By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The confidence of the Buchanan Lady Bucks softball team continued to grow Monday afternoon with a sweep of Centerville at Buchanan's Memorial Field.
The Lady Bucks improved to 13-6 with 7-2, 2-1 victories over the Bulldogs in a non-league doubleheader.
"We control our own destiny now," Buchanan coach Mike Welsh said after Monday night's victories. "Win out and we are no less than a tie for conference champs. That would be awesome."
But Welsh knows what could happen if the team lets up just a little.
"I preach to them one day at a time, one game at a time, one pitch at a time, one play at a time and they buy into that. They know what is at stake. They have to go out and play. The Eddies play people tough so if we're not at the top of our game, we could get it."
Ashley Pointer picked up her tenth win of the season in game one firing a seven hitter in the 7-2 win. Pointer finished the game striking out three and walking one.
The Bucks got going early in the game scoring four runs in the first inning. Jayme O'Bryant pushed the first run across with an RBI double. Maggie Ernsberger got a hold of a pitch and tagged a two-run homer scoring O'Bryant in front of her for a quick 3-0 lead. Buchanan added another run in the first to go ahead 4-0.
Buchanan tacked on three more runs in the fourth after two were out. All three runs came in after a Bulldog error which would have ended the inning. Ernsberger picked up her third RBI of the game with a two out single.
Buchanan connected with 12 hits in the game.
In the nightcap Buchanan scored the winning run in the bottom of the fifth as the game was called because of darkness. O'Bryant collected the win on the mound and also had a pair of RBI singles for the Lady Bucks. The win improves O'Bryant's record on the mound to 3-2 as she threw a three hitter striking out three and walking two.
After Centerville took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning, the Bucks came back in the third to tie the game. Emily Ross reached on an error with one out and was moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jill Woodrick. A Bulldog wild pitch moved Ross to third and O'Bryant helped her own cause with a solid single to left field to score Ross.
In the fifth, Holly Lucas started the inning with a base hit and moved over to second on a single by Ross. Lucas was out at third on a fielders choice to leave runners at first and second with one out. Another wild pitch from the Bulldogs moved the runners over with O'Bryant at the plate. Again O'Bryant came through with another solid single to score the winning run.
Buchanan will host Edwardsburg for a Lakeland Conference match up this afternoon as the Lady Bucks look to keep hold of a piece of the top spot in the conference standings.