The Superior Central softball season came to a close with a 17-2 loss to the Norway Knights in the opening round of the MHSAA Regionals on Saturday, June 10 in Bark River Harris.
SC Head Coach Rich Swajanen said that the SCC champion Knights were able to capitalize on errors from SC.
“The score makes it seem like the game wasn’t close, but they only had 12 hits,” he said. “They were able to extend the innings a bit on errors we made.”
Swajanen said that despite the lack of runs, SC made good contact with the ball.
“We’ve hit the ball well all year with eight hits and a walk, but only two runs. We were thrown out on bases, which shortened our scoring opportunities too,” he said.
With the loss, Superior Central ends the 2023 season. They were the last team from an Alger County school to play in the extremely successful 2022-23 school year, which included the Cougars’ first district softball title in over a decade. Swajanen said that the team improved its pitching and defense throughout the year, which is something the team should be proud of.
“It was a pretty good season. (Johnson) started pitching better — she must have cut her walks (per game) in half since the start of the year. We had five girls over .400, and you know with our scorekeeper, he’s writing down the walks and the errors, so it’s a legit .400,” Swajanen said.
The Cougars graduate three seniors in infielder and on-base percentage leader Maddie Begovac, catcher and third baseman Emily Augustyn and Brylee Tyner, who joined the infield as part of a defensive change in the middle of the season. They return all-SCC selections Johnson and Alice Hancock. Both hit over .400 on the season, along with freshman Kiera McDonnald, who added speed in the outfield defensively. Swajanen also said that there are three eighth graders that will be able to make an immediate impact next Spring, including a standout catcher, which would allow for other defensive stability in the infield.
“We got a lot coming back. Definitely strong this year and things went well, but next year we should be a little bit better,” he said.
Norway lost the regional championship game to Hancock, as the Bulldogs quickly dispatched the Knights 18-3. Hancock lost in the MHSAA Division 4 quarterfinals to Johannesburg-Lewiston 7-1 in Sault Ste. Marie on Tuesday. With Gladstone’s loss in Division 3, all U.P. schools have been eliminated from the MHSAA softball tournaments.
