By Dean Vaglia
Leader Staff Writer
The Oxford High School varsity softball team had a cursed pair of games against the Lake Orion Dragons on Friday, May 13.
Beginning around 4:30 p.m., the Dragons outclassed the Wildcats with a dominant 11-run third inning. Oxford scored one run after the third, setting the final score at 11-1.
“We just let one inning get away from us,” Allie Lanctot, OHS varsity softball head coach, said. “We were hanging with them up until the third, and then we let one inning get away … Lake Orion kind of just started timing up my first pitcher, Abigail Witt, and had to switch to her sister [Ashlyn.]”
The second game in the double header began shortly afterwards, and once again the Dragons secured the win with an 8-4 score. Mya Spisz helped start Oxford’s scoring with a home run.
“It was really nice to see my girls battle back and score some runs on the board,” Lanctot said. “Unfortunately things did not go the way we wanted to, but we saw a lot of improvements [and] saw a lot of good things.”
Some of the key players from Friday’s games were pitchers Abigail and Ashlyn Witt, shortstop Mya Spisz and third baseman Kaylee Misialek.
“Pitching has definitely been dependable and I think even though the score might not show it, I still think [pitching] was very strong [on Friday,]” Lanctot said. “Offensively Mya Spisz is always someone that I can depend on to go up there and get a hit. I am always extremely confident when she is up to bat.”
As of May 13 the varsity softball has put up a 10-19 overall season record with Lanctot citing the team’s youth skew as the main project to work on.
“Even though we have five seniors on the team, a lot of those seniors did not get a ton of playing time last year because [the last team] graduated seven seniors,” Lanctot said. “We have a really young team and we are finally starting to mesh with each other and fall into a team rhythm which has really been nice to see in the last couple of weeks.”
While their last outing against Lake Orion went in the Dragons’ favor, the Wildcats may have their shot to even the score in the upcoming MHSAA District 25 playoffs. Hosted by Lake Orion, Oxford will play Clarkston in the first round. Whoever wins there will take on the winner of Lake Orion vs. Waterford Kettering.
“I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks to hone in on the things that we need to focus on,” Lanctot said. “The team has come a long way from the beginning of the season and I know we are exactly where we need to be [in order] to be competitive in districts.”
Districts start at 10 a.m. on June 4 at Lake Orion High School. Before then the team wraps up its regular season with a home double header against Walled Lake Northern on Wednesday, May 18 and an away double header at Rochester Adams on Tuesday the 24th. Both sessions start at 4:30 p.m.