Which school(s) will sweep the Districts?

The third poll question of the year has come to an end and with a 63.6 percent of the 11 votes cast USA was the resounding favorite to sweep both the baseball and softball Districts. Two voters (18.2%) thought that no area team would win both titles, while one vote was cast for more than one school winning multiple titles (9.1%) and one vote for Harbor Beach (9.1%) who already had their chances blown when the softball team lost 6-3 to Deckerville on Tuesday.
As for the rest of this week's sports actions I will try and get some updates and pictures up from tonight soccer Districts at EPBP, as well as info and pics throughout the weekend of baseball and softball District winners and look for some photos from the State Finals on Sunday.
What a great week to be a fan of high school sports!

Second poll results are in

At first I had my doubts about the success of this poll, but it got rolling and it got a respectable 10 responses. The question was:
What has been the biggest suprise of the track season so far?
Deckerville's emergence as a power in the GTE 4 votes 40%

The emergence of the North Huron freshmen 3 votes 30%

The number of school records being broken 2 votes 20%

The dominance of EPBP's Chelsea Dubey 1 vote 10%

The competitiveness of seevral teams in the girls' 3,200 relay 0 votes 0%

A new poll will be up soon...

Rest in Peace Owen Hart

Owen Hart May 7, 1965-May 23, 1999

Okay some of you may being say huh? Well, I'm breaking form a little today.

In my conversations with several of the Blog-a-Maniacs out there, I know some of you have followed or still follow wrestling. With that in mind, today is the eight year anniversary of the death of Owen Hart, who tragically died in a rigging accident.

Hart left behind a wife, Martha, and two children.

Owen was heroic in his death, yelling down to several crew members in the ring to get out of the way and in the process saved their lives.

Those who watched on PPV were told that Owen had died, but those in attendance never got the news. The show went on even after Hart's accident, which is still one of the most controversial issues about the accident to this day.

I remember looking on a wrestling website for PPV results that day and seeing "the big box"on the homepage, which was only there when someone died. I realized it, but was stunned as the picture slowly loaded and it was Owen.

So all you wrestling fans out there, share your thoughts on Owen, on continuing the PPV, whatver you wish to.

I just thought we should all remember the "Little Nugget," "The Rocket," probably forget Hart in the New Foundation and in High Energy, but remember "Slammy Award Winning" Owen Hart.

Handicapping the State Finals

After a week full of track, track, track I know there is one thing on minds of track fans. Which local athletes are heading to the finals and what are their chances fo winning?
With that in mind, I've gone through the list on the MHSAA website and modified it so that it includes the person with the top time/distance/height in the event, and then just the athletes from my coverage area that have made it.
The number to the left is how they ranked amongst the ohter qualifiers in their event (ex. Carly Treiber's throw of 111-10 in the dicsus was sixth best, but 15 less than the top thrower).
With that in mind, here is the list:
MHSAA 2007 Track and Field Finals - Girls Division 3 Qualifiers
GIRLS DISCUS
1 Lakeview Harrington, Stacey (Sr.) 126'01.00"
6 Unionville-Sebewaing Treiber, Carly (So.) 111'10.00"
15 Unionville-Sebewaing Treiber, Jessica (Sr.) 100'07.00"

GIRLS POLE VAULT
1 Grand Rapids West Catholic Morrissey, Kelly (Fr.) 10'07.00"
16 Unionville-Sebewaing Turschak, Sara (So.) 9'00.00"

GIRLS LONG JUMP
1 Flint Hamady Johnson, Tara (Sr.) 17'09.00"
3 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Dubey, Chelsea (So.) 17'03.00"

GIRLS 100 METER DASH
1 Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central Bellino, Meg (So.) 12.33
3 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Dubey, Chelsea (So.) 12.44

GIRLS 100M HURDLES
1 Benzie Central Horvath, Kelsey (Sr.) 15.40
17 Cass City Richards, Jennica (So.) 16.53

GIRLS 200 METER DASH
1 Frankenmuth Ritter, Kelsey (Fr.) 25.52
3 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Dubey, Chelsea (So.) 26.09

GIRLS 300M LOW HURD
1 Grandville Calvin Christian Holtrop, Kim (SP) 46.30
23 Cass City Richards, Jennica (So.) 49.43

GIRLS 400 METER DASH
1 Albion Chapman, Joranda 58.50
8 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Dubey, Chelsea (So.) 59.85

