LF Softball Wins District Title With Dramatic Comeback Victory

Things were looking bleak for the Blue Devils.

The softball team had struggled putting runs on the board all day. They trailed against Byron all game. They lost their top pitcher because of heat exhaustion. And the squad trailed 5-3 with two outs in the top of the seventh inning in the district championship game at Bendle High School Saturday.

However, despite all the adversity, the Blue Devils can call themselves champions.

Lake Fenton rallied with five runs in the top of the seventh inning to claim an 8-5 victory and advance to the regional semifinal Saturday in Millington.

“We had been struggling all day to get the ball out of the infield,” Lake Fenton coach Amos Rinks said. “But they’ve been fighting all year. They have nearly given me a heart attack a few times.”

After scoring a run on an error in the seventh to make the score 5-4, Lake Fenton freshman Kayla Ward drove in a run with a single to tie the score at five.

“I was feeling really excited. Everyone was hitting and I just wanted to do the same,” Ward said.  “It felt great.”

That alone had the Blue Devils celebrating, but freshman Taylor Sheyachich then drove in two more with a single and Lake Fenton tacked on another for the 8-5 lead.

 “Getting that rally was the best feeling in the world,” Sheyachich said.

Allie Newman then took the mound in the bottom of the seventh, after entering the game in the sixth because starting pitcher Paula Valacak left the game because of heat exhaustion, and shut down the Eagles, sending the Blue Devils into a frenzy.

“I wasn’t expecting to come in and pitch, but we made it work,” Newman said. “We have a really good group of freshmen that have been getting better and better this season that really picked us up."

Byron took a 3-0 lead in the third inning, before Lake Fenton battled back with two runs in the fifth with a RBI single from Newman and a RBI double from Ashley Rinks.

The Eagles answered with two runs of their own in the fifth, however, stretching the lead to 5-3.

It stayed that way until the seventh when the Blue Devils put together the dramatic comeback.

in the district semifinal earlier in the day.

The Blue Devils improved to 24-10 on the season.