Junior stars answer challenge in extra innings, advance to state

by Peter Jakey–Managing Editor

The Junior Girls All-Stars bounced back in fine fashion at the District 13 softball tournament in Cheboygan to earn a state tournament berth at Pinery Park in Wyoming. It was not without a few anxious moments, as the girls from the Rogers City/Posen Little League program had to hold off another late Cheboygan challenge to win in extra innings. Cheboygan had a final-inning comeback in the tournament opener against Rogers City to knock off the favored team. Rogers City held tough this time around, thanks to a three-run eighth, and won the championship game, 10-7. No state tournament schedule was available as of early Wednesday, although the girls will be in action Saturday near Grand Rapids. Both teams went into the decisive game with a loss after Rogers City played what manager Mike Darga said was ?probably their best game this season.?

HE BELIEVES the girls came into the tournament a little over confident. The coaches had a talk with this talented group of ball players, and they responded. The nucleus of this team has produced six consecutive trips to the state tournament. After North Emmet was a no-show in Rogers City?s next tournament game, the only remaining opponent was Cheboygan. Behind some strong pitching by Leilani Kortman (5 H, 4 K) and a three-RBI inside-the-park homer from Erika Kuznicki, the girls rolled to a 7-2 win. The game was still fairly close until Rogers City pushed across six in the fifth inning. Leann Strzelecki, Lindsay Ponik, and Kortman all had two hits apiece. Both teams had a loss in the tournament, setting up the championship game.

Cheboygan struck first with a run in the first, before Rogers City came back with three in the second. C

heboygan countered with two in the bottom of the second to tie the game at three-all. That was just a warm up. THERE WAS no scoring the next two innings, but Rogers City struck for three runs in the top of the fifth to go up, 6-3. Things got shaky in the bottom half of the inning when Cheboygan came back with four runs to take a one run lead. Katie Darga was called to the mound with two on and one out. She shut the door to allow her teammates a chance to get one back in the top of the sixth on a fielder?s choice RBI by Emily Delekta to score Erika Kuznicki. There was no scoring in the next inning-and-a-half.

In the top of the eighth, Kuznicki spurred the winning-rally with a walk. She came home on a RBI-double by Kortman. Darga and Ponik both had RBI singles to finish up the scoring. In the bottom of the eighth, Cheboygan was out of comebacks. Kortman led the offense with four hits, while Ponik was three-for-four. Kuznicki had a single, triple, and a walk. Leanne Buczkowski, Logan Schuiteman, and Darga all had two hits apiece. There were 13 teams expected to participate in the state tournament.