- Michigan
Everett shuts down No. 3 Lions again, as No. 5 Hartland wins South Lyon quad
SOUTH LYON — For the South Lyon softball squad, Rachel Everett has to feel like that Rubik’s Cube (Google it, or ask your parents) they just can’t solve, no matter how they twist.
The same pitcher that shut them down in last year’s regional finals blanked them again on Saturday, tossing a two-hit shutout on the No. 3-ranked Lions’ home field in a 1-0 win, as the No. 5 Eagles went 3-0 on the day to win the South Lyon quad.
In the regional final, Everett threw eight innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits, retiring the final seven South Lyon batters to set up Madelin Skene’s extra-inning walk-off home run to win it, 4-2.
Saturday’s matchup was nowhere near as dramatic, as the Eagles (20-3) scored once in the third inning, and then relied on Everett’s strikeouts — eight of them — and good defense to thwart any threat by the Lions (15-3-1) to tie it up.
Kelsey Zampa flashed the leather right off the bat, recording an outfield assist from right field on the opening at-bat, then making another of her patented diving catches to rob Lena Monteith on the second at-bat.
Everett issued two-out free passes in the third and fifth — a walk and a hit batter — then gave up singles to Kendra Blackie and Riley Bourlier immediately after, before recording a strikeout to get out of both jams. Tierney Donnelly drew a two-out walk in the seventh, but Hartland catcher Miranda Millington threw her out attempting to steal second and put herself in scoring position, ending the game.
The only run of the game was in the third, when Everett walked, and her courtesy runner, Grace Pasterik, went to third on a single by Sam Nagel, and scored on a wild pitch.
Monteith scattered five Hartland hits, striking out eight.
In other game action in the quad, South Lyon got early leads against both Mattawan and Ypsilanti Lincoln, winning 5-3 and 4-1. Alexis Bonk got the win in the circle in both games, striking out a combined 19, while Monteith — who drove in five of the nine runs scored in the two games — pitched the final two innings in relief against Mattawan, retiring six straight to record the save.
After beating Mattawan 16-0 in four innings in the first game of the day, the Eagles had to score four times in the bottom of the sixth to beat Ypsilanti Lincoln, 12-11, in their final contest. Nagel homered twice in the game for Hartland, while Robeson homered as part of the sixth-inning rally. Sam Fritz homered in the four-inning win over Mattawan, while Nagel had a double and a triple and drove in five runs, and Zampa was 4-for-4 with four RBI and three runs scored.
Mattawan (14-9) beat Lincoln (16-6) by a 10-2 score in the other game played Saturday.
