2011 Women's Major Softball
National Championship
August 4-7, Stratford, CT
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Brakettes Reach Title Game with Win over Saints  Saturday, August 6, Game 17 - The Stratford Brakettes clinched a berth in the Sunday's WMS Championship Game with an 8-0 victory over the St. Louis Saints in Saturday's winner's bracket final in Stratford, CT. Kristyn Sandberg belted two homers for the second straight game, while Stephanie Call added her 30th home run of the year. Brandice Balschmiter overpowered the Saints, striking out 11 batters to improve to 23-0 on the year.The Brakettes were the home team in the contest at DeLuca Field, a matchup between the same teams as the 2010 winner’s bracket final. The Brakettes stretched their winning streak to 118 games with the victory, while improving to 62-0 on the season. Denise Denis got the ball rolling in the first inning with a two-out triple, scoring on a wild pitch thrown by Saints’ starter Kelli Zache. Kristyn Sandberg gave the Brakettes a 2-0 edge in the second with a solo home run, her tenth of the year. The Brakettes’ offensive juggernaut kicked into another gear in the third, with Denis again starting the rally. Denis picked up her second extra-base hit of the game with a double with one out, bringing Call to the plate. The Florida Atlantic junior-to-be provided Brakettes fans with another moment to remember her by, drilling a pitch over the home run fence in right field. The homer was Call’s 30th of the season, making her the first Brakette ever to reach the milestone, and put Stratford up 4-0. Former-FAU star Mandie Fishback continued the rally with a single, before Sandberg would once again impress the home crowd. Sandberg launched her second home run of the game, and fourth long ball of the day, to put the Brakettes up 6-0. More impressively, the feat was accomplished in four consecutive at-bats, with the first two homers of the streak coming earlier Saturday against the Lyons Spirit. The homer was Sandberg’s 11th of the 2011 campaign. The slugger came up once more with one out in the fifth, but was hit by a pitch. Becca Carden followed and reached on a single, putting two on for Amber Radomski. Radomski grounded to the right side and reached on an error by second baseman Jenna Wood, pushing home a run and sending Carden to third. Alisa Heronema came up and grounded out to Wood, but Carden sprinted across the plate to score the team’s eight run, ending the game with a run-rule shortened, five-inning victory. As the fifth inning progressed, a pesky rain became more steady and brought uncertainty to the remaining schedule. The New York Raiders and NYC Havoc were slated for a 9:00 pm start Saturday, but that contest will instead be the first of several to be played Sunday. The Brakettes will await the winner of the loser’s bracket final, which will be played by the Saints and whichever team navigates through the rest of the lower bracket. The Raiders-Havoc winner will play the CT Mirage, with the winner of that game taking on St. Louis. The Brakettes hope to repeat as WMS Champions, and will need to win just one game to keep the hardware in Stratford. The winner of the loser's bracket final will have to defeat the Brakettes twice on Sunday to capture the title. All of the remaining games from the 3rd Annual Women’s Major Softball National Championships will be video webcast at brakettes.com. |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |||||
| ST. LOUIS SAINTS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| BRAKETTES | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 1 | ||||||
| Batteries: Saints- Kelli Zache (L) and Fallon Poettker; Brakettes- Brandice Balschmiter (W, 23-0) and Kristyn Sandberg Homeruns: Kristyn Sandberg 2 (4, 11), Stephanie Call (2, 30) | ||||||||||||||
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