Rogers City players help Michigan all-star team at regional
The Cheboygan Senior Girls All-Star team, featuring two Rogers City players, was eliminated from further play at the regional level. Laura Konieczny and Chelsie Brege, who each played varsity softball for RCHS last spring as sophomores, made contributions in the tournament run for Cheboygan. Last week, the team claimed the state championship in the tournament played at Cheboygan, sending them to the Central Regional Tournament in South Bend, Indiana. The team, coached by Kurt Blaskowski of Cheboygan, started pool play with a 4-0 loss to Wisconsin Friday, then bounced back in the second game to defeat Kentucky.
In the second game, the Michigan champions mercied Kentucky, 12-2 on Saturday. Konieczny?s double drove in the first two runs of the game. She later scored. Cheboygan then defeated Illinois 9-1 in a noon game on Sunday. Konieczny, a first-team all-stater at second base this season for the Hurons, had three hits and knocked in two runs for the Michigan champs. A 3-0 loss to a Jefferson, Indiana team in Sunday?s second game put the Michigan team at 2-2 in pool play, not good enough to advance to the semifinal round of play.
Wisconsin finished 4-0 and Indiana finished 3-1 to advance from Pool A while the South Bend, Indiana and Ohio teams advanced from Pool B. In the semifinals, South Bend defeated Wisconsin 11-0 and Jefferson topped Ohio, 7-1 to set up an all-Indiana showdown for the championship. Results were not known for that game, which was scheduled for Tuesday.
The winner of the Central Regional advances to the 10-team Senior League World Series in Lower Sussex, Delaware, August 7-13. Teams from six different regionals in United States, plus the Latin American regional, the Eastern European, Asian Pacific, and Canada regionals will compete.