Holt vs. Leslie – – Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame Softball Classic Quarterfinal – – The Bleacher Denizen – – April 20, 2024 – – by Chuck Krafft

This evening, the Bleacher Denizen is blogging, announcing and singing the National Anthem at the Hall of Fame Classic Quarterfinal. Earlier this evening Laingsburg faced Lansing Catholic. Here is the play by play of that game!

Your Bleacher Denizen is doing triple duty tonight, as he is blogging, running the scoreboard and doing the announcing. I will also be singing the national anthem.

In the second game of tonight’s doubleheader, the Holt Rams will be facing the Leslie Blackhawks. Holt won the coin flip and will be the home team; they will bat last.

Here are the starting lineups.

LESLIE

Gabby Waldofsky cf

Jalen Fossitt ss

Ada Bradford p

Myah Fletcher c

Adrianna Fogg 3b

Maddie Rehm 2b

Sahara Burley 1b

Eliana Trierweiler rf

Kay Adair lf

HOLT

Olivia Root c

Eeva Luoma rf

Kaelyn Rozycki 3b

Marlie Rehm 2b

Sadie Laubenthal ss

Macey Cole dp

Paeton Vandlen lf

Lola Knox 1b

Layla Binkley lf

Kara Sandberg will pitch, but will not bat.

Let’s review the play by play of this game through the eyes of an Aging Bleacher Denizen who never had much of a career in baseball or softball. When the baseball powers that be refused to allow the Bleacher Denizen to use a bushel basket to catch fly balls in the outfield, everything fell apart.

Holt Pitcher Kara Sandberg retired the three Leslie batters in the top of the first inning on a strikeout, a fly to right field and a fly to left field.

Leslie Pitcher Ada Bradford struck out the Ram leadoff batter in the top of the first inning and retired the next hitter on a grounder to second base. Kaelyn Rozycki blooped a single to left field and went to second base when Marlie Rehm singled past the shortstop. Sadie Laubenthal walked to load the bases. Ada Bradford struck out the next Ram batter to end the inning.

Myah Fletcher blasted a double to the left field fence to open the top of the second inning for the Blackhawks. Kay Adair made a fine grab to catch Adrianna Fogg’s drive to deep left field. Myah Fletcher tagged up and advanced to third base on the play. Kara Sandberg struck out the next Leslie batter. Sahara Burley walked. Kara Sandberg struck out the next hitter to end the inning.

Ada Bradford retired the three Holt second inning hitters on a strikeout, a fly to center field and a popup to the shortstop.

Kay Adair walked to lead off the top of the third inning for Leslie. She went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Gabby Waldofsky. Jalen Fossitt lined a single to left field to drive Kay Adair home. Ada Bradford lined a single to center field and Jalen Fossitt advanced to second base. Jalen Fossitt was out at third base and Ada Bradford was safe at second base on a fielder’s choice grounder to the pitcher. Myah Fletcher was safe at first base on the play.

Adrianna Fogg singled to right field to drive Ada Bradford home. Myah Fletcher went to third base on the play. Maddy Ream walked to load the bases. Sahara Burley singled to left field to drive Myah Fletcher and Adrianna Fogg home. Maddy Ream advanced to second base.

Abby Fields entered the game to pitch for Holt.

Eliana Trierweiler made a bit for a single, but Holt First Baseman Lola Knox was able to snare her line drive for the third out.

Leslie scored four runs in the top of the third inning to take a 4-0 lead.

Ada Bradford retired the three Holt batters in the bottom of the third inning on a strikeout, a grounder to the shortstop and a grounder to the pitcher.

Kay Adair led off the top of the fourth inning for Leslie with a single to center field. Gabby Waldofsky beat out a bunt single and Kay Adair advanced to second base. Jalen Fossitt singled to right field to move Kay Adair to third base and Gabby Waldofsky to second base. Layla Binkley made a nice catch of a long drive by Ada Bradford to deep left field. Kay Adair scored on the sacrifice fly and Gabby Waldofsky went to third base.

Jalen Fossitt stole second base. Myah Fletcher blasted a sacrifice fly to deep center field; Paeton Vandlen made a nice play to go back and catch it. Gabby Waldofsky scored on the play. Abby Fields retired the next batter on a grounder to second base to end the inning.

Leslie scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning to boost its lead to 6-0.

Holt made its first out in the bottom of the fourth inning on a grounder to the shortstop. Eliana Trierweiler made a fantastic running catch of a foul fly to right field to retire the next batter. Ada Bradford struck out the next Ram hitter to end the inning.

Kara Sandberg went back into the game to pitch for Holt.

Kara Sandberg retired the three Blackhawk hitters in the fifth inning on a bouncer to the pitcher and two strikeouts.

Paeton Vandlen was safe at first base on an error to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning for Holt. Leslie Left Fielder Sahara Burley made a fine running catch of a drive by Lola Knox for the first Holt out. The lightning came and this game was suspended.

When play resumed the next afternoon, Paeton Vandlen advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Lynnae Hill. Ada Bradford retired the next Ram hitter on a fly to the shortstop to end the inning.

Kay Adair singled to centerfield to lead off the top of the sixth inning for Leslie. Kay Adair was out at second base and Gabby Waldofsky safe at first base on a fielder’s choice grounder to second base. Kara Sandberg retired the next two Blackhawk batters on a liner to second base and a popup to second base.

Ada Bradford retired Holt’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the sixth inning on a foul popup to third base. Kaelyn Rozycki walked. Ada Bradford struck out the next Ram hitter and got the final out on a fly to second base.

Kara Sandberg retired the first two Leslie hitters in the top of the seventh inning on groundouts to the shortstop. Sophee Beegle pinch hit and blasted a home run over the center field fence. Kara Sandberg struck out the next Blackhawk hitter to end the inning.

Leslie scored one run in the top of the seventh inning to extend its lead to 7-0.

Macey Cole walked to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning for Holt. After Ada Bradford struck out the next batter, Macey Cole stole second base. Ada Bradford retired the next two batters on a fly to the shortstop and a strikeout to end the game.

Leslie won this game by the score of 7-0 and will play in Wednesday’s semifinal against Laingsburg.

Kaelyn Rozycki and Marlie Rehm each had a single for Holt. Kara Sandberg pitched five innings for the Rams. She gave up five runs and struck out seven batters.

Jalen Fossitt had two singles and one RBI for Leslie. Myah Fletcher had a double. Sahara Burley had a single and two RBI. Adrianna Fogg had a single and one RBI. Sophee Beegle had a home run and one RBI. Gabby Waldofsky, Ada Bradford and Kay Adair each had one single.