W-P's Theresa Janish allowed a total of nine hits in two games as the Cards won their fourth district title in six seasons on Saturday.
Tawas Area catcher Angela Righetti makes a diving tag of Sarah Schmidt to end W-P's two-run rally in the fourth inning.
Linda Eyer
W-P's Kaylon Leslie slides safely into third base as Whitney Moers retrieves the ball.

WHITTEMORE-PRESCOTT - June 3, 2006 - The key to the Whittemore-Prescott softball team's success all season has been its defense.

When the Cards have played it well, they've won. When they've been sloppy in the field, they haven't.

The Cards played two games of error-free ball on Saturday, defeating Oscoda 12-1 in their Division 3 championship contest after eliminating Tawas 2-0 in the semifinal. The Owls defeated Roscommon in the other semifinal to earn a berth in the title game against W-P.

The victory gave the Cardinals their fourth district championship in the past six seasons.

"We played error-free ball, and that is the difference between (Saturday) and where we were earlier in the season when we were swept by Tawas," said W-P coach Sam Harrison. "The coaches have made defense a focus and the girls have worked hard in practice to improve. It paid off with a district championship."

In the championship contest, Kaylon Leslie's two-run home run in the first inning gave the Cards a 2-0 lead. Leslie added an RBI double in the second inning to make it 3-0, and Kelli Barriger and Sharesse King added RBI singles in the inning as W-P made it 6-0.

The Cards added four more in the fourth and two in the seventh.

The Owls averted a shutout in the third as Laurie David led off with a single, took third on Justine Niemann's single and scored on Riley Shelton's run-scoring hit.

Janish struck out six and walked one while allowing six hits to pick up her second win of the day. Shelton took the loss, allowing 11 hits and five walks while striking out three.

Leslie, who had two doubles and the home run, scored three times and drove in three runs. Barriger also had three hits, scored twice and drove in two runs. Julie Janish added two hits and scored three times.

Dana Shugart had a double for Oscoda, while Heather Spenceley, Justine Niemann and Missy Bell added singles.

W-P (29-8) advances to the Saturday, June 10 Traverse City St. Francis regional, where the Cards will play the host squad in their opening game.

The Cards reached the final by avenging an earlier sweep to Tawas with a 2-0 victory as Janish outduelled Tawas freshman Nikki Stein.

W-P did all its scoring in the fourth as Leslie led off with a single, stole second and took third on an error. Madie O'Farrell tried to bunt Leslie home, but was safe at first when the Braves were able to hold Leslie at third base.

Sarah Schmidt's RBI single gave the Braves a 1-0 lead. Andrea Rahkola followed with a two-out single that scored O'Farrell. Schmidt was thrown out by Tawas centerfielder Jill Fountain as Angela Righetti's diving tag at the plate was in time to get Schmidt and end the rally.

Jenna Potts' one-out double gave the Braves (20-15) a chance to tie it in the seventh, but Janish was able to induce a fly ball to center and a line drive to Barriger at second to end the game.

Janish earned the win by allowing three hits and striking out five. Stein took the loss despite tossing a five-hitter, striking out eight to run her season total to 226 and walking one.

The Owls reached the final by holding off Roscommon 3-2. Shelton earned the win by scattering seven hits and striking out two, and scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a Roscommon error.

Oscoda took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Heather Patterson scored on a fielder's choice, then added a run in the second as Heather Walker singled and scored on Heather Spenceley's base hit.

The Bucks scored runs in the fifth and sixth innings to tie it.

Shelton started the Owls' seventh-inning rally with a one-out single, took second on an error, went to third on Spenceley's two-out single and scored on an error on Patterson's grounder.

The Owls wrapped up their season with an 18-24-1 mark.