Kayla Hilyard lies in wait for a would-be John Glenn base-stealer during Monday's doubleheader.
John Glenn's Audrey Oleniacz winds for the pitch against SSC on Monday.
Brent Baker
Olivia Picard gets metal on the ball during the Panthers' sweep of John Glenn on Monday.

STANDISH-STERLING - May 6, 2008 - All the pre-season talk had been about Tawas and Pinconning competing for the North East Michigan Conference softball championship.

Then John Glenn stepped in and stamped itself a title contender after sweeping Pinny and splitting with Tawas.

But with a week to go in the league season, Standish-Sterling moved to the front of a tightly-bunched pack with a 10-3 and 13-5 sweep of Glenn on Monday.

SSC is now 7-3 in league play with just two games against Tawas left on the conference slate. Pinconning and Tawas each had three league losses, while Glenn, Ogemaw Heights and Whittemore-Prescott are still in the hunt, all with two league doubleheaders left to play.

A combination of timely hitting, taking advantage of John Glenn errors and Barbara Filipeck's pitching put the Panthers in the enviable position of controlling their own destiny.

In the opener, the Panthers took an early 3-0 lead, taking advantage of a bases-loaded walk to Lindsay Nelson in the first inning, then getting and RBI single in the second from Terra Hartley on which a second run scored on a John Glenn error.

Amanda Smith got the Bobcats back in it with a two-run double in the third. Alexis Mullard tripled and scored in the fifth inning on a controversial play on which Smith, who was batting, was originally ruled out to end the inning. But after Glenn protested the play, the umpires reversed their ruling, saying Smith was safe on a bobbled ball and allowing Mullard to score the tying run.

The Panthers bounced right back in the fifth. Hartley struck out but a passed ball allowed her to take first base. Samantha McQuarter attempted to sacrifice, but her bunt was thrown into right field to keep the rally going. Nelson walked, and another Glenn error on Ellen Walderzak's batted ball allowed two runs to score.

"We still have that bad inning from time to time," said SSC coach Carolyn Barnum. "But we've learned better to come back from those."

SSC added four more in the sixth to put the game away, highlighted by Hartley's RBI double to the fence.

Filipeck allowed one earned run on six hits, walking one and striking out nine in the opener. Audrey Oleniacz took the loss for Glenn despite striking out 13 batters.

Hartley and Jordan Dodd each had two hits for the Panthers.

In the second game, Glenn took a 3-0 lead into the fourth. But SSC took the lead with four runs in the fourth inning, with Glenn committing three errors and Filipeck picking up an RBI single.

The Bobcats committed several more errors in the fifth and sixth innings and the Panthers took full advantage, with Nelson and Cassie Roehm each adding a double into the mix.

Filipeck gave up one earned run on five hits, walking five and striking out four. Hartley, Filipeck, Roehm and Nelson each had two hits.

SSC hosts Garber in a non-league contest on Thursday before playing Tawas at home on Monday, May 12.