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(Observer photos by Mike Nicley)

      On to Hartland!
       The Romeo High girls' varsity softball team won its second consecutive MHSAA Division I District championship with a 6-3 win over Rochester High Saturday afternoon at Utica Eisenhower.
       Romeo (26-8 overall) now moves on to the Regional tournament in Hartland and awaits the winner of the Lake Orion District meet. The other two teams at Hartland will be a surprising Troy Athens squad and perennial power White Lake Lakeland.
       Athens will take on Lakