The regular season is history. Now, it’s playoff time.
District action began this week for the Clarkston girls varsity softball team with the Wolves hosting the five-team field. The Wolves opened with a game against Pontiac Northern June 1 (results were not yet available at press time).
Most, including coach Al Land, expect the Wolves to come out of the district which includes Waterford Mott and Kettering as well as Pontiac Northern and Central. The winner of the Clarkston vs. Northern game will go up against Pontiac Central June 3 at 3:30 p.m. The district final would then see the winner of that game going up against the Mott vs. Kettering winner as both the Corsairs and Captains drew first-round byes. The district final will be played June 3 at 5:30 p.m.
One of the biggest challenges for his team will be the change in pitching styles from Pontiac Northern to the Waterford schools, Land said.
‘Pontiac’s going to go out there and throw some slow stuff, and I think for us, the challenge will be to have to quickly adjust to some faster pitching that we’ll see from Waterford. It’s tough to adjust that quickly to stuff like that sometimes,? he said.
However, Land is also very confident that his team is playing its best softball of the season. The Wolves are coming off, what Land said, were two of the best games he’s seen his club play all season. Clarkston beat league rival Lake Orion 5-4 and 4-0 at Clarkston High School May 26. The win capped off regular season play for Clarkston and gave them an overall record of 17-12 and a 13-8 OAA I mark, which gave them a third place finish.
‘It would’ve been nice if we could’ve beaten Troy a couple of times, but we played them hard and I think we had some of our best games of the season against them,? Land said.
The Wolves were shut out against the Colts in all three games this season.
But now the focus is on the playoffs, as well it should be. The Wolves have plenty of reason to believe they’ll come out of the district as champions. They beat Waterford Kettering in all three meetings this year and split with Waterford Mott in the season opener, Land said. The Wolves won their district last year with an 8-3 win over Waterford Mott and eventually fell to Walled Lake Western in the regional semifinal 1-0. The Wolves have never won a region under Land.
‘We’re mentally as focused as we’ve been all year,? he said. ‘I think we’ll be ready to play. I think we’re quite capable of doing it (winning districts and the region). They’re definitely not flat right now. Coming off those Orion games was a good sign. Hitting wise, I think we can hit as well as anyone. We just need to be careful on defense and not let one mistake compound itself into multiple mistakes. We can’t afford those kind of innings where one mistake is followed by another and then another. One mistake is okay, but we just have to stay away from those types of problems.?
Land said the pitching of Kelly Robinson, who will get the starts in the playoffs will be a real key to the Wolves? success. Should Robinson falter, Land will then call upon Sarah McGinnis, who pitched a shutout in game two of the Orion double header. McGinnis has gotten more time on the mound in recent weeks and shouldn’t be surprised if she gets called on in the post-season, Land said.
‘In the regular season you can have a little more patience with your pitchers, but in the playoffs you don’t have that type of time. If for some reason we see a problem out there, we won’t at all hesitate to put Sarah out there. We have complete confidence in her.?
In addition to being the defending district champion and picking up wins over some of their district opponents, the Wolves are also getting healthy. Heather Giroux had suffered through some pneumonia a few weeks ago, but did play last week and played well. She had five hits against the Dragons. Additionally, Meghan Bonk’s back, while still not 100 percent, is not keeping her off the field. She too played against Orion.
The Wolves have also been getting great defensive contributions from shortstop Caitlin McLean and second baseman Amber Giroux.
‘Caitlin has been doing a great job for us at short lately and Amber in the come from behind win against Orion had a two-out single which scored the tying run. Those two have really been playing well for us,? Land said.
Also last week, the Wolves fell to Birmingham Groves 4-1.