OGEMAW HEIGHTS - May 8, 2008 - Ogemaw Heights' 9-1 and 10-2 defeats of John Glenn wasn't quite enough to keep the Falcons' in the running for the NEMC championship. But after sweeping aside the team that had led the league up until three days earlier the Falcons looked ready to make their statement come district tournament time in a couple of weeks.

"We've come out quite a few times and played well, then we lose focus," said Ogemaw coach Chuck Wren. "Today we stayed focused from start to finish. We're a young team, but we're getting there."

Lauren Gillette provided the perfect capstone to the Falcons' day, launching a no-doubt-about-it grand slam in the sixth inning of the nightcap that easily cleared the batting cages beyond the left field fence.

"She hit it well," Wren said. "It was real nice to see that."

The Falcons had taken a 2-0 lead in the first on Gillette's RBi single and a bases-loaded walk to Ashley Hebert. But Glenn pitcher Audrey Oleniacz forced a pop-up and a strikeout to keep the Bobcats in the game and held the Falcons down until the fifth.

Glenn had halved the deficit with a run in  the top of the fifth, but a Bobcat error on Ashley Thompson's ground ball got the Falcons off and running. Jenna Zettel and Hebert each had run-scoring hits in the inning, and Jacie Lucas added an RBI groundout to make it 6-1.

Gillette came to bat in the sixth after three straight walks to Falcon batters, and crushed the first pitch she saw to put the game out of reach.

Kate Dombrowski earned the win, allowing one earned run on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

Zettel had three hits, Thompson scored three runs and Gillette had five RBIs to lead the Falcons.

In the opener, Ogemaw scored six unearned runs in the sixth inning to break open a 3-1 game. Zettel's bases-loaded triple, which came after three Glenn errors, was the big hit in the inning.

Colleen Wren threw a four-hitter to earn the win, allowing one unearned run, walking four and striking out four. The Falcons needed only four hits to score their nine runs, including singles by Wren, Thompson and Gillette.

The Falcons improved to 15-8 (6-4 NEMC) and have one league doubleheader left on Monday, at Ogemaw Heights. Pinconning finished its league slate at 9-3 after sweeping W-P and clinched at least a share of the league title. Standish-Sterling and Tawas Area (both 7-3) play at SSC on Monday, May 12, to determine if one of them will share the title with the Spartans.

Glenn, which entered the week with a 4-2 league record, lost its fourth straight after being swept by Standish-Sterling on Monday.