GIRLS 800 METER RUN
1 Albion Bannister, Amelia 2:19.46
26 Unionville-Sebewaing Valentine, Cami (9 ) 2:30.38

GIRLS 1600 METER RUN
1 Jackson Lumen Christi Snyder, Hilary 5:12.55
30 Unionville-Sebewaing Turschak, Sara (So.) 5:33.98
31 Unionville-Sebewaing Martinez, Mercy (Jr.) 5:41.82

GIRLS 3200 METER RUN
1 Jackson Lumen Christi Snyder, Hilary 11:23.86
35 Unionville-Sebewaing Turschak, Sara (So.) 12:24.63
36 Cass City Loomis, Brittany (So.) 12:34.31

GIRLS 400 METER RELAY
1 Flint Hamady 50.76
22 Bad Axe 52.52

GIRLS 1600 METER RELAY
1 Albion 4:05.54
28 Unionville-Sebewaing 4:22.54

GIRLS 3200 METER RELAY
1 Jackson Lumen Christi 9:43.05
23 Unionville-Sebewaing 10:24.86

MHSAA 2007 Track and Field Finals - Boys Division 3 Qualifiers
BOYS DISCUS
1 Williamston Stiffler, Donnie (Jr.) 164'00.00"
15 Bad Axe Grigg, Aeron (Sr.) 137'07.00"

BOYS SHOT PUT
1 Hillsdale English, Nate (Sr.) 57'10.00"
9 Cass City Bowen, Dennis (Sr.) 48'11.50"

BOYS HIGH JUMP
1 Manchester Sawyer, Jarod (Jr.) 6'05.01"
4 Cass City Summersett, Chris (So.) 6'03.10"

BOYS POLE VAULT
1 Williamston Walters, Josh (Sr.) 13'09.01"
19 Cass City Koepf, Mark (Sr.) 12'06.00"

BOYS 200 METER DASH
1 Saginaw Nouvel Shaltry, Kenji (Sr.) 22.01
21 Cass City Babich, Austin (So.) 23.02

BOYS 400 METER DASH
1 Detroit Country Day Rucker, Chris (Sr.) 50.03
16 Unionville-Sebewaing Jackson, Isaiah (Sr.) 51.74

BOYS 800 METER RUN
1 Williamston Ash, David (Sr.) 1:57.02
4 Unionville-Sebewaing Eisengruber, Matt (Sr.) 1:58.38

BOYS 1600 METER RUN
1 Ovid-Elsie Darling, Maverick (Jr.) 4:18.93
25 Cass City Varney, Lukas (So.) 4:38.46

BOYS 3200 METER RUN
1 Ovid-Elsie Darling, Maverick (Jr.) 9:27.44
39 Cass City Varney, Lukas (So.) 10:37.30

BOYS 1600 METER RELAY
1 Saginaw Swan Valley 3:26.48
20 Unionville-Sebewaing 3:34.35
22 Cass City 3:35.96

BOYS 3200 METER RELAY
1 Bangor 8:12.80
23 Unionville-Sebewaing 8:35.01

MHSAA 2007 Track and Field Finals - Girls Division 4 Qualifiers
GIRLS SHOT PUT
1 Hillsdale Academy Buchhop, Gwen (Sr.) 38'08.75"
15 Port Hope Abraham, Marci (Sr.) 34'00.00"

GIRLS HIGH JUMP
1 Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest Maccourtney, Sarah (So.) 5'04.00"
3 Kinde North Huron Heffner, Megan(9 ) 5'03.00"
5 Ubly Labuhn, Shelby (Sr.) 5'01.00"
12 Ubly Weber, Shannon (Jr.) 5'00.00"

GIRLS POLE VAULT
1 Pewamo-Westphalia Schafer, Amanda (Sr.) 9'09.00"
3 Harbor Beach Kirsch, Jacqueline (Jr.) 9'09.00"

GIRLS LONG JUMP
1 Jonesville Dow, Sydney (Sr.) 16'11.00"
13 Ubly Kubacki, Kayla (So.) 15'10.75"

GIRLS 100 METER DASH
1 Ann Arbor Greenhills Ajegba, Brittany (Sr.) 12.19
4 Ubly Kaufman, Jade (Sr.) 12.32

