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GRAC News
Thu, May 7, 2009 - [Softball]
Wabash Valley wins back to back regional championships and its 10th overall
MATTOON -- Coach Paul Schnarre claimed his Wabash Valley team's unbeaten tournament standing would have worked for a national berth in case of further rainouts.
Lake Land coach Denny Throneburg spoke in certain terms that rules would have sent his top-seeded Lakers to the nationals if the rest of the NJCAA Region 24 softball tournament was not finished by Saturday night.
Emerald Graham ended any debate.
The sophomore hit three of Wabash Valley's four home runs leading a 9-2 rout over Lake Land for the region's championship of the tourney moved from Rend Lake College to Mattoon's Roundhouse Complex on Wednesday.
Instead, the Newburgh, Ind., product Graham made herself at home going 4-for-5 including the three homers for Wabash Valley.
"Emerald Graham made a statement today," Schnarre said. "Three home runs in a regional championship game. I've been coaching 26 years and I'd never seen that."
In his years setting records coaching Casey-Westfield High School and Lake Land College, Throneburg probably has not either.
"You can't give up four home runs and expect to win a championship game," Throneburg said. "Our location wasn't very good today. When we beat them earlier we had a lot of ground ball outs and we didn't have many today."
Wabash Valley, No. 15 in the NJCAA national poll, lost three of four regular season games to Lake Land but now with a 44-3 record is the team going to the May 14-16 nationals at St. George, Utah.
Lake Land with its No. 11 national ranking and Great Rivers Athletic Conference championship had its winningest season in history end at 46-8.
"We had a great season," Throneburg said. "We just didn't have a very good day today."
Mattoon's Aubrey Frank, who went 23-0 in the regular season before losing 2-1 to Olney in Tuesday's opener of this double-elimination tournament, served up Graham's first homer making it 2-0 in the first inning and then a three-run homer to Leann Collins ending Frank's pitching day with two outs in the second.
Then Mallory Bremer, who finished her season 11-0 for Lake Land, allowed two more out-of-the-park shots by Graham, who like Collins came into the game with 15 homers in the season.
If this was not enough for Graham, the center fielder made a leaping over-the-shoulder catch of Jenna Bradley's line shot in the fifth inning after Kristin Runde had hit a two-out triple for Lake Land.
That might have ended any hope of Lake Land cutting into an 8-2 deficit.
"I didn't want to think that because almost every game we have scored nine runs this year and we've always had a big inning," Bradley said.
Wabash Valley kept Lake Land from doing that this time by making plays like its third inning double play as Bradley, after her second hit of the game, tried to go from first to third on Lauren Covington's sacrifice.
"I thought that was a big play," Schnarre said. "They seemed to be coming back and I think that really helped us out."
While Throneburg did not want this kind of gambling base running when trailing 6-2, he also said: "They were better than us today. It didn't come down to one play."
Brianna Athey's second inning home run got Lake Land on the board but Wabash Valley pitcher Kristen Broadway was in control the rest of the way.
To get into the championship round, Lake Land had a much better day offensively with a 6-1 win against the same Olney pitcher Katie Harmon who posted 2-1 upset win over the Lakers in Tuesday's tournament opener.
Every Laker starter had at least one hit, the Runde twins Nicole and Kristin had two each and Kristin had one of the team's five doubles.
Kristin Runde doubled and scored on Lauren Covington's two-out double in the first inning and the Lakers built a 5-0 lead before Olney scored its run in the fourth inning.
Bremer pitched the first three innings and then was lifted after Olney got base runners with a hit and an error to start the fourth.
Frank took over, allowed Emily Arnold's one-out single driving in a run charged to Bremer but then blanked Olney the rest of the way.
Still, that earlier loss to fourth-seeded Olney put Lake Land in the losers' bracket where it beat John A. Logan 8-0 on Tuesday and then Olney in Wednesday's first game.
Had the Lakers not stumbled on Tuesday, they could have had a couple of chances to beat Wabash Valley instead of just one.
"Yeah, you can say that but they really came out and hit the ball," Bradley said. "We just couldn't come back this time."
