EAST LANSING – Never mind the runners occupying the three bases around her. Sally Patterson’s only focus was getting three outs, however necessary.
The Okemos softball team holds up their Division 1, District 11 championship trophy June 4, 2016, after beating St. Johns 3-1, in East Lansing.
Three strikeouts later, the freshman discovered the mojo she and her Okemos teammates needed.
Patterson struck out 13 for the game, leaving the bases loaded in the fourth inning and stranding two more St. Johns runners in the seventh, to give the Chiefs a 3-1 win and Division 1 district title Saturday afternoon.
“Especially in that last inning, they were rallying and putting the pressure on us and seeing if they could get the freshman to fold. And she didn’t,” Okemos coach Chrissy Schoonover said about Patterson, who allowed eight hits and walked one. “She got determined and shut them down.”
Okemos (20-17) advances to next Saturday’s regional semifinal against Mattawan, a 10 a.m. game at Holt High.
Okemos pitcher Sally Patterson, right, shares a moment with a teammate after leading her Chiefs to a 3-1 Div. 1 District Championship June 4, 2016, in East Lansing.
The Chiefs got all of their runs in the second inning, after leaving three runners stranded in the first against St. Johns pitcher Brittany VanHorn. Okemos loaded the bases again in the second, with Hope Morrissey’s bloop single over a drawn-in infield driving in two runs. Patterson followed with an RBI single to left that scored Kate Buckland to make it 3-0.
“When we noticed we left the bases loaded (in the first inning), I think it was kind of a downer,” said catcher Buckland, who was 2 for 4. “But we picked ourselves up in the dugout and said, ‘This isn’t the end, we can still win this.’ And that’s what happened.”
St. Johns (17-14) threatened in the bottom of the fourth. Adriann Simison singled, Jamie Carroll walked and Seneca DeSander pushed a perfect bunt along the first-base line to start the inning.
That’s when Patterson found her zone. She got a pair of Redwings to strike out looking, then leaped out of the circle and back to the dugout as she induced a foul-tip third strike to get out of the jam.
“I was just like, ‘We gotta lock down now. They cannot score,’” said Patterson, who would strike out the side in the fifth. “I was going to strike out whoever I could.”
The Redwings wouldn’t go quietly. Brooke Gnegy and Madison Ballinger got one-out singles in the bottom of the seventh, with Gnegy coming around to score on an RBI single by Molly Thelen.
But Patterson fielded a bunt and threw out the runner for the second out, then racked up her 13th K to close the game and strand the potential tying run at second base.
“I gotta give Patterson credit. As much as it hurts to say, she looked very good today,” said St. Johns coach Barry Palmer, whose team swept Okemos during the regular season. “She just kept us off-balance and guessing, and we couldn’t get the clutch hits when we wanted to.”
Patterson had two hits, and Morrissey also tripled for the Chiefs. Kendall Smith singled twice for the Redwings.
In one semifinal, Buckland homered and Patterson scattered six hits with 10 strikeouts as Okemos defeated Waverly, 6-1. Mara Allen had an RBI single and Sarah Miller doubled for the Warriors (14-21).
In the other semifinal, St. Johns’ Lauren Bates didn’t allow a hit in a 20-0, three-inning victory over Everett. Maya Zell went 2 for 3 with five RBIs, and Simison was 3 for 4 with four RBIs and three runs scored. Smith and Seneca DeSander also drove in a pair of runs.
FINAL: OKEMOS 3, ST. JOHNS 1
Okemos 030 000 000 – 3 8 0
St. Johns 000 000 001 – 1 8 0
WP: Sally Patterson. LP: Brittany VanHorn. Records: Okemos 20-17, St. Johns 17-14.
SEMIFINAL: OKEMOS 6, WAVERLY 1
Okemos 004 020 0 – 6 6 1
Waverly 001 000 0 – 1 6 3
WP: Sally Patterson. LP: Mikailah Jackson. Record: Waverly 14-21.
SEMIFINAL: ST. JOHNS 20, EVERETT 0 (3 innings)
St. Johns (11)90 xxx x – 20 11 1
Everett 000 xxx x – 0 0 3
WP: Lauren Bates. LP: Danielle White. Record: Everett n/a.