Vikings claim NSL softball title
Still North Star League champs. The Posen softball team made it back-to-back league titles with a sweep of Atlanta last Thursday, 13-1 and 7-1. The victories give the Vikings a 13-1 league record, 23-8 overall, as they prepare for the district tournament at Hillman Saturday at 10:30 a.m. A loss of either of the games against the host Huskies would have meant a shared title with Arenac Eastern, from whom Posen took a pair of one-run games May 8. The Vikes played like league champions in the first game, but had trouble pushing runs across in the second game, and trailed Atlanta 1-0 after four innings. Before batting in the top of the fifth inning, coach Glenn Budnick gave his girls a pep talk.
?I told them if we lose this game because of one run, like 1-0, we didn?t deserve to be North Star League champs by ourselves,? said Budnick. The Huskies scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth.
?I said show this team who the true champion is and start scoring some runs,? Budnick said. Posen came through with seven runs over the next two innings. ?I think it was a case of being caught a little off guard by one of Atlanta?s pitchers,? said Budnick. ?We hit the ball hard, it just happened to be right at people – and they made the plays.?
BUDNICK HOPES it?s his players who make the plays in the district semi-final contest between Gaylord St. Mary and his squad. It?s a game which has to be considered one of the best Division IV openers in the state. St. Mary?s was ranked fourth last week, while the Vikes were ninth in the coaches polls. The winner will advance to play in the district final at 2:30 p.m. Budnick, who has enjoyed league titles in football and softball this school year for PHS, said the key to a victory over the Snowbirds will be if his girls step it up on defense.
Budnick says St. Mary?s is a quick team that will test the Viking infielders. ?They put the ball in play by doing a lot of bunting or slap hitting,? said Budnick. ?They are going to make you make plays. ?They are not a team that is going to beat themselves. They are going to make you beat them. We are going in with the aspect that we have to be especially sharp on defense. I believe we?ll be able to win this game by playing solid defense.?
THE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT was able to add games against Rogers City, which were to be played Wednesday past press time. The games were made possible because the Hurons don?t have to play any pre-district games. Two of Posen?s eight losses came against Rogers City in mid-April. Julie Lewandowski and Courtney Romel both went four-for-four in the first game of the doubleheader against Atlanta. Lewandowski had a triple, double, and four RBI. Romel collected four singles. One of the hits tied the game in the top of the fifth. The Vikings scored four runs in the first inning and five in the third.
Beth Julian added two triples and an RBI. She was five-for-six in the two games. Fellow freshman, Amanda Pieczynski was four-for-six in the twinbill, with an RBI. Shannon Ciarkowski was two-for-four in the first game, and the winning pitcher in the game two clincher. She went six innings, giving up only one hit, while striking out six. Michelle Bednarski was the winning pitcher in the first contest and cleared the bases with a triple in the top of the sixth.
LAST FRIDAY, which was the day after the sweep of Atlanta, proved to be another story as Joburg won its first game of the s
The first run for Posen came from Katie Lewandowski who was hit by a pitch and moved around the bases on errors and passed balls. Later, Julian tripled and was sacrificed home by J. Lewandowski.
Budnick said the game didn?t start well as the girls committed errors allowing six unearned runs. He hopes that now that tournament week has arrived the Vikings will be on top of their game. If they?re not, it could be a short tournament run.