Page 6/The Sun and News, Saturday, April 24, 2021TK wins consolation game at Barry County Invite
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
It has been exciting soft-
ball every time Lakewood
senior pitcher Morgan Stahl
has stepped into the circle to
face the Delton Kellogg
Panthers.
Nothing changed Saturday
as the Vikings held on for a
2-1 win over the Panthers in
the finals of the 2021 Barry
County Invitational at
Hastings High School.
“We played them fresh-
men year at [the University
of] Michigan,” Stahl said of
the Delton Kellogg girls.
“They have always been one
of our big, non-league com-
petitors. They lost girls last
year and they have still been
just as good. They don’t set-
tle down. They put the bat on
the ball well.”
One of Stahl’s first pitch-
ing performances as a varsity
freshman came in relief at
Alumni Field in Ann Arbor
where she threw 5.1 shutout
innings against the Panthers
in a game Delton Kellogg
ultimately won 7-3. Delton
Kellogg took the champion-
ship at the 2019 Barry
County Invitational in 2019,
besting Stahl and the Vikings
4-2 in nine innings, but Stahl
and her teammates came
back to avenge the loss at the
own Lakewood Invitational a
few weeks later scoring a 5-
win.
Stahl allowed the Panthers
just six singles and one run
in seven innings Saturday.
She struck out 15 and didn’t
walk a batter.
“My rise was my lifesaver
today. That got everybody,
well it at least did its job I
should say,” Stahl said. “That
is normally my typical go-to
[pitch].”
Delton Kellogg pitcher
Abby Fichtner was prettygreat too, allowing Lakewood
just the two runs on six hits
and one walk. She struck out
ten.
It was a couple extra-base
hits by Lakewood’s fresh-
man catcher Lily Federau
that really did in the Panthers.
Federau led off the bottom of
the first inning with a double,
advanced to second on a sac-
rifice bunt by teammate
Claire Behnam and then
scored on a wild pitch.
Federau tripled to the right
field fence to lead off the
bottom of the third inning
and came home again on a
wild pitch that time. Federau
also homered twice in the
Vikings 15-0 win over
Hastings to start the day. She
was 6-for-6 with five runs
scored and four RBI out of
the lead-off spot for the
Vikings Saturday.
The Panthers had a num-
ber of near misses against the
Vikings, which started on the
opening at-bat of the game.
Lakewood senior shortstop
Hannah Slater made an out-
standing catch in left field to
rob Fichtner of a hit in the
top of the first.
“Morgan [Stahl] is just
calm,” Lakewood head
coach Brent Hilley said.
“She just stays calm no mat-
ter what the situation is.
Hannah [Slater] made a huge
play. Hannah made that over
the shoulder catch on their
lead-off batter at the start of
the first inning. That was
huge. It was a one-run game.
They get their lead-off on,who knows. The emotions
swing back and forth so
much there. It was about as
hard as a catch can get, over
her shoulder. That was
huge.”
Allie Trantham and
Allison Brandli led off the
top of the third inning with
singles for the Panthers, but
Stahl struck out the Panthers’
1-2-3 hitters to get out of the
inning without either advanc-
ing.
DK got its lead-off runner
on in the fifth and sixth as
well. Lyons singled to start
the fifth, but DK never got a
runner beyond first in the
inning. Back-to-back infield
singles by Paige Thomas and
Aubrey Aukerman started
DK’s run-scoring rally in the
sixth. Josie Lyons moved
them up with a sacrifice bunt
and then Thomas came in to
score on an RBI groundout
by Lizzy Fichtner.
Aukerman had two singles
in the defeat.
Audrey Hillard, Maryssa
Goble and McKenzie
Richards had the other
Lakewood hits in the cham-
pionship game, all singles.
Lakewood got to the
championship game with a
15-0 three-inning win over
the Saxons. Stahl struck out
all nine batters she faced.
Slater, Cora Griffin and
Bella Lab each singled twice
in the Vikings’ opener. Lab
and Goble had two RBI each.
Behnam walked twice and
scored two runs. Slater,
Hillard and Griffin scored
two runs apiece. Slater,
Griffin, Stahl and Emilie
Yonker each drove in one
run. Slater, Goble, Stahl and
Yonker each singled once.
Stahl liked her team’s
mentality throughout the
day, and coach Hilley is
happy to see his team’s fresh-
men like Federau and Goble
coming along nicely.
“The freshmen are starting
to learn that every play
counts,” Hilley said. “One
error can cost you a game
against a good team. The
freshmen coming along, that
is huge.”
Delton Kellogg earned its
spot in the final with a 15-
six-inning win overThornapple Kellogg in its
first ballgame of the day. It
was a 4-3 game into the bot-
tom of the sixth when the
Panthers struck for 11 runs.
DK outhit the Trojans
14-7 including eight hits in
that final inning. Abby
Fichtner ended the ballgame
with a three-run walk-off
home run, her third hit in five
at-bats in the ballgame. She
scored three runs and drove
in five. A double was among
her three hits as well. She
also got the pitching victory.
She gave up two earned runs
while striking out four and
not walking a batter.
Aukerman also had three
hits for DK in that win, belt-
ing a solo home run over the
left centerfield fence to break
a 2-2 tie while leading off the
bottom of the third inning.
She also doubled and sin-
gled, scoring two runs and
driving in two.
Josie Lyons singled, dou-
bled and drove in two runs
for DK. Trantham singled
doubled and scored two runs
while adding an RBI. ChloeColwell, Jordan Lyons and
Lizzy Fichtner had a single
and an RBI each. Paige
Thomas singled once as well.
Delton Kellogg scored
twice in the bottom of the
first inning. TK tied the ball-
game at 2-2 when Carly
Snyder doubled with one out
in the top of the second and
Natalie O’Riley followed
with a home run over the
right centerfield fence.
O’Riley was behind 0-2, but
fought back into the plate
appearance to knock out a
3-2 pitch.
Grace Zube scored TK’s
other run in the top of the
fifth. She led off the inning
with a single into left and
took second on a bobble. She
stole third and then scored on
an RBI single from pitcher
Maleah Bailey.
Bailey took the loss in the
circle for TK. She was
charged with eight runs, and
was relived by Paige VanStee
after the Panthers opened the
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Maleah Bailey pitches
for the Trojans during their
opening round game
against Delton Kellogg at
the Barry County
Invitational hosted by
Hastings High School
Saturday. (Photo by Brett
Bremer)Thornapple Kellogg’s Ellie Rogers races over to catch
a line drive in left field during her team’s ballgame
against Delton Kellogg at the Barry County Invitational in
Hastings Saturday. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Thornapple Kellogg’s Carly Snyder slides safely into second ahead of the tag from
Delton Kellogg second baseman Josie Lyons during their match-up at the Barry
County Invitational in Hastings Saturday. (Photo by Brett Bremer)See SOFTBALL, pg. 9