Fifth Lenawee County softball all-star game ends in tie

ADRIAN — All-Star games are supposed to be matchups of two evenly matched squads.

When comes to creating two evenly matched squads, nobody seems to do it better than the Lenawee County softball coaches.

On Wednesday, the Blue Team and Gold Team played to a 6-6 tie. It was the second time in five-year history of the Lenawee County Senior Softball All-Star Game where it has ended in a tie with the 2019 game ending in a 5-5 tie.

"It speaks well about all these girls here," said Sand Creek's Lauren Keller, who was named the Blue Team MVP. "We all play hard and are pretty good ball players. We all kind of come together as one and have a good time."

It took a little for the offenses to get going as the Gold Team, which consisted of athletes from Adrian, Blissfield, Britton Deerfield, Hudson, Onsted and Tecumseh, tossed Karis Weirich of Blissfield to start while Keller took the circle for the Blue Team, which consisted of athletes from Addison, Madison, Morenci and Sand Creek.

Keller gave up one run, on five hits and a walk while striking out one. Hudson's Maize Sholl, who was named Gold Team MVP after going 3-for-4 with two RBIs, a double, run and steal, pushed the one run across against Keller with a bunt single in the third inning.

Weirich went 3 1/3 innings and gave up a run, on three hits and one walk while striking out seven. Addison's Shelby Whitehead ripped a ball down the right field line for an RBI triple in the bottom of the second to cross the one run against the Royals' ace.

The Blue Team pulled ahead in the bottom of the fourth as Keller hit the first out-of-the-park home run in the game's history with a 2-run shot to center to go up 3-1.

"It always feels the same," Keller said. "I figured it was over and I saw everyone's reaction."

The Gold Team would strike back in the top of the fifth with Hudson leading the way.

Sholl hit a double to drive in a run while Bryanna Borck delivered an RBI single as well. Fellow Tiger Haley Clark also had a hit in the four-run inning to put the Gold Team up, 5-3.

The Hudson trio of Sholl, Borck and Clark combined to go 6-for-11 with three RBIs.

"It was just so much fun to be out here one last time," Sholl said. "We are a really tight-knit group at Hudson and it was fun to play with that family one more time."

Sand Creek's Kylie Serin got one back for the Blue Team with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 5-4 game as she went 2-for-3 with the RBI.

Weirich hit into a 6-4-3 double play in the top of the sixth, which allowed a run to score for the Gold Team to make it 6-4 before the Blue Team cut the deficit to one again as Sholl's pickoff attempt to third hit Madison's Harley Russell and allowed her to score.

The Gold Team was held off the scoreboard in the top of the seventh before the Blue Team used patients to rally in the bottom of the seventh.

The Blue team loaded the bases behind three walks between two line outs to shortstop and second base.

Russell drew a bases loaded, two-out walk to tie the game, which brough Weirich back to the circle for one final batter.

Weirich, as she did so often in her high school career, tossed one more strikeout to end the game.

"The biggest part of this game is about having fun with it and caring about it," Weirich said. "Being able to wear my jersey one more time and come out and end it with strikeout is awesome."

Morenci's Carolyn Gould went 2-for-4 with a run while Russell went 2-for-3 with a run, RBI and stolen base for the Blue Team.

Britton Deerfield's Sydnee Hazlett went 2-for-2 to help out the Gold Team's offensive output. Hazlett also tossed two innings and gave up three runs, on four hits and struck out two.

Clark went 1 2/3 innings and gave up two runs, one earned, on two hits and four walks while striking out one.

Serin tossed two innings and gave up four runs, two earned, on four hits and a walk while Madison's Anessa Cantu went two innings and gave up an unearned run, on four hits.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lenawee County Senior All-Star Softball Game ends in tie for second time