Brandon’s varsity softball team is staying alive in state playoff action thanks to a dramatic district final victory.
Annemarie Solley scored on a passed ball in the eighth inning to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 win against Pontiac Notre Dame Prep to capture the District 60-2 championship June 3 at Notre Dame Prep.
The Blackhawks advanced to take on Detroit Country Day in a scheduled District 2 regional semifinal Saturday, June 10 at Livonia Ladywood. The host Blazers are scheduled to face Hamtramack in the other regional semifinal game, with the two regional semifinal winners slated to face one another for the regional championship later in the day.
Should the Blackhawks defeat Country Day and Ladywood defeat Hamtramack, the two teams would meet for the third straight year in the regional finals. The Blazers eliminated the Blackhawks the previous two years, with both games taking eight innings.
However, Brandon coach Carl Gabrielson said the Blackhawks have a tough chore ahead of them against Country Day.
‘Basically, we have to be fundamentally sound and bring our ‘A? hitting game,? he said. ‘We know what we’re facing.?
Against the Fighting Irish, the score was tied at one heading into the bottom of the eighth inning. With one out, Solley walked, and after the Fighting Irish changed pitchers, Ashley Brady singled.
Solley then advanced to third and Brady to second on a Notre Dame Prep passed ball. Chelsea Wengren then walked to lead the bases. With Jessica Liebner at the plate, Solley then scored on another Fighting Irish passed ball to give the Blackhawks the victory.
Up to that point, the game had been a pitchers? duel, with Notre Dame Prep taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Solley scored on a sacrifice by Jennie Sherman to tie the contest.
Jill Perry was the winning pitcher for the Blackhawks, pitching all eight innings and allowing one run on five hits.
In their first district game of the day, the Blackhawks routed Macomb Lutheran North 16-0 in a five-inning game, with Perry throwing a no-hitter for the Blackhawks. She struck out 11 Macomb Lutheran North batters and walked only one.
Brandon scored three runs in the second inning and two more in the fourth before breaking open the floodgates with 11 runs in the fifth inning.
Several Blackhawks had big game offensively, with Liebner falling just short of hitting for the cycle. She finished 3-for-4 with a single, double and triple, and added four runs scored and four RBI.
Brooke Schaefer went 3-for-4 for the Blackhawks with two runs scored and an RBI, while Sherman, Lauren Ross and Ashley Prescott added two hits apiece. Hayley Lewis also contributed two stolen bases for the Blackhawks.