Published: July 11, 2009 12:40 am      

Raiders capture an upset win

By Shannon Heaton

For the Herald

PRESTON — Sam Lippens hoped for it. Emily Rittmer wanted it. Their East Central softball coach, Traci Lerch, has spent two years building for it.

Lippens’ deep drive to right-center field proved deep enough to score Rittmer ahead of her with the game-winning run Friday night, as the Raiders pulled off an on-paper upset in Class 1A Region 5 second-round softball play, defeating Bellevue Marquette, 3-2.

East Central (7-15) will face Calamus-Wheatland on Monday night in a region semifinal game at Wyoming Midland. Bellevue Marquette’s season ended at 15-11.

Rittmer’s base hit to center opened the door in the bottom of the seventh inning, and started Lippens — still in the on-deck circle — thinking the win was a certainty.

“When Em hit it, I knew the momentum was going our way,” Lippens said. “We went into this game going to find a way to win. We wanted to show what the East Central Raiders were about.”

Lippens had doubled deep to right in the fifth, scoring on a Bailey Gray base hit to tie the game at 2-2. Even though her right hand had a heavily-bandaged middle finger because of severely-bruised tendons, she came to the plate sure she could do something, and Rittmer was sure she wanted to be the one to score the game-winner.

“I wanted to get in there, score and get the win,” Rittmer said. “We just came ready to play. We just wanted it. We came to have fun. We haven’t made it this far in a while, and it’s nice to be able to get this far in my first year here.”

That was a direct result of the confidence Lerch has tried to build.

“With these girls and their past history, and it being my second year in softball here, these girls don’t expect to win,” Lerch said. “We’ve talked about attitude, that they have to be confident, and (beating Preston in the regular season) was a confidence booster. It took two years to build that. Now they know they can do anything.

“We have a straight, solid through-nine batting order. It’s the hardest lineup I’ve ever had to make because we have such a solid nine.”

The Mohawks, still, despite being outhit, had the upper hand for most of the game, and pitcher Emily Michels’ ability to mix in a powerful off-speed pitch kept East Central off balance. Michels struck out eight, and, outside of a walk, retired 11 straight batters before Lippens’ first double.

Marquette scored both of its runs in the second inning, when Tamber Thoma tripled and then scored while successfully evading a rundown attempt because of a throwing error. Katie Flogel scored later that same inning, scoring on a wild pitch by Cassie Aldis, who held her composure against an experienced Mohawk lineup.

“On Wednesday, they (Andrew) scored six runs on our defense and we had to come back with our bats,” Lerch said. “She (Aldis) trusts her defense. She’s an eighth-grader with a big heart, very smart in the game.”



Scoring by innings

Marquette 020 000 0 — 2 3 1

E.Central 100 010 1 — 3 7 1

Emily Michels and Audrey Sieverding; Cassie Aldis and Nicole Ruchotzke. WP -- Aldis. LP -- Michels. Two or more hits -- East Central: Sam Lippens. 2B -- East Central: Mariah Aldis, Lippens 2. 3B -- Marquette: Tamber Thoma. RBI -- East Central: M. Aldis, Bailey Gray, Lippens. Records -- East Central 7-15, Bellevue Marquette 21-12.