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The Lady Green Devils could muster little offense Saturday and saw their season end abruptly with a 5-1 setback to the Lady Blue Devils in a Division 3 Regional semifinal at Birch Run High School. Birch Run, which mercied Frankenmuth 10-0 in the opening semifinal, went on to edge Lake Fenton, 4-3, in the championship contest.

Brown City had a wonderful season with a remarkable 31-3 record, to go along with a GTC East title, but this is not how they wanted to finish, by any means.

"The most disappointing part," remarked Erin Snyder, Brown City coach, "is I know the girls could have played better. We didn't play up to our potential."

Erika Speckmann, Blue Devil pitcher, was not a potent, hard thrower, but she kept the Lady Devils off-balanced the whole game. Giving up just three hits, she only fanned four batters, but was able to retire several BC hitters on easy pop-ups on the infield.

"The girls weren't being patient (against Speckmann)," noted Snyder. "She was not over-powering. They just weren't waiting for their pitch. We were out in front a lot and just popping it up."

A couple of defensive mistakes also proved to be harmful for BC, who has flashed very good play in the field most of the season.

Lake Fenton, trailing 1-0, scored earned runs off of Brown City's Kristen Greene in the second and third innings to go up 2-1.

Brown City had back-to-back one-out singles from Greene and Jamie Clark after one out in the top of the fourth, but failed to score.

The Blue Devils then used two errors and three hits to help score the next three runs. Ashley Look, who had squeezed home a run on a bunt in the second inning, led off with a single in the fourth. She moved to second on a sacrifice and raced all the way home on a throwing error.

In the fifth inning, Morgan Pattillo, who had three hits in the game, smacked a single off the center field fence. After Greene walked the next batter, the Blue Devils' Maggie Waters lined a single to center to score a run. The ball bounced by the BC center fielder allowing another run to score.

Brown City then went quietly against Speckmann, who set down the final six batters to close out the game.

Snyder added, "Our bats weren't going, and I think that got to us and carried over to the defense."

Sandi Oligney, a junior catcher, had the only other hit for the Lady Green Devils, a single in the fifth inning.

Looking back on the season, Snyder said her team has plenty to be proud of. "We had an excellent season. Nobody can take back that season. It was a disappointing final outcome... . but this is something that, for the juniors, next year to remember. Hopefully, they will provide a different outcome."