GIRLS 100M HURDLES
1 Reading Thorp, Whitney (Jr.) 15.40
4 Kinde North Huron Homrich, Caitlin(9 ) 15.89
5 Ubly Labuhn, Shelby (Sr.) 16.04
8 Ubly Weber, Shannon (Jr.) 16.39
11 Ubly Helewski, Kalyn (So.) 16.53
21 Harbor Beach Kirsch, Jacqueline (Jr.) 16.78
25 Caseville Quinn, Emily (Sr.) 16.90

GIRLS 200 METER DASH
1 Ubly Kaufman, Jade (Sr.) 26.21
13 Kinde North Huron Homrich, Caitlin(9 ) 27.47

GIRLS 300M LOW HURD
1 Saginaw Valley Lutheran Witchger, Christine (Jr.) 47.54
6 Kinde North Huron Heffner, Megan(9 ) 48.74
9 Harbor Beach Kirsch, Jacqueline (Jr.) 49.06
12 Ubly Franzel, Nicole(9 ) 49.44
19 Caseville Quinn, Emily (Sr.) 49.99
22 Ubly Weber, Shannon (Jr.) 50.14

GIRLS 400 METER DASH
1 Ubly Kaufman, Jade (Sr.) 59.86
12 Ubly Kubacki, Kayla (So.) 1:01.82
13 Ubly White, Lyndsay (So.) 1:02.41

GIRLS 800 METER RUN
1 Maple City Glen Lake Treece, Marissa (Sr.) 2:17.06
10 Ubly White, Lyndsay (So.) 2:27.44
11 Ubly Kubacki, Kylee (Sr.) 2:27.89
13 Harbor Beach Buchholz, Holly (So.) 2:28.33
15 Ubly Kubacki, Chelsey (Jr.) 2:29.00
18 Ubly White, Jennifer(9 ) 2:29.36
19 Harbor Beach Woycehoski, Bri (Fr.) 2:29.70

GIRLS 1600 METER RUN
1 Maple City Glen Lake Treece, Marissa (Sr.) 5:01.60
5 Ubly Kubacki, Kylee (Sr.) 5:20.59
14 Harbor Beach Woycehoski, Bri (Fr.) 5:31.00
22 Harbor Beach Wessels, Ali (Fr.) 5:37.04

GIRLS 400 METER RELAY
1 Jonesville 51.50
8 Ubly 53.43

GIRLS 800 METER RELAY
1 Colon 1:49.20
13 Ubly 1:51.87

GIRLS 1600 METER RELAY
1 Ubly 4:10.47
6 Harbor Beach 4:16.28

GIRLS 3200 METER RELAY
1 Ubly 9:37.84
3 Harbor Beach 9:52.71

MHSAA 2007 Track and Field Finals - Boys Division 4 Qualifiers
BOYS POLE VAULT
1 Fulton-Middleton Boulis, Matt (Sr.) 14'00.00"
27 Harbor Beach Seidl, Brian (Jr.) 11'06.00"
28 Kinde North Huron Wisneski, Ed (Jr.) 11'06.00"

BOYS LONG JUMP
1 Eau Claire Patterson, Patrick (Sr.) 21'03.00"
15 Harbor Beach Ginther, Kevin (Sr.) 20'01.00"

BOYS 100 METER DASH
1 Ann Arbor Greenhills Masters, Sean (Sr.) 10.81
31 Ubly David, Cody (Jr.) 11.54
32 Ubly Schroeder, Jason (Fr.) 11.55

BOYS 200 METER DASH
1 Jonesville Falk, Chad (Jr.) 22.50
25 Ubly Schroeder, Jason (Fr.) 24.02

BOYS 300M INTERM. HURDLES
1 Reading Morris, Trent (So.) 40.10
19 Kinde North Huron Lesperance, Jason (Sr.) 43.03


BOYS 800 METER RUN
1 North Muskegon Barker, Glen (Sr.) 1:57.54
7 Harbor Beach Ginther, Kevin (Sr.) 2:03.03

BOYS 400 METER RELAY
1 Ottawa Lake Whiteford 44.09
32 Harbor Beach 47.81

My impressions... looking at the times and how they performed on Saturday, I think Ubly has a great chance to win a second straight State Title, which is unprecedented, at least around here.
My best bets for an individual state title, I'll put my money on a pair of freshmen from North Huron-Megan Heffner and Caitlyn Homrich. When you look at their times, jumps, etc. compared to the top times, jumps, etc. they are so close. With warm weather, some adrenaline and maybe a little luck, an individual State Title is not out of the realm of possibility.
The nice thing for the duo is even if they come up short this time, they will likely have three more opportunities in their high school careers.

