Cardinals only unbeaten softball team in Class D

The Onaway High School softball team, which won four more games over the past week, one of them in walk-off fashion, is moving up the Class D state rankings. The latest poll showed the Cardinals, who at 26-0 are the only unbeaten Class D team in the state, ranked fourth. Only four wins now separate OHS from its first-ever unbeaten regular season.

The Cards, who at 14-0 in the Ski Valley already have clinched their fifth straight conference championship, put wins number 25 and 26 in the books on Monday at SVC foe Central Lake.

Onaway won the opener in that series, 9-2, before winning the nightcap, 17-1, in a mercy-rule shortened five innings. In addition to outscoring the Trojans, 26-3, the Cardinals out-hit their hosts, 25-4. Amanda Pomranke earned the win in game one, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits in seven innings. The senior walked none and struck out four, and the defense made two errors behind her.

The game was knotted at 2-2 until the Cards exploded for six fifth-inning runs. OHS recorded 10 hits, with Molly Cleaver leading the way with a double, a triple, and three runs driven in. Kourtni Hyde singled and tripled, Sam Freel singled twice and drove in a pair of runs, and Emily Estep and Megan Estep both delivered triples for the Red Birds.

Emily Estep got the win in game two, allowing one unearned run on one hit and a walk in five innings, fanning 11. The defense made a pair of miscues behind the freshman. The Cards trailed 1-0 before scoring six times in the third, six times in the fourth, and five times in the fifth. OHS recorded 15 hits, with Brooke Szymoniak responsible for three of them.

Both Pomranke and Allie Nave singled and tripled, while both Freel and Emily Estep singled and doubled. Nave drove in six runs, while Szymoniak, Freel, and Sam Brasseur all scored three times. Two days earlier, the Cardinals claimed their second tournament title of the season, this time in Posen. OHS beat Superior Central, 2-0, before knocking off the host Vikings, 4-3.

The Cards scored a run in the second inning and another in the third in their opener — enough support for Pomranke, who earned the win after allowing a hit and a walk, and fanning three, in six shutout innings. Onaway managed only five hits, two of them from Brassuer, but took advantage of seven free passes ? six by walk and one by hit batter. OHS made only one error, but left nine runners stranded on base.

The Card

inals won the championship in dramatic fashion, trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth, and final inning, but scoring a pair of runs in that frame to win it. Error-free defense was key. Megan Estep delivered the winning hit, a double that scored Brasseur with one out in the sixth to end the game. Estep, Brasseur, and Nave each had two of Onaway?s eight total hits in the game.

Estep allowed three runs, all earned, on six hits and a walk, while fanning eight, in five innings. Pomranke got the win, as she pitched a scoreless sixth and was the pitcher of record when the Cards made their comeback.

The Red Birds, who were scheduled to complete conference play yesterday (Thursday) against visiting Bellaire, close out the regular season next Friday at Harbor Light (an honorable mention in the Class D poll).

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