Sandusky Girls Sweep Reese; Win GTC East Title Again
By: Wm. Michael Dixon
Tribune Recorder Leader
The Sandusky Varsity Softball team traveled to Reese last Wednesday for a double header with the Lady Rockets. Reese took an early lead in game one, running the score up to 12-4 by the seventh inning before the bats of the Lady Wolves came alive.
The Sandusky girls notched nine hits in the seventh inning, bringing home nine runs. The inning got started when senior Annie Ross hit a single, senior Morgan Taege followed up with a single, and then junior Adalee Kaufman singled as did senior Mia Levitt. Junior Taryn Tank and senior Courtney Shoemaker both hit singles, followed by a single from Junior Alexis Gough. Annie Ross came back up to the plate and hit another single and Morgan Taege closed out the inning with a double, after running the score up to 13-12 to take the lead. Reese tied things up to send it into extra innings. The new rules for extra innings call for a runner to start at second base, and so sophomore Emma Minard headed to second to start things off.
Lead off hitter for the inning Kelsey Tomichek put down a bunt to move Minard to third and beats the throw to first. The next batter up was Kalli Bender and she walked to load the bases. Taryn Tank hit a ground ball to bring in Minard and Courtney Schomaker follows up with an hit into the infield to bring home Tomichek. Alexis Gough and Annie Ross both hit singles and Morgan Taege hits another double to score both Gough and Ross to bring the score to 18-13. Reese managed to score one run in the bottom of the eighth but Annie Ross and Adalee Kaufman field the first two ground balls for outs and Morgan Taege caught a fly ball to end the game with a final score of 18-14. Adalee Kaufman earned the win for the Wolves.
The Wolves hit their stride in the second contest with Mia Levitt on the mound. Alexis Gough started the game off with a single, followed shortly by Ruby Trepkowski and Kalli Bender who each singled, with Bender’s bringing home Gough for the first score of game two.
The Wolves rallied for nine runs in the second inning, capitalizing off of fielding errors and hits from Annie Ross, Taryn Tank, and Emma Minard. The Wolves added five runs to their total in the fourth inning thanks to the bats of Ross, Schoemaker, Tank, Gough, Trepkowski and a sacrifice fly from Kalli Bender Levitt shut out the Rockets, giving up just two hits and striking out eight in four innings.
The Wolves took game two 15-0 and swept the double header.
Coach Danny Franzel was celebrating his 50th birthday on the night of the game, stating “May 17, 2023 will be forever in my memories. Thank you ladies for a great 50th birthday.” The Wolves hosted Marlette at home for a GTC East matchup that would decide league honors for Sandusky. The Lady Wolves needed to win at least one of the two games to secure their title and did just that, defeating Marlette 4-2 in the first game. Sandusky earned their second consecutive GTC East title with the victory over Marlette. Check back next week for stats and full story from this contest.
