By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The Brandywine varsity softball team won its first Lakeland Conference games against visiting Bridgman Monday afternoon.
The Bobcats, now 4-3 overall, picked up the 5-2 win in game one and 7-0 win in the second game.
The Bees kept Brandywine scoreless in the first two innings and were able to pull of a run in the top of the second.
With two Bobcat runners in scoring position in the bottom of the third, Kendra Zache nailed a ball to left field to bring in two runs for the Bobcats and put them on the board 2-1.
Bridgman brought in one more run in the top of the fifth to tie it up at two, but another run in the bottom of the fifth from Brandywine put it back ahead 3-2.
The Bobcats were able to hold off the Bees in the top of the sixth and another two runs in the bottom of the sixth gave Brandywine a three point lead heading into the final inning where it was able to hold Bridgman to no runs.
The Bobcats took the first game 5-2.
Amanda Grice was the winning pitcher for Brandywine against Bridgman's Erin Weber.
Top hitters for the Bobcats were Kendra Zach with a double and two RBIs and Ashely Antus with two singles. Miranda Strefling had two singles and a double for the Bees.
After warming up in the first game, the Bobcats dominated the second and left Bridgman scoreless.
Brandywine score three runs in the bottom of the third, two in the bottom of the second and one run in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings to give it the 7-0 win.
Kelli Zache was the winning pitcher against Weber.
Top hitters for the Bobcats were Dee Echevarria with a double and Amanda Grice with a single, double and RBI.
Brandywine will travel to the South Bend Adams Tournament on Saturday. Tourney time is set to begin at 9 a.m. Michigan time.
Eddies walk all over Cass
CASSOPOLIS - Visiting Edwardsburg took advantage of 18 walks as it swept a Lakeland Conference doubleheader from Cassopolis Monday afternoon.
The Lady Eddies opened up their season with a 3-0 victory over the Lady Rangers. Edwardsburg then completed the sweep with a 5-1 win over Cassopolis.
Jenna Bowman tossed a three-hitter in the first game for Edwardsburg with two strike outs and one walk.
Kristen Toney and Samantha Scott each had two hits for the Lady Eddies.
Edwardsburg finished with eight hits off of Cassopolis pitcher Randi Hoffman.
Hoffman (1-1) allowed three runs on eight hits with three strike outs and seven walks.
In the second game, Samantha Fritche had a double and a single, while Kelli Kretchman added two singles for the Lady Eddies.
Edwardsburg finished with seven hits and took advantage of 11 walks by Cassopolis freshman Symone Pompey.
Kretchman earned the victory for the Lady Eddies as she tossed a five-hitter with five strike outs and five walks.
Pompey (0-1) allowed five runs on seven hits with a strike out.
Jessica Frucci had two hits for the Lady Rangers, who fall to 1-2 on the season and 0-2 in the Lakeland Conference.
The Lady Eddies return to action on
Cassopolis heads back into action on Wednesday when it travels to Constantine for a non-conference contest beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Edwardsburg returns to action today against host Vicksburg. Play is set to begin at 4 p.m.