Bay City Western nearly doubled its pleasure at the Division 1 baseball and softball state finals.
To open the day on June 15, the baseball team blanked Brother Rice 1-0.
The hope was that it would be the Western girls’ turn in the title softball game against Mattawan. But it wasn’t meant to be, and Warrior girls fell 2-1 in the championship game.
Western took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Kaylynn Carpenter homered to center field, but Mattawan rallied in the bottom of the sixth, with Genny Soltesz notching the single that brought home the winning run.
Hannah Leppek took the loss for Western, going seven innings and allowing two runs on six hits, striking out 10, and walking three. Allie Havers from Mattawan was tough in seven innings, allowing only two hits while walking one.
“She throws that spinner inside and high on everybody and that jams everybody,” said Western coach Rick Garlinghouse. “Carpenter got a hold of one. I was hoping someone else would get into one. We never threatened them; we couldn’t get the leadoff hitters on.
“I thought we did a good job of laying off the high pitch. She had a tough pitch. That’s why they won it. We never put a threat on. She kept us off the bases.”
The Warriors blanked Alpena and Grand Blanc with 3-0 scores in the regional and Grandville 1-0 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Bay City Western defeated Garden City 1-0. It appeared they were going to have another shutout against Mattawan in the finals before the Wildcats broke loose with the two runs in the sixth inning and ended Western’s season at 37-3.