The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Saline reels off six-game winning streak
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 17, 2007
The bats and the Brophy sisters are back, spurring the Saline varsity softball team the last week to six straight wins, including three shutouts and four games in which they scored eight or more runs.
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"I think we're getting back into the swing of things," said coach Dawn Whitford. "I think everybody's charged up."
The Hornets, coming off a tough 3-3 record the week before, swept Adrian 8-1, 6-2 last Thursday, froze out Coldwater 8-0, 4-0 on Friday and dismantled Dexter 11-1, 9-0 on Monday.
The pitching tag team of sisters Lisa and Kayla Brophy combined for a total of 41 strikeouts in the six games and gave up only 21 hits.
"There's an energy between the two (sisters)," Whitford said. "They feed off each other. They realize they're here for the same thing. It's cool to watch them interact."
In the 8-1 win over the Adrian, the Hornets compiled 12 hits, scoring twice in the first, twice in the second and four runs in the fourth.
Alissa Robison had a quarter of those hits, including a double, and drove in five RBI. Juliet Dawson had two hits, including a triple. With three hits, freshman Emily Ouellette remained remarkably consistent at leadoff, continuing to prove nearly impossible to keep off the bases.
A speedy slap hitter, Ouellette had 15 hits in the past six games and has gotten a lead-off single to start nine of the last 11 games.
"I've never had a player I could utilize the way I do Emily," Whitford said. "She is very fast and puts the ball in play almost every time."
In the nightcap, the Hornets found themselves down 2-1 in the fourth, but responded with two runs in the fifth to take back the lead and two more runs in the sixth to secure a 6-2 sweep.
The Hornets traveled to their coach's hometown of Coldwater last Friday, sweeping the Cardinals 8-0 and 4-0. A 1987 graduate of Coldwater High School, Whitford said it was a nice homecoming.
"You want to go home and show folks what you've built," she said.
Afterward, she took the players and their families out to a local steakhouse to celebrate.
Coldwater managed to get only two runners on base in the first game, both of whom catcher Megan Townsend threw out attempting to steal second.
The Hornets had 13 hits, including three from Ouellette, and two each from Robison, Kelsey Smith, and Katy Black. Five of Saline's hits were doubles coming off the bats of Robison, Dawson, Smith, Katie Chapman and Alicia McCormick.
Despite the big numbers, it was only 1-0 heading into the top of the fifth, which is when, with two outs, the Hornets strung together a single, a single, a double, a double, a single, a double, a single and a double for an avalanche of seven runs.
"It was pretty amazing," Whitford said.
Saline was more measured in the nightcap, which saw Ouellette, Townsend, Robison and Amanda Laurent come up with two hits on the way to a 4-0 win.
The bats remained hot against Dexter Monday night when the Hornets opened Game 1 with four runs in the first and followed it up with five more in the second. They scored twice more in the fifth.
Robison had two triples and two RBI. Dawson, McCormick and Smith each had two RBI.
In the 9-0 nightcap, Dawson had two hits, including a homerun, and four RBI, Black and McCormick had three hits.
"We are re-energized for the rest of the season coming up," summed up Whitford.
The Hornets are 22-8 overall and 8-5 in the SEC Red division, trailing Pioneer by a game for the league title.
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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