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The young Pioneers, District #7 champs, have rolled over three opponents in pool play at the Little League Softball State Finals at Wyoming's Pinery Park. C-L was favored going into last night's (Tuesday) final game in pool play against L'Anse Creuse. Bracket play, with the top eight teams from two pools competing in single elimination, begins today (Wednesday). The winners then move into the semifinals later in the day. The championship game is set for Thursday.

In the Pioneers' latest victory on Monday, a 15-1 thumping of Eastwood, Kylee Barrett pitched the five-inning mercy game, allowing just two hits and striking out nine. She had quick support at the plate as her teammates came through for five runs in the opening inning.

"Our philosophy was to bunt a lot, and it really worked," said Coach Scott Young. The big hit in the inning, though, was a three-run double by Victoria Bender.

Young said the lopsided win over Eastwood came as a surprise to him. "We had scouted them against Mattawan. Mattawan had a good team and beat them, 4-1. So, we thought we might have a close game."

Megan Guitar led a strong hitting attack for Cros-Lex by going 4-for-4 at the plate. Abby Bringard added three hits and Sadi Overland, Barrett, Bender and Rachel Schadd all had two.

On Sunday, Cros-Lex pounded Boyne City, 10-0. Barrett, Guitar, Overland and Bringard all pitched and combined for 11 strikeouts in the five-inning contest. Overland was 3-for-3 with three RBI, and Brooke Smith and Bringard both delivered two hits. Bender, the catcher, gave the C-L defense a lift by throwing out three base runners.

Cros-Lex opened the tournament on Saturday by stopping Caro, 11-0. C-L used four pitchers in that contest, also.

C-L 13-14 team in QF

The Cros-Lex 13-14 Year Old Softball Team finished pool play at the State Finals with a 2-2 record after droppoing its first two games this past weekend. Wins over West Branch (22-7) and Belleville (4-3) allowed the Pioneers to advance to yesterday's quarterfinalsin bracket play. No other details were available.