First poll results

The first poll has ended and bloggers have decided the team most likely to win a State Title this spring is the USA softball team. Here are the results (19 votes were cast):

USA softball team 8 votes 42.1%

Ubly girls' track team 5 votes 26.3%

EPBP soccer team 3 votes 15.8%

one of Deckerville's track teams, another area team or no area team each received one vote for 5.3%

A new poll will be posted soon.

The picture I ruined my shorts for

Sometimes I think the best posts or columns are the ones involving poking a little fun at ourselves. With that in mind here is the story of the picture I ruined my pants for.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon doing some work, watched Heroes and was surfing the net. I had one real job to get done (besides my everyday stuff like making the bed, doing the dishes, and other things us stay at home moms do), to bring in a treat for my wife's Young Fives class around 2 p.m. and then take their picture for work.

It should have been easy enough, the treats were already bought. I just had to show up on time, but for some reason I was running a few minutes late. Which would have been okay, but I forgot to put the battery back in my camera that I was supposed to use to take the picture (it was on the charger getting ready for a track double-header).

So then I had to get my wife's camera, dig through her purse to find it, etc. and I put her class a little behind schedule.

Now, it was about 84 degrees out and I was enjoying a nice day with the windows open. Sometimes I more of a hermit, so I actually thought my wife would notice and appreciate the fact that I left the windows open on such a nice day. Not really and I'll tell you why.

It turns out it was destined to rain. In fact around 4 p.m. as i was heading out to the GTW meet in Bad Axe, I got a phone call that said it was pouring in Harbor Beach and the meet was delayed.

In most cases, this should have indicated that I needed to turn around and go close the windows. But then my buddy dropped the bomb shell that gas in Bad Axe was $3.49 a gallon and all I could think of was filling up in Ubly while it was still $3.25 (what a bargain).

I headed over to Hatchet Country and by then it started to rain. I saw no sign of life in the parking lot and realized the meet was called or delayed. So I drive around and I'm going to head over to the office when suddenly... What was that? What was that noise? Did someone hit my car with something?

I'm looking around and came to realize it was 3/4 inch hail pelting my car and not some juneville delinquent. The rain starts pouring down and I get drenched dropping off some paper work to the office. As I leave, the tornado siren sounds and I think this could be an interesting night.

I start driving over to the GTE league meet in Harbor Beach. I'm resigned to the fact that at this point the only league meet that is surely going to be on is the NCTL Meet in Peck. So I decide to go there via Harbor Beach in case things settled down their earlier. They didn't (at least at that point) because everyone was huddled in the school in case of a tornado.

I, on the other hand, had my camera and the "big lens" ready in case I saw a twister. Take pictures first, strap myself to something sturdy second I thought. Luckily that showdown never took place.

As I make the ride up M-25, the rain is still following me and as I'm talking to some people at the Peck meet I warn them the storm is coming. They think it is over. I was right.

Eventually, I get to Peck, snap some pictures before the rain starts pouring down. A buddy I met up with and I duck into my car to keep dry and I see my wife called about a half an hour earlier.

She had finally returned one of what seemed like 100 calls trying to find out if her and Feena where okay, since they were in BA during the storm. Well the real storm was about to strike.

Boy did I get an earful and my buddy got one too because my wife was yelling so loud about me leaving the windows open and how I could have ruined our brand new comforter and bed, etc.

Wait! She said could have, because the rain never came in that side of the house. My error caused no damage at all, but I never would have known it by my wife's tone.

Eventually the rain stopped enough to go take more pictures and one of the area's best high jumpers Megan Heffner of North Huron was jumping. I hurried over there and took one picture, which wasn't what I wanted. In between jumps I got to a better spot, but the lighting wasn't too good and the picture was a little blurry.

So I parked my butt on the wet asphalt and shot up to get more light and came up with this doozy. I had black remnants on my hands and all over my tan shorts. BUT I GOT THE SHOT!

Driving home in some of the worst rain I remember between Peck and Sandusky stunk, but it was well worth it to experience North Huron's league title win.

