06/04/2006

Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump
Leelanau St. Mary’s pitcher Susan Herman (15) celebrates with Haley Korson after defeating Glen Lake Saturday.

Eagles fly past Glen Lake in nine

Schlueter's double puts St. Mary's ahead to stay

BY JEFF PEEK

jpeek@record-eagle.com

Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump
Glen Lake’s Jessica Odziana slides safely into home on St. Mary’s catcher Haley Korson.

LELAND — Angie Schlueter swears she was nervous.

It just didn't look like it.

Schlueter went 5-for-5 with two doubles — including a two-run shot into the gap to put Lake Leelanau St. Mary's ahead to stay in the ninth inning — as the Eagles defeated Glen Lake 9-4 to win the Division 4 district softball title at Leland High School.

"I felt the pressure," Schlueter said of her final at-bat. "I was just trying to hit the ball.

"(Standing at second) I felt like a big weight was lifted off my shoulders. It felt good to have a cushion."

For awhile it looked like the Eagles (22-8) would have an easy road to next Saturday's regional at Frankfort, especially after they cruised past Cherryland Conference rival Leland 17-1 in the first game. But Glen Lake wouldn't let that happen.

St. Mary's jumped out to a 3-0 lead with single runs in the first, third and fourth innings on fielder's choices by Emily Mugerian and Krystal Lingaur and an RBI single by Anne Kuznicki.

Glen Lake battled back to tie it with three runs in the fifth.

With one out, Tara Novak and Jessica Odziana plated the first run with back-to-back triples. Kristen Pleva followed with a bunt to Schlueter at third, but Odziana was tagged out when Schlueter faked the throw to first, spun around and flipped the ball to shortstop Susan Herman.

Herman applied the tag as Odziana scrambled back to the bag.

The out proved to be a big one, as Shannon Galla followed with a single to put two runners on, then Chelsea Klumpp delivered an RBI single to score Pleva. Galla also scampered home — tying the game 3-3 — when the ball got away from the Eagles' left fielder.

St. Mary's regained the lead when it scored in the top of the sixth on a single by Schlueter, a sacrifice bunt, a fielder's choice that Anne Kuznicki beat out and an infield single by Sarah Schaub.

The Eagles had plenty of chances to score more — they loaded the bases in both the sixth and seventh innings — but they still held only a slim 4-3 edge entering the bottom of ninth.

And it wasn't enough.

Glen Lake's Odziana led off with a double, moved to third on a fielder's choice and tied the game when she beat the throw to the plate on Galla's ground ball to short.

Galla, who moved up to second on the play, appeared to score the game-winning run moments later on a long fly out to center, but she was called out for leaving the base early — head coach Gary Galla mistakenly thought there were already two outs — and the game went into extra innings.

Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the eighth, then St. Mary's erupted for five runs in the top of the ninth.

Susan Herman led off with a walk and moved to third when Lingaur doubled down the left field line. Samantha Garthe reached first to load the bases on a third strike in the dirt that Odziana decided was too risky to throw down to first.

Schlueter made it a moot point when she doubled home a pair.

"All the ups and downs — it's fun," Schlueter said. "These games are the best games."

Garthe and Schlueter scored on Kuznicki's two-run single to make it 8-4, and Kuznicki came home on Schaub's double to complete the scoring.

Garthe was the winning pitcher. Herman came on in the ninth and didn't allow a run.

"The way we look at it, people are going to score runs off of us," said Eagles coach Roger Arvo. "We have confidence in our offense that we'll score, too.

"If they score a run, we'll just get the next one and the next one and the next one. If it takes seven or eight or nine innings, we're going to get the runs we need.

"This team is resilient."

Galla paced Glen Lake (21-15) with four hits, while Odziana and Lauryn Pleva added three each. Danielle Noonan took the loss. Odziana was also a standout behind the plate.

"I'm proud of these girls. They fell behind early and never gave up," said the Lakers' Gary Galla. "We're used to playing good teams, and St. Mary's is a good team."