Eddies win first crown

Published 11:36 am Thursday, May 22, 2008

By By SCOTT NOVAK / Vigilant/Argus
The Edwardsburg varsity softball team won the school' first Lakeland Conference championship on Monday with a sweep of cross-county rival Cassopolis.
The Lady Eddies swept a pair of one-run games from the Lady Rangers, which kept Cassopolis coach Randy Brooks from picking up his 500th career victory.
Edwardsburg won the first game 3-2 in eight innings to earn a share of the league title and then took the outright championship with a 5-4 win over the Lady Rangers in the nightcap.
"This is amazing," Edwardsburg coach Ken Jankowski said. "These kids are just absolutely fabulous. They spent years working for this moments and I'm proud for each and every one of them."
Cassopolis, ranked No. 8 in Division 4, jumped out to an early 1-0 lead and increased it to 2-0 in the top half of the seventh inning.
Symone Pompey had the Lady Eddies off balance for most of the first game, but in the bottom of the seventh, the Edwardsburg bats came alive.
Amelia Breslin led off the inning with a double and then moved to third on an infield single by Taylor McGrath.
Courtney Steele, who Brooks called the "Ranger slayer", cut the lead in half with a single.
Following a walk to load the bases, a short fly ball between left fielder Reva Ivens and shortstop Emily Phillips turned into disaster for the Lady Rangers.
The two collided with Ivens holding onto the ball for the first out. But as the two lay sprawled out on the ground, McGrath raced home with the tying run.
Cassopolis was able to keep the game tied by throwing out a runner at the plate and enticing a ground out to end the inning.
"That probably turned the game right there," Brooks said. "But you like the effort and the hustle."
The Lady Eddies kept Cassopolis off the scoreboard in the top of the eighth and then scored the winning run in the bottom half of the frame.
Deb Burton doubled with an out and moved to third on a single by Breslin. McGrath's single drove in the historic winning run.
Both teams finished with nine hits and had two errors.
Edwardsburg's Jeni Bollenbacher struck out 10 to help keep the Lady Eddies close.
Cassopolis seemed to be still reeling as the second game started and fell behind 5-2 after three innings.
"I thought there was a little bit of a hangover (from game one) there," Brooks said. "But we came back and get better and better at-bats."
After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning, Cassopolis knotted the score at 2-2 in the top of the third.
Edwardsburg reclaimed the lead with three runs in the bottom of the third inning.
The score remained 5-2 until the top of the sixth when the Lady Rangers scored two runs to make a game of it.
After Steele and Hurst drove in runs in the third inning to give the Lady Eddies a three-run advantage, Cassopolis took advantage of a trio of Edwardsburg errors in the sixth to score two runs.
But in the end, Bollenbacher was able to shut down the Lady Rangers in the seventh, striking out a pair.
Brooks currently stands at 499-216 heading into next week's district tournament.
First Game
Cassopolis 100 000 10 – 2 9 2
Edwardsburg 000 000 21 – 3 9 2
WP – Jeni Bollenbacher (E, 15-6) and Deb Burton
LP – Symone Pompey (C) and Brittany Francis
2B: Amelia Breslin (E), Deb Burton (E)
Second game
Cassopolis 002 002 0 – 4 7 2
Edwardsburg 203 000 x – 5 10 3
WP – Jeni Bollenbacher (E, 16-6) and Deb Burton
LP – Kayla Green (C), Symone Pompey (6) and Brittany Francis
2B: Emily Phillips (C), Courtney Steele (E), Amelia Breslin (E)
Records
Edwardsburg 19-9, 12-2 Lakeland Conference; Cassopolis 28-9, 8-6 Lakeland Conference