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Plymouth’s Bressler shuts down Salem in final six innings, Wildcats take district title 5-1
Plymouth – When Plymouth fell behind Salem early on Monday, it was the upperclassmen who kept everything calm for the Wildcats.
Then it was freshman Jenny Bressler’s turn to close it out.
Bressler allowed Salem a run in the first inning then shut the Rocks down as Plymouth locked up a Division 1 district championship with a 5-1 victory at Plymouth.
Plymouth coach Lauren Delapaz noted that the 3-run third was a big boost for her team, plus her team stayed confident after falling behind.
“That was huge,” she said. “My upperclassmen after the first inning said that (Salem) were going to need more than one run to beat us and that came from the girls. We’re a great hitting team and at every point, we stayed confident and our confidence against a great team worked out today.”
Plymouth (28-4) advances to the regional semifinals where it will face Monroe at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Saline.
After Salem (18-7) jumped ahead on an RBI from Emily Stewart to drive in Morgan Overaitis, Plymouth used a sacrifice fly from Bressler to score Rachel Zerona to tie the game at 1-1 with one out in the third.
Later in the inning, Brittney Miller recorded an RBI single to give Plymouth a 2-1 lead and the Wildcats would score one more run to take a 3-1 lead.
Delapaz said that her team’s performance was a testament to how hard her team works on a day-in, day-out basis.
“This team just works hard,” she said. “This team has set goals in their heads to score in every inning, to work hard, to play hard and they show us that every day when they come to practice and come to work.”
Miller struck again in the fifth as she led off with a home run to push lead to 4-1 and a Rachael Ring RBI single would give the Wildcats a 5-1 lead.
Miller said that even though Plymouth fell behind early, she and her teammates simply had the mindset of making sure they focus on picking one another up to bounce back.
“We always have each other’s backs,” she said. “When someone makes an error or something goes wrong, we pick each other up and we always believe in each other and that’s what makes us a great team.”
That would be more than enough run support for Bressler as she would keep the Salem bats quiet until the seventh inning when the Rocks had runners on first and third with two outs. Bressler regained her composure and struck out the final batter.
“It was really fun and really exciting to be out there with this team,” Bressler said of having the opportunity to pitch her team to a district title as a freshman. “I think it was really important for them because they had never won a district title before and it was just really exciting that we could win one today.”
In another district final in Division 1, Farmington Hills Mercy defeated host North Farmington 10-0 as Andrea Elmore tossed a five-inning perfect game. Elmore struck out 10 and Jordan Johnson went 2-3 with a home run and three RBI.
In the semifinal Abby Krzywiecki tossed a five-inning no-hitter as Mercy defeated Livonia Stevenson 14-0. Krzywiecki went 3-3 with a home run and five RBI.
