Clinton coach Al Roberts stunned, bewildered with another loss at Division 3 state softball tournament

By MICKEY ALVARADO

Leaving Bailey Park’s Jim Drikakis Field without giving a post game interview to the Herald, Clinton coach Al Roberts looked stunned and bewildered after being ousted in yet another state final tournament in Battle Creek on Saturday, June 19.

The sudden end of the road was yet another in the coach’s string of consecutive losses at the Division 3 state meet. This year, Roberts and the Redskins were beat 1-0 in the semifinal with a home run belted out of the park in the top of the seventh inning, hit by Allen Park Cabrini pitcher, Karyn McCarty.

Clinton’s starting sophomore pitcher, Tierney Nelson, did everything right up until the point of no return when she gave up a home run to kill her no-hitter in the seventh inning. She even gave the Redskins a desperation hit in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and the bases empty to try and make something, anything, happen to extend the season. Nelson reached first base on a fielding error. Her replacement courtesy runner, freshman Keely Quiring, went all out as well, but was thrown out when attempting to steal second base to end the game.

The only other base runner the Monarchs had was Brianna Surma, who drew a leadoff walk in the fourth inning. She advanced to third base but was left stranded with Nelson adding another strikeout to her final list of nine.

Clinton positioned itself for the win throughout the game, advancing runners to second base in the first, third and sixth innings. Cabrini’s McCarty (34-1) gave up four hits to Clinton while striking out six and walking one.

Jordan Randall led Clinton’s offense, going 2-for-3 while Haley Mercy and Kelsey Karapas added the other two hits.

While the Redskins believed the title was theirs for the taking, Cabrini’s coach said they were just taking it one game at a time.

“I’m really happy for our kids,” said Cabrini varsity coach Debbie Norman. “We didn’t expect to be in this position at the beginning of the year. Our whole motto was just to win our Christian league and play one game at a time. We’ve got a lot of young kids and there were no expectations on us.”

The Monarchs have a freshman and sophomore pitcher who has put time in the circle, but McCarty has earned every win for Cabrini (34-1) this year.

“Just like anyone at this point and time, you’re going to ride out your top players,” said Norman. “Their pitcher was pitching a heck of a game. We couldn’t get a hit off her. We were able to get a runner on third, in a scoring position, but just couldn’t get them in. Al [Roberts] had people on second base and Karyn came up with good pitches or we made good defensive plays.”

In 2008, Cabrini defeated Clinton 3-1 in Division 3, quarterfinal action. Last year Clinton was beat 2-0 in the semifinal by Gladstone.

Olivet won this year’s title after defeating Gladstone 2-0 to advance to the championship game against Cabrini. Olivet beat the Monarchs 2-1 in an extended, 11-inning, championship final.