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Freshman
Bryanna Diceanu scored the lone run for Franklin Monroe
Tuesday against Southeastern in the sectional final
played at Bradford.
The Jets fell to the Trojans 3-1, finishing the season with an 18-8
record. CNO photos by George Starks
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Southeastern scores two early in route to sectional title
Lady Jets bow out of state tournament
By George Starks
BRADFORD - It took only one swing of the bat to put an end to the
Franklin Monroe softball season Tuesday in sectional final action held
at Bradford.
With one down and one on, Southeastern third baseman Madison McKee
drilled a pitch over the left field fence for a two run homer.
That would be just enough as Southeastern would post a 3-1 sectional
final win over Franklin Monroe.
In his post-game talk with his team, Mike Morris had a very simple
message for his team: “Don’t be satisfied with the kind of season
you’ve had. Don’t forget the way this feels and remember it next year.”
“We had a great season and we broke a school record with 18 wins this
year,” Morris stated. “These kids are believing in themselves and I am
very proud of them. They fought hard and never quit. Our goal at the
start of the year was to go to Akron and we fell short. Anything less
was unacceptable and that’s the way this team played every game. Now we
have to hit the weight room and prepare for next season.”
Franklin Monroe scored its lone run in the second frame.
With two down, Freshman Bryanna Diceanu doubled to left to get the
inning started.
Emma Baker, batting ninth, singled to right, scoring Diceanu, getting
the Jets to within a run.
The scoring threat would end with Carrie Baker grounding out to
short, leaving Emma stranded at first.
Both teams would go cold in the scoring department, but the Jets had a
huge opportunity to do major damage in the sixth.
Emily Morris would get the frame started with a single. After pitcher
Kristen Stryker popped out to second, Morgan Booher would single to
right and Morgan Bingham would draw a walk to load the bases.
All three would be left stranded as Susan Boston would go down swinging
and senior Cory Jeffers would line out hard to short, ending the
scoring threat.
“I thought about bunting the ball with Susan up,” Morris stated. “I
thought if we could make them field it and see what they would do. The
time before when Susan was up, she hit the ball hard, again, right at
somebody. We needed a little bit of luck and couldn’t catch that bit of
a break.
“We had our chances tonight,” said Morris. “It seemed like when we had
something going on, we would hit the ball hard, but right at someone.
We had some harder hit balls than they did, but they hit the ball hard
farther than we did. Both teams had five hits, but they made their hits
count and that was the difference in the game.”
At games end, the line score for both teams had each team with five
hits and one error.
The Jets stranded six runners in the game, three in scoring position.
“You can’t do that against a team of this caliber,” said Morris.
“That’s a good team over there. They have good pitching and they play
solid defense. Leaving that many runners stranded isn’t good. Not
against a team like this.”
The Trojans drove the final nail in the coffin in the bottom of the
fifth on a run scoring double from McKee who accounted for all the runs
batted in.
“That run really hurt us,” said Morris. “I truly think if they hadn’t
got that one run there in the fifth and us with the bases loaded in the
sixth, I might have played that inning differently. We could have
played to tie it up but being down two runs, we needed the offense.”
The Jets finish the season with a mark of 18-8, but Morris has a lot to
look forward to.
Franklin Monroe with bring back eight starters for the 2015 season,
losing Jeffers to graduation.
“We have a lot to build on for next year,” said Morris. “We have our
outfield set for next year, and hopefully everyone comes back out.”
The 18 wins the Jets posted this season was a school record and Morris
will look to not only break that record next season, but go to Akron in
the D-IV state finals.
(Watch CNO for an exclusive interview with graduating senior, Cory
Jeffers.)
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Franklin
Monroe coach Mike Morris talks to his kids at the pitching
rubber during first inning action at Bradford. Morris, in
only his
second season, has led the Jets to a district final and has one
sectional title and a sectional runner-up to his credit.
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