including a pair of doubles, while Jennica Mathieu and Kott each had two hits and Emily Bergren knocked a triple.

Bergren also pitched the entirety of both games for Onekama, allowing three hits with six strikeouts in the six-inning opener, and five hits and four strikeouts in the five-frame nightcap.

“Frankfort’s a very disciplined team,” Johnson said, “So for us to play close in the opener and take control in the nightcap is big for us.”

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