Heck after putting in a 21 hour day at the State Track Finals last year this was easy.

By the way, congratulations to the North Huron girls' track team on their NCTL title win. It should be the first of many more to come.

Not my typical Monday/Tuesday post

Usually at around this time on Tuesday, if you head over to the blog there is generally an update on last night's games. Usually I put up a picture from one of the games I was at, usually one I'm pretty proud of.

Today is going to be a little different.

So why the change? Well I was looking in my e-mail today and I saw that Brennan Pitcher's CarePage had been updated. His sight is usually updated several times a week so I see that type of messsage often.

But lately, I've noticed myself just glancing past those messages. It wasn't that I didn't care how "Pitch" was doing, it is actually the exact opposite. I knew if I hoped over to the sight, I could sit there for an hour or two catching up on how he is doing and reading all the special messages people have sent him.

I guess I was trying to stay detached from it all, which is kind of sad in a way. But I think we all do that to an extent; try to keep an emotional distance from things especially when we are busy.

Well I'm still busy, but today I decided to make the time to check this update out and it is great news. Here is what the update said:

May 14, 2007 at 11:23 PM EDT
We got "the call" this afternoon, Brennan's ANC is finally high enough! We will be admitted tomorrow. PLEASE pray for Brennan (he will have a spinal tap and chemo tomorrow), pray for me as I will be staying wih him in the hospital and pray for John and the girls who will be back at home. I'll update more tomorrow. Keep the faith & "B" strong! God Bless! Angie

So as we speak right now, Brennan is likely going through the procedure of already has. So I'm saying, let's take a break from sports for a few minutes today and instead say a prayer for Brennan and his family. Then say another or e-mail some one and ask them to say a prayer as well.

Or better yet, take that few minutes to head over to his CarePage and leave him a message. I'm sure him and his family will appreciate it. Then ask someone else to do it, too.

In fact here is my challenge to all of my blog readers. Let's fill up Brennan's box full of our thoughts and well wishes so when he is well enough to read them, he knows we were all there thinking of him on this important day.

The web address is: http://www.carepages.com/UpdateListing?seed=269028&ClusterNodeID=jb06&tlcx1=umich&tlcx2=1772320

Cutline: In the pictue above, Brennan (left) is seen handing off to Matt Niziolek (right) in the 3,200 relay.

Hatchet Invitational photos

Today was arguably the biggest track meet of the regular season, the Hatchet Invitational. I don't have results at this point, but thought you might enjoy some of these pics from the event.
Results will be published in our Wednesday papers.

Harbor Beachs wins Huron County Tourney

In what seemed like an improbable upset last night, the Harbor Beach softball team won the Innaugral Huron County Softball Torunament.
The Lady Pirates were 1-0 winners over North Huron in the finale. Brittany Braun, who won MVP honors, struck out 10 and allowed a pair of hits in the championship game.
What makes the win so amazing is how much it meant to the girls. while taking some pictures, I could here the players in the Harbor Beach dugout talk about how bad they wanted to win this won. To paraphrase, they said that they wanted to win this one and didn't care what happened the rest of the way as long as they did.
As coach Dick Gorney put it, "You could tell just watching the girls how happy they were. They've never won anything."
Perhaps the win will be the catalyst for a second half turnaround for Harbor Beach. But if it isn't, at least they will have a great memory to look back upon when the season is over.

Tuesday scores...

Just a few scores in from last night so far, so here we go...
Caseville swept Akron-Fairgrove 15-0, 18-9 in softball action. Brittany Meissner won both games.

In the opener, Amber Bieri went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs, while Beth Grates was 2-for-2 with one RBI.

Meaghan Fortsch was the spark in game two as she reached base five times. She went 2-for-2 at the plate with three walks, while adding four stolen bases. Shana Kretzschmer added three walks, one hit and two RBI's.

In tennis, Bad Axe was an 8-0 winner over Sandusky. Singles winners were: Stefan Odabasic in no. 1 singles (6-3, 6-3), Charlie Herrington in no. 2 singles (7-5, 7-5), Nolan Barsaleau in no. 3 singles (6-2, 7-5), and Daniel Stipanovich in no. 4 singles (6-2, 0-6, 7-5).

