GLEN LAKE — Kelli Day and Amy Brunner will participate in commencement activities today and become Traverse City St. Francis alumni.
But the high school careers of the two seniors aren't over, just quite yet.
Day had five hits on the day while Brunner pitched a one-hit shutout as the Gladiators claimed the Division 4 regional at Glen Lake with a 12-0 win over Frankfort.
"Our record is not that good, but we played a brutal schedule," St. Francis coach Mike Doriot said. "We played a lot of Division 1 and 2 teams and it got us ready for this. We've been hitting the ball really well. We scored a lot of runs in the districts and scored a lot of runs today."
St. Francis, which had an 11-3 win over McBain earlier in the day, will stay at home to play Rapid River on Tuesday at Thirlby Field in the state quarterfinal.
In the championship game, Emily Buckel started things off for the Gladiators (22-12) with an inside the park homer in the second inning for a 1-0 lead. St. Francis posted three more runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth inning before Day connected on a three-run inside the park home run in the sixth inning for a 12-0 lead.
"It was amazing, probably one of the best feelings so far," Day said. "I'm not the fastest person, so it was pretty exciting when coach sent me home."
It was Day's first in the park homer of her career.
Day finished the game 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs while Buckel had two hits, two runs and three RBIs.
"Kelli's done that all year," Doriot said. "And so has Emily. She's got power and that's her alley. She owns that alley. Those were two big hits and really put them in the hole."
Brunner fanned eight and didn't allow a walk to pick up the win.
"I was really excited because I knew we needed this win," Brunner said. "I was just trying to take it one pitch at a time. I would try to work the corners at the start and the change-up, I would usually throw that for the third strike."
St. Francis earned the win in the championship game despite a major setback in the first inning. Sophomore second baseman Ellen Kendziorski suffered a compound fracture in her thumb and had to leave the game.
"She was a huge player for us," Doriot said. "She was our leading hitter and a great second baseman for us too. That's going to hurt."
While losing a key member of the team, the Gladiators didn't lose focus.
"It was more just keeping everyone focused and realizing that injuries do occur," Day said. "Obviously, we didn't want it to happen, we love her, but the game has to go on. And we wanted to win it for Ellen."
The regional final ended Frankfort's season at 27-12-2.
"At the beginning of the season, because of graduation, nobody gave us a chance," Panthers coach Mike Thompson said. "We had become kind of a scrappy team, had to come from behind a lot of times and battled adversity. And that's exactly what we did these last couple of weeks."
The Panthers trailed in both district games before rallying to win over Onekama and Manistee Catholic Central.
And, Frankfort rallied one more time Saturday, coming back from a 5-4 deficit to Ellsworth in the opener to win 6-5 in eight innings. Jessica Meek got on base in the bottom of the eighth and Tami Banktson brought her home on an RBI hit.
"It's a great show of character that these girls never give us," Thompson said. "Even when we were down 12-0 there, the girls are still cheering each other on.
"We've come a long way. We were three outs away from winning the conference, won the district title and got a big win this morning. These girls have a lot to be proud of."
Frankfort will look to build on Saturday's experience. However, the Panthers will do so without Laney Eubank and Kristy Boomer, the two seniors on the squad, who finished with 129 career wins.
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