MATTOON -- Coach Paul Schnarre claimed his Wabash Valley team's unbeaten tournament standing would have worked for a national berth in case of further rainouts.
Lake Land coach Denny Throneburg spoke in certain terms that rules would have sent his top-seeded Lakers to the nationals if the rest of the NJCAA Region 24 softball tournament was not finished by Saturday night.
Emerald Graham ended any debate.
The sophomore hit three of Wabash Valley's four home runs leading a 9-2 rout over Lake Land for the region's championship of the tourney moved from Rend Lake College to Mattoon's Roundhouse Complex on Wednesday.
That decision to move the tourney seemed so nice for Lake Land with four starters from a Mattoon High School team that played at the Roundhouse.
Instead, the Newburgh, Ind., product Graham made herself at home going 4-for-5 including the three homers for Wabash Valley.
"Emerald Graham made a statement today," Schnarre said. "Three home runs in a regional championship game. I've been coaching 26 years and I'd never seen that."
In his years setting records coaching Casey-Westfield High School and Lake Land College, Throneburg probably has not either.
"You can't give up four home runs and expect to win a championship game," Throneburg said. "Our location wasn't very good today. When we beat them earlier we had a lot of ground ball outs and we didn't have many today."
Wabash Valley, No. 15 in the NJCAA national poll, lost three of four regular season games to Lake Land but now with a 44-3 record is the team going to the May 14-16 nationals at St. George, Utah.
Lake Land with its No. 11 national ranking and Great Rivers Athletic Conference championship had its winningest season in history end at 46-8.
"We had a great season," Throneburg said. "We just didn't have a very good day today."
Mattoon's Aubrey Frank, who went 23-0 in the regular season before losing 2-1 to Olney in Tuesday's opener of this double-elimination tournament, served up Graham's first homer making it 2-0 in the first inning and then a three-run homer to Leann Collins ending Frank's pitching day with two outs in the second.
Then Mallory Bremer, who finished her season 11-0 for Lake Land, allowed two more out-of-the-park shots by Graham, who like Collins came into the game with 15 homers in the season.
If this was not enough for Graham, the center fielder made a leaping over-the-shoulder catch of Jenna Bradley's line shot in the fifth inning after Kristin Runde had hit a two-out triple for Lake Land.
That might have ended any hope of Lake Land cutting into an 8-2 deficit.
"I didn't want to think that because almost every game we have scored nine runs this year and we've always had a big inning," Bradley said.
Wabash Valley kept Lake Land from doing that this time by making plays like its third inning double play as Bradley, after her second hit of the game, tried to go from first to third on Lauren Covington's sacrifice.
"I thought that was a big play," Schnarre said. "They seemed to be coming back and I think that really helped us out."
While Throneburg did not want this kind of gambling base running when trailing 6-2, he also said: "They were better than us today. It didn't come down to one play."
Brianna Athey's second inning home run got Lake Land on the board but Wabash Valley pitcher Kristen Broadway was in control the rest of the way.
To get into the championship round, Lake Land had a much better day offensively with a 6-1 win against the same Olney pitcher Katie Harmon who posted 2-1 upset win over the Lakers in Tuesday's tournament opener.
Every Laker starter had at least one hit, the Runde twins Nicole and Kristin had two each and Kristin had one of the team's five doubles.
Kristin Runde doubled and scored on Lauren Covington's two-out double in the first inning and the Lakers built a 5-0 lead before Olney scored its run in the fourth inning.
Bremer pitched the first three innings and then was lifted after Olney got base runners with a hit and an error to start the fourth.
Frank took over, allowed Emily Arnold's one-out single driving in a run charged to Bremer but then blanked Olney the rest of the way.
Still, that earlier loss to fourth-seeded Olney put Lake Land in the losers' bracket where it beat John A. Logan 8-0 on Tuesday and then Olney in Wednesday's first game.
Had the Lakers not stumbled on Tuesday, they could have had a couple of chances to beat Wabash Valley instead of just one.
"Yeah, you can say that but they really came out and hit the ball," Bradley said. "We just couldn't come back this time."
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