by Ben Murphy
Sports Writer
A memorable season for the Clare softball team nearly turned into a district championship. The Lady Pioneers, taking on Beaverton in the Division 3 district championship game at Meridian on Friday, came up painfully short however, losing 9-8 in eight innings.
“We were one out away from a district championship and it hurt really bad to end up on the wrong end of a game that was so much fun to be in,” head coach Shane Kelly said. “I know we will learn from this game and season and grow as a family and work to be the best that we can be. Understanding what it takes, having each others’ back, and putting the team first is what we strive to achieve and I know we are moving in the right direction.”
On the day, the offense saw Addie McMillan and Tessa Kelly get five hits apiece, Allison Brandon had four hits while Savannah Robinson and Izzy Jones had three hits apiece. Claylee Veitengruber had five RBI and Brandon drove in four.
Clare reached the championship game by taking down Meridian 9-1 earlier in the day.
“It didn’t end the way that we wanted to, but we played a great first game,” Kelly said. “I am very excited for next year we have a lot of returning starters with a great group of younger girls coming into the fold for us. We will push each other every day to be better at all levels of this program. The future is going to be very exciting.”