Doubles winners included: Darin Howard-Anton Rosenberg in no. 1 doubles (6-0, 6-1), Alec Lerash-Cody Eskau in no. 2 doubles (6-2, 6-1), Josh Simon-Adam Teasdle in no. 3 doubles (6-0, 6-0) and Nick Wolak-Derek Sugden in no. 4 doubles (6-0, 6-0).

The Hatchets are 7-1-1 overall this year, with the only blemishes on their record coming from Lakers. Those two teams tied in their first meeting, but Bad Axe lost 6-2 in the rematch.They were hurt by the loss of Scott Hewens, their no. 2 singles, who broke his foot.

With that having been said, the league tournament, which is scheduled for this Friday at 9 a.m. at Harbor Beach, should be pretty interesting.

Some scores from Monday that came in late include the Laker soccer team shuting out Cass City 11-0. EPBP got three goals each from Stephanie Maxwell and Amanda Dubey, while Brittany Albrecht and Sam Krueger added two scores each. Kaycee Damm added the other Laker score.
Krueger and Natasha Sears had two helps each, while Albrecht , Shania Damm, Kate Beachy and Megan Yoder added one assist each.

Beth Ritter earned the shutout in net for EPBP, who is 9-0 overall and 6-0 in the GTC.

In softball, USA swept Cass City 13-3, 13-2.

In game one, Marissa Lemere struck out four to earn the win. At the plate, Carly Treiber led the attack with a home run and a single, while Minda Martinez added four hits. Lemere chipped in three singles, while Dani Gremel and Mercy Martinez had two hits each.

In the nightcap, Treiber had two more knocks, once again hitting a home run and a single. Katie Rayl was a homer away from the cycle as her three hits included a single, double and triple.
Minda Martinez had three more hits (she was a combined 7-for-7 against Cass City), while Katie Schaus chipped in a pair of knocks.

Monday Madness

It was a full slate of games on Monday and here are the results I have so far:

The USA baseball team swept Cass City 5-1, 10-3 to improve to 12-6 overall and more importantly 6-0 in the GTW.

In the opener, Matias Kraynak struck out six and scattered four hits to earn the win. Offensively, Mitch Keyes led the team with two hits, while Kelson Gettel, Kraynak, Shane Schmidt and Heath Schmidt had one hit each.

In game two, Jordan Bolzman racked up seven K's en route to the win. At the plate, Tyson Valentine and Heath Schmidt had two knocks apiece, while Tim Holland and Caleb Brow each singled.

Here's my impression of the Patriots... this team is heating up. I saw them just two weeks ago against Ubly and they weren't that impressive. Well, they are definitely kicking things into high gear at this point.

The guy who deserves a lot of credit for the turn around is Mitch Keyes. Heading into yesterday's games against the Red Hawks, Keyes had 12 hits in the last four games and was hitting .447 for the season with 13 RBIs. Needless to say, he has been a big spark for the Patriot's offense.

Could a league championship be in the future for USA? I sure think so.

In other baseball action, Bad Axe split with Reese. The Hatchets won the opener 6-4 and lost the nightcap 5-1.

In game one, Jason Brown allowed one run in 3 1/3 innings and struck out four to earn the "W". Tim Rader picked up the save with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Things did get a little dicey, as he walked three and allowed a hit.

At the plate, Nathan Janik had two singles and a double, while Rob Watkins and Brown chipped in two singles each. Eric Moore added a two run homer in the fifth.

In game two, Pete Salens took the loss, allowing four runs and two walks in six innings. Salens did strike out seven. Offensively, no Hatchet player had more than one hit in the nightcap.

Bad Axe is 4-2 in league play and 11-9 overall.

EPBP split its league match up with BCAS, winning game one 6-3 and dropping game two 11-1.

In the opener, Kyle Dubs pitched a complete game, five hitter to earn the win. Chris Rowe led the offense with a double, while Mark Feger, Shawn Wise and Adam Chiotti each added singles.

In the nightcap (a five inning game), Logan Tibbits, Feger and Rowe had singles for Lakers. EPBP is 7-8 overall and 2-4 in the GTW.

The Lady Laker softball team was swept by BCAS, losing 2-1, 9-1.

In the opener, Erica King tossed a three hitter, but allowed a two-run homer in the fifth which proved to be the difference. Melissa Fritch led the offense with a double, while Haley Schulz and Whitney Damrow added a pair of singles each.

King had the team's lone hit in the game two loss.

In soccer, Bad Axe defeated Sandusky 8-0.

