TAWAS AREA - May 23, 2005 - Softball tends to be dominated by good pitchers, and then there's what Hemlock's Stephanie Smith can do to a team.

Smith struck out 12 of the 15 Whittemore-Prescott batters she faced in the semifinals of Saturday's Tawas Invitational to end the Cardinals' tournament run. Hemlock went on to win the tournament title over Brandon.

Smith's performance brought to a screeching halt what had been a strong outing for the Cards, who started the day with a 2-0 victory over Ogemaw Heights and an 10-2 win over St. Louis before falling 8-0 to Hemlock.

"Hemlock has an awesome team," said W-P coach Sam Harrison. "We made three errors and paid dearly for each mistake we made. The score does not reflect how well Theresa (Janish) pitched."

Of the eight runs the Cards allowed, only one was earned. Of course, that one would have been enough, the way Smith was throwing.

She's the best high school pitcher I've seen pitch in 15 years of coaching," Harrison said.

The Cards opened the day with Janish's four-hit shutout of Ogemaw. Janish didn't walk a batter and struck out 10 and didn't allow a runner past second base.

Kelli Barriger drove in Julie Janish win an RBI single in both the fourth and sixth innings to account for the Cards' runs.

Against St. Louis, Barriger had a no-hit shutout heading into the seventh inning. St. Louis ended the no-hitter with a single, then a W-P error took Barriger out of her pitching rhythm and Janish came on to record the final three outs of the game.

"It was a very solid effort by Kelli until the seventh," Harrison said.

Kaylon Leslie had a home run and three RBI's, with Julie Janish adding three hits and Annalise Gordon scoring two runs on two hits.

The Cards improved to 25-5 after Saturday's action.