The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Saline to square off vs. Monroe pitching star
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 31, 2007
The Saline varsity softball team ended their regular season with a statement, a commanding sweep of Milan last Friday, 10-4 and 12-3.
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The Hornets enter the district playoffs on Saturday 27-10. They enter having recorded nine shutouts and having been shutout themselves only twice (both of which came on the same miserable day). They enter having completed 10 doubleheader sweeps and having been swept only twice.
The Hornets enter districts prepared, but they also enter with the prospect of having to face Monroe, a team that defeated Saline 2-0 in the district finals last year. A team that has a monster pitcher, who recently struck out 17 of the 18 Tecumseh batters she faced.
And Tecumseh is one of two teams (the other being Chelsea) that took two games from Saline this year.
"We've got to figure out a way to put the ball in play," said head coach Dawn Whit-ford. "I'm not going to let one kid beat us."
Whitford likes her team's chances at a district title if they can get past Monroe.
"As an overall team," she said, "I have no doubt we're the best team in our dis-trict."
Against Milan in the final doubleheader of the regular season, the Hornets jumped out to an early lead, scoring three runs in the first. They added another run in the third when Megan Town-send reached first on an error and then stole second. She advanced to third on a high bouncer to first from Alissa Robison and then scored on a Katy Black sin-gle.
Milan chipped away at Sa-line's 4-0 lead, eventually knotting the score with two runs in the fourth and two in the fifth. The Hornets did not allow the tie to stand for long, however.
"One of the things I love about this team is that when someone threatens us like that, we come out swinging," said Whitford.
The Hornets scored twice in the sixth off doubles from Black and Juliet Dawson, each of whom had three hits in the game. In the seventh, Saline put the game away for good when they scored four runs with two outs on a double from Robison and a Dawson single.
In the nightcap, Saline's offense continued to fire on all cylinders, bookending a 12-3 win with four runs in the first and six in the sev-enth.
"My one through five hit-ters are producing for us right now," said Whitford. "To get a game started the way they've been able to is just great."
The Hornets had 10 hits in the game, including two each from Black, Robison, and Katie Chapman. Amanda Laurent had a double, Black a triple, and Robison blasted a homer.
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or at bcox@heritage.com.
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