The Hatchets got three goals from Mary Mc Cracken, while Shayna Polega add two scores. Sara Schnorack, Sara Thoms and Jackie Rochefort also scored.

The team got two assists from Rochefort, as well as one help each from Chelsea Grifka, Amanda Wehner, Katie Essian and Polega.

Coach David DeCourval complimented his team's defense, pointing out that they allowed just one shot on goal. Thoms and Rochefort shared the win in goal.

In other soccer action, Harbor Beach was an overtime winner over Marlette. Kara Hess had the game winning goal to give the Pirates a 1-0 victory.

In the extra session, Moriah Kish powered past several defenders and took a sharp shot on the goal. The Marlette keeper partially deflected the ball, which then hit the post and bounced in
front of the goal.

Hess ran through the loose ball knocking it into the goal with her body to score the game winner.

In track, both the Ubly boys' and girls' teams won a tri-meet at Lakers, which also included Bad Axe.

So that's it for now.

Remember, take the time to vote on this week's poll on potential State Champions in the Thumb area this spring.

Wednesday results...

Hot off the presses...

EPBP beat Bad Axe 5-0 earlier today.

Also:

Harbor Beach 8, Cass City 0

Goals for the Pirates: Stef Gainor two, Heidi Grekowicz two, Missy Peterson two, and Moriah Kish two.

Assists: Christijana Bender, Kara Hess, and Jillian Roggenbuck.

The Pirates are 3-2 overall.

In tennis action, the Hatchets were 7-1 winners over BCAS. Winners included:

no. 1 singles Stefan Odabasic 6-0, 6-1

no. 2 singles Chris Paganini 6-2, 6-1

no. 3 singles Josh Simon 6-1, 6-2

no. 1 doubles Darin Howard-Anton Rosenberg 6-1, 6-0

no. 2 doubles Nolan Barsaleau-Daniel Stipanovich 6-0, 6-0

no. 3 doubles Cody Eskau-Charlie Herrington 6-0, 6-1

no. 4 doubles Nick Wolak-Curtis Brown 6-0, 6-0

In baseball: Bad Axe was swept by Pinconning 5-1, 18-5.

Kaycee Damm is on the mend

One of our posters ask how Kaycee Damm is doing on her road to recovery from a serious car accident at the beginning of the school year. With that in mind, I happened to see her play today in a soccer match-up against Bad Axe and thought I would share a couple of the pictures.
I remember early after her accident there was speculation as to whether or not she would play sports again and the general thought was she might return in the spring. She exceeded those expectations by playing in the winter in volleyball as a valuable part of a very successful Laker team.
Now she is actively competing in soccer and track. All I can say is that has to be a good sign.
Let me just say after everything she's been through, I think it is great to be covering a game she's competing.
Congratulations on the progress of your comeback Kaycee. We're all rooting for you!

Monday's results

Got a few scores here from last night for those who are interested:
North Huron swept a double-header over Owen-Gage 10-0, 11-0.
In the opener, Mike Nienaltowski tossed a three-hitter and struck out five in five innings of work. In the nightcap, Mitch Dhyse struck out four in four innings to pick up the "W".
The first game was a qualifier for the County Tournament, which will be held at Bad Axe on Saturday.
The Warriors will be facing EPBP in the second game and potentially faces the winner of Ubly/HB.
Speaking of Ubly and Harbor Beach, the Bearcats swept the twin-bill 7-2, 5-3.
In game one, Joel Maurer tossed a complete game, four hitter. He also doubled and homered at the plate.
In the nightcap (a five inning contest due to darkness), Harbor Beach had the tying runs in scoring position when the final out was made.
As for the fourth team in that County tourney bracket, EPBP lost to USA in a double-header 10-6, 6-5. In game one, the Patriots were led by Mitch Keyes who was 3-for-4 with a double. USA committed four errors in the opener.
In the nightcap, USA scored one in the top of the seventh to tie the game 4-4. In the eighth, they scored two in the top half of the inning to secure the win.
In soccer, Lakers picked up a 7-2 win over HB. Amanda Dubey had three goals for EPBP, Kaycee Damm had a goal and two assists. The Pirates Rhinda Gusa had 19 saves in net.
That's what I've got at this point, hope it takes of your sports fix for awhile.
I'll try to update more frequently throughout the day and week as information comes in.