Katie LaHaye (arms up) gets mobbed at home plate after hitting her second home run that ended the Braves 13-1 regional semifinal victory over Cadillac.
Tawas pitcher Nikki Stein was on her game against Cadillac and Petoskey at Saturday's regional tournament.
Katie LaHaye nearly tied the regional final game with Petoskey with a drive to the fence that was caught by Petoskey center fielder Sarah Gray.
Brent Baker
Courtney Bissonette makes a running catch of a pop fly late in Saturday's contest with Petoskey.

OGEMAW HEIGHTS - June 6, 2009 - The margin of victory in the regional softball can be very thin. For the Tawas Area Braves, that margin may well have been a shift in wind direction that came minutes too late.

Petoskey defeated the Braves 2-1 in Saturday's regional championship contest in a tightly contested contest that took just over an hour to play.

What stuck in Tawas coach Rick Collins' mind was a line shot by Katelyn LaHaye that Petoskey Sarah Gray caught at the fence in the fourth inning. With Christie Cooper on base with an infield hit, a home run would have tied the game at 2-2. Instead, though Cooper later scored on a wild pitch, Petoskey pitcher Andrea Gasco kept the Braves off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

"That's what I told the girls," Collins said. "We were that close. If the wind had been blowing the other way, we could still be playing."

Indeed, an inning later, the wind was blowing the other way.

"We had a couple opportunities," Collins said. "But we couldn't get the key hit. (Gasco) is very good. She brought a lot of heat.

"This was a tough one."

Gasco dominated the first three innings, both from the pitching circle and at bat. She retired nine of the first 10 Braves she faced, striking out five, and hit a 225-foot home run in the bottom of the first to give the Northmen a 1-0 lead.

Trisha Henson's RBI single made it 2-0, but in the fourth the Braves started catching up with Gasco.

The Braves (27-5) had another chance to tie it in the fifth as Alex White singled and Courtney Bissonette walked, but Gasco was nearly untouchable after that, allowing just a hit batter over the final 3-1/3 innings. She finished with a three-hit, 15-strikeout performance.

Tawas Area's Nikki Stein was nearly as dominant as Gasco. Other than the home run, she allowed just one other ball to be hit to the outfield and didn't walk a batter while striking out five.

"This is a great group of girls," Collins said. "I'll take them into battle -- sports wise -- any time, anywhere."

The pitchers' duel in the final contrasted with the Braves' 13-1 semifinal win over Cadillac in which Tawas ripped four doubles and three home runs.

LaHaye had a huge day with two home runs and two doubles of her own, scoring three runs with six RBIs. Her three-run moon shot in the bottom of the fifth pushed the Braves over the 10-run mercy-rule limit and ended the contest.

Lauren Look hit a two-run home run, Lyndsey Look and Alex White each had doubles and Christie Cooper had two hits, two steals and scored three runs.

Stein tossed a three-hitter, striking out four, walking none and allowing only a first-inning unearned run.

Petoskey (32-8), which reached the final with a 3-0 victory over Howard City Tri-County, advances to a 4 p.m. Tuesday state quarterfinal contest against Clio at Central Michigan University.