Posen sweeps rival Hillman; Opens the season 4-0

The Posen softball team started its quest for a third consecutive North Star League title with a sweep of the Hillman Tigers Monday at home, 6-2 and 5-0. After opening the season with two mercy-shortened games against Johannesburg-Lewiston, where Posen outscored the Cardinals 37-0, the Vikings had to be ready for the team that will probably pose the biggest challenge in repeating as champs. The Tigers received an honorable mention in the Michigan High School Softball Coaches Association polls going into the week, while Posen (4-0, 2-0) moved up a notch to fourth. In both games, Hillman played even with the Vikings for three or four innings, but Posen had the defensive edge.

?I told the girls going into the game, defense would be the difference,? said coach Glenn Budnick, ?that Hillman was going to be able to put the ball into play. They are a good hitting team. We just had to make sure that we made the routine plays that were expected and we did.? The Vikes had only one fielding error in the two games. Senior pitcher Michelle Bednarski started both games and gave up five hits in the first game and four in the nightcap. She allowed only one walk in the two games and struck out six. Bednarski is 3-0 in three trips to the mound, as she won the season-opener against Joburg. Senior Shannon Ciarkowski has the other win.

POSEN JUMPED on top early with a four run first against Hillman. From there, the schools played even the rest of the game. Wipe out the first inning and the score would have been 2-2 headed for extra innings. Sophomore Beth Julian went three-for-three with three RBI and two doubles. Bednarski was three-for-three with an RBI and a triple. Ciarkowski and Danielle Smolinski were both two-for-three. In the second game, the Vikings again scored early, pushing one run across in the first inning. Ciarkowski singled, stole second, and advanced to third on a ground out. Bednarski sacrificed her with a fly ball.

The score would remain 1-0 until the bottom of the fifth when the Vikes broke the game open. Freshman Jennifer Ciarkowski had a pinch hit walk and advanced to second on a ground out. She came home on a RBI single by junior Katie Lewandowski. Shannon Ciarkowski doubled Lewandowski home to make the score 3-0. Shannon would score moments later on a single by junior Courtney Romel for a 4-0 advantage. Romel advanced to second when the throw went home. Bednarski ripped an RBI base hit to bring Romel in for the final run of the game. Ciarkowski and Lewandowski had two hits and an RBI each.

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T WAS a big ball game, but then again you have another league game on Thursday,? said Budnick. ?I told the girls after the game, we cannot take Hale lightly. We don?t know anything about them.? The Vikings will host Hale today and play their first road games at Oscoda Monday. Both games start at 4 p.m. Against Joburg, Bednarski threw no-hit ball during her three innings of work. Romel led Posen with seven RBI in the doubleheader and was five-for-six. Brittany Romel was two-for-three with three RBI in the 17-0 win, while Shannon Ciarkowski added two hits. Posen collected 15 hits in the 20-0 win in the second game.

Jennifer Ciarkowski was three-for-three with two RBI. She had her first varsity hit in the first game, a pinch-hit double, and was four-for-four in the doubleheader. Not a bad start to her varsity career. Freshman Mary Calhoun also got her first varsity hits, which included a double. She also had one of the top defensive plays against Hillman. Backing up a play at first, she gunned down a runner at second in the top of the fifth inning when the score was still 1-0. Lewandowski had three hits and three RBI in game two against the Cardinals.

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