Sports

Cassopolis advances to Division 4 semifinals

By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
Wednesday, June 11, 2008 11:53 AM EDT

GRAND RAPIDS - Things didn't look good at the start of the Division 4 softball quarterfinal on Tuesday for the Cassopolis Rangers.

Mason County Eastern led 5-0 heading into the bottom half of the third inning.

Then things turned around for the Lady Rangers, who scored four times in the third and fourth innings on their way to an 11-6 come-from-behind victory.

The win advances Cassopolis to Battle Creek and the state semifinals for the first time in school history.

"I told them we just needed to relax," said Cass coach Randy Brooks, who took Dowagiac to the state semifinals in 1993. "We were nervous. But I told them five runs isn't going to win this game."

Brooks, who said that he would not return to Battle Creek unless he was taking a team, saw his squad get things turned around in a hurry.

"We weren't pitching well, we weren't hitting well and we weren't playing very good defense," Brooks noted. "But we have faced adversity a lot this season and always responded. We got smacked in the face by adversity and we did it again."

Symone Pompey, who picked up the victory, struggled with keeping the ball down the first couple of innings and Mason County Eastern took advantage of it.

But once she started to get her drop ball working, the Lady Rangers slammed the door on the Cardinal.

Mason County started hitting a lot of balls to third base and shortstop and Kayla Green and Emily Phillips made all the plays.

"Kayla and Emily played great," Brooks said. "They made all the plays."

Cassopolis (33-9) cut the lead to 5-4 in the third inning when Green drew a lead-off walk. Branna Wyant followed with a single and Brittany Francis, who had been struggling at the plate, doubled home both runners. Francis was thrown out trying to reach third.

Molly Vite and Nicole Green continued the rally with singles and scored on a single by Sam Vlasicak.

The Cardinal scored a run in the top of the fourth to increase their lead to 6-4, but it wouldn't last long.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Lady Rangers scored four more times to take an 8-6 lead.

"When we got ahead 8-6, I knew we were going to win," Brooks noted.

Mason County aided the Cass comeback in the fourth inning by committing a pair of errors.

Kayla Green reached base on an error and moved to second on a sacrifice by Wyant. Francis then delivered the run with a single and took second on the throw to the plate.

Nicole Green singled home Francis and then stole second to move into scoring position for Vlasicak, who hit a ball to third base. A throwing error on the play scored Nicole Green and moved Vlasicak to third base.

Vlasicak would complete the scoring as she raced home on a wild pitch.

The Lady Rangers, who will play Bay City All Saints on Friday, added three runs in the sixth inning to complete the scoring.

Kayla Green and Vlasicak both singled home runs, while another error by Mason County accounted for the third run of the frame.

Francis ended up with two singles, a double and three RBIs for Cassopolis, while Vlasicak had two hits and four RBIs. Nicole Green finished with three hits, three RBIs and three runs scored.

Pompey scattered seven hits, struck out one and walked one.

Melanie Stickney gave up 11 hits, struck out two and walked two in the loss.

The Lady Rangers will square off against Bay City (33-7-1) on Friday night at 6:30 in Battle Creek at Bailey Park.

Mason County 221 100 0 - 6 10 4

Cassopolis 004 403 x - 11 11 1

WP - Symone Pompey (C) and Brittany Francis

LP - Melanie Stickney (MC) and Jessica Budzynski

2B: Budzynski (MC), Nichole Kolean (MC), Francis (C)

3B: Courtney Harris (MC)

Records

Mason County 26-13, Cassopolis 33-9

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