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Monday, May 7th, 2007

Cardinals, Flyers post easy victories

By Randy Bruns
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

New Bremen's Sara Rutschilling, 28, slides into third base as Minster's Beth Osterfeld, left, can't make the play during Division IV sectional action at New Bremen on Saturday. The game was suspeneded on Saturday with New Bremen on top 5-0 and the game finished with the same score when it was completed on Sunday.

NEW BREMEN - It took two days, but the Division IV sectional softball doubleheader is finally in the books.
Persistent rain forced a suspension of the second game after the third inning on Saturday, but blue skies on Sunday allowed the game to be finished under more favorable conditions.
In Saturday's opener, the Marion Local Flyers squandered some early scoring opportunities but put together a monster fifth inning en route to a 7-2 victory over the Fort Recovery Indians.
The second game saw the New Bremen Cardinals push out to a 5-0 lead before play was halted, and the status quo reigned on Sunday as the score stayed the same at the end of the game.
Marion, now 9-11 on the year, will face St. Henry on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. for the right to play New Bremen (14-5) on May 15th for the sectional crown. Interestingly, the Flyers will take on the Redskins tonight in a Midwest Athletic Conference contest.

Marion Local 7, Fort Recovery 2
For a while, it looked as if the Flyers' aggressiveness may be their downfall.
In both the first and second innings, Marion had runners at third base but both times they were nailed on fine pickoff throws by Fort Recovery catcher Val Fortkamp.
Meanwhile, the Indians were making the most of their scoring opportunities.
Ashley Grube notched a two-out RBI single in the first inning to give the Indians an early lead, and Fortkamp later came home on an error with two outs in the fifth to give her team a 2-1 advantage.
It was a lead that proved to be short-lived, however, as the Flyers blew things open in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Rachael Puthoff, Jessica Kemper, and Tara Hartings all singled to load the bases with one out, and Kim Droesch followed with a seeing-eye single that scored two to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead.
Amy Droesch then followed her sister with a smash to the rightfield fence that went for a two-RBI triple, and the Flyers tacked on two more on a single by Kristi Shaner and an Indian error.
"They put a lot of hits up in that inning, and that put us in a hole that we couldn't get out of," said Fort Recovery coach Marie Osterholt. "We just didn't get the timely hits and they did, and that was the difference in the ballgame."
For his part, Marion coach Gary Moeder was relieved to see his squad bust out of its early struggles.
"I started to get a little worried in about the fourth inning when we weren't hitting the ball very hard," said Moeder. "We talked to them when they came in before our turn in the fifth and said they just needed to relax and let the ball come to them instead of reaching for it. We've been hitting the ball hard this year but usually it has been right at people, so hopefully a day like today will get things going."

New Bremen 5, Minster 0
An explosive four-run third inning on Saturday came just before play was halted, and it was just what the Cardinals needed to put the game out of reach.
With New Bremen up 1-0, Sara Rutschilling led off with a walk and advanced to third after Kim Thobe's grounder was fielded but thrown into rightfield. After a flyout, Maria Staton plated Rutschilling with a single and Thobe then scored on Stacy Timmerman's fielder's choice.
Tyler Rohr then drove in the game's fourth run with a single and later scored on a wild pitch to put what would be the final run on the scoreboard.
The Wildcats came into the game with an aggressive mindset, as they swung early and often at Cardinal starter Maria Staton's offerings. Though Staton notched nine strikeouts, the Wildcats put the ball in play but just couldn't string together enough hits.
"(Staton) is not going to walk many hitters," said Minster coach Michelle Pleiman. "She's going to take the ball right to you so you have to be aggressive. We did a very good job of getting the lead runner on base four of the seven innings, but we left them on base because we didn't get much support behind them."
New Bremen also got four of its lead runners on base, but were able to move them around with some assertive baserunning. The Cardinals swiped seven bases on eight attempts, and by pushing the issue on the bases, they made the Wildcats rush into some defensive miscues.
"We try to put some pressure on the defense," said New Bremen coach Craig Griesdorn. "We try to do some things here and there (on the basepaths) and sometimes you're successful and sometimes you're not. The key to this game is being able to move runners with bunts and hits, and you'll score some runs."
These two next door neighbors will see more of each other tonight, as New Bremen heads to Minster for a Midwest Athletic Conference game.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Marion Local's Amy Droesch, left, is tagged out by Fort Recovery's Sandra Sudhoff, right, during their Division IV sectional semifinal at New Bremen on Saturday. Marion Local defeated Fort Recovery, 7-2.

Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Marion Local's Kim Droesch, right, slides safely into home plate for a Flyers run during their 7-2 win over Fort Recovery in Division IV sectional semifinal action at New Bremen.

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Down one run with one out in the bottom o [More]
Subscriber and paid stories on this date
Farmers deserve an apology from the Lake Improvement Association.
That's what Celina area farmer Theresa Howick told members of the LIA during its regular meeting Saturday.
Two old Mercer County bridges will be moving to storage in New Bremen area
Two aging Mercer County bridges are destined for rejuvenated lives in New Bremen.
Both bridges, built by the New Bremen Bridge Co. in the early 1900s, are nearly a century old and are being replaced. The county received federal funding a few years ago to pay for new bridges.
A Celina man was injured Sunday night when his motorcycle traveled off Oregon Road and flipped several times. The mishap occurred at 10:05 p.m., according to Mercer County Sheriff's Office reports.
An 18-year-old St. Henry man faces criminal charges in the wake of vandalism at Fort Recovery Middle School early Sunday morning.
Fort Recovery Pol
ST. MARYS - Scott Ross made Varsity Lanes history this year by bowling three perfect games in one season - knocking away the alley's previous record of one 300-point game.
Celina's prom and after-prom activities went off without a hitch Friday night. School officials know this for sure because for the first time random Breathalyzer tests were administered as promised at the March board meeting.
LIMA - The Celina softball team picked the perfect time to break out of their recent slide at the Division II sectional softball semifinal at Bath High School on Saturday.
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
The Celina Bullldogs got a strong outing from Eric Loughridge in defeating the Generals from Anthony Wayne 5-0 in the Division I sectional at Bowling Green on Saturday.
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
The Celina and St. Marys tennis teams brought home top finishes during the semifinals and finals of Saturday's Western Buckeye League tennis tournament at the Collett Street Courts in Lima.