SOFTBALL | Poland-Lakewood notebook

Extra bases: Kelsi Thompson homered and Chelsea Brewer doubled for Hebron Lakewood in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Poland. The Bulldogs’ six hits were all singles. Leadoff batter Erin Gabriel had three of them. Jenna Modic, Megan Hirschbeck and Jessica D’Apolito had the others. “There’s not much more to say — everyone played their hearts out, everyone played to the best of their ability but it just didn’t go in our favor,” Modic said.

Graduation: Hirschbeck and D’Apolito are two of Poland’s five seniors who played their final varsity game in the Division II state championship game. The others are Jordan Palumbo (center fielder), Nicole White (first base) and Alexys Shields. “Words can’t really encompass it all,” said Hirschbeck of the 30-2 season. “It’s been the most amazing season that words could ever describe. It’s a great way to leave high school, state runners-up and I’ve made friendships that I know are going to last for a long time.” White credited Lakewood pitcher Alyssa Patznick for a strong performance. “She had very good movement and there was nothing else we could do, we just didn’t come through when we could have.” Hirschbeck added, “We weren’t on our best hitting game today. We didn’t have the best pitch selection and she just threw her game. We didn’t come out hitting the way that we could have been. For us to not score, that was the first for us all year and I think that’s what got us.”

Champions: Lakewood manager Criss Nadolson is 3-0 in state title games as his team won the Division III title in 2008 and 2009. “I know Poland Seminary is hurting right now, I’ve got a lot of respect for them and their program,” Nadolson said. “They are a very good team and we were fortunate to beat them.” Pitching was a key component of Lakewood’s tournament run. “In our last six games, in only one inning did we give up any runs,” Nadolson said. In last Thursday’s semifinal game, Greenville scored four times in the sixth inning to take a 4-3 lead over Lakewood. The Lancers scored twice in their next at-bat to pull out a 5-4 victory. So when Lakewood took a 1-0 lead, “We’re thinking we’ve got one run, we want more but we’re thinking one might do it,” Nadolson said.

Lancers tradition: Senior catcher Caitlin Houk is graduating with three champion medals. “The first two [titles] were amazing but this is one has a little more special feeling to it because it’s my last game in high school,” Houk said. “It felt phenomenal when that last pitch got popped up. We knew it was game over right there and it was a great feeling.” Houk admitted that the Bulldogs had the Lancers on the ropes several times. “We have a great way of getting out of things ... bases loaded with no outs or one out, we seem to always get the job done.”

Tom Williams