Indian Nation erupted as St. Mary’s Springs first baseman Addison Ganter bounced to Kiran Sanford in the circle to secure a 1 to 0 victory over the Ledgers and win their fifth straight regional title.
Scoring was at a premium, with the only run coming in the bottom of the fourth.
Mishicot’s right fielder Emma Schmidt led off the inning with a single, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on an infield groundout by left fielder Eva Boness.
Head Coach Dawn Shimek on the bottom of the order coming through.
“I love Eva Boness because she’s like another leadoff hitter,” she admitted. “When she was up, I knew she would make contact with the ball and with Emma (Schmidt) at third she just needed to put the ball in play, and we scored the run.”
Kiran Sanford was able to wiggle out of a few jams, including one with the bases loaded in the third.
She eventually settled down to throw another complete game shutout, allowing just three hits, walking none, and striking out ten.
She tells SeehaferNews. com that these regional games are nerve-wracking.
“I just feel like the last three years, these games have been really close,” she said with a chuckle. “We also played this team earlier in the year, so there were no secrets going in. It made playing them a second time just that much harder.”
Gracie Konkol pitched a great game for St. Mary’s Springs and took the loss. She went the distance, allowing just one run on five hits, walking four, and striking out four.
The Indians advance to host Algoma in the sectional semifinals next Tuesday after they defeated Sevastopol 4 to 1 Thursday in Algoma.
Sanford said if they want to win, her team needs to “keep playing the way that we’ve been playing. We need to clean up some of the mental mistakes, and I think we’ll be set.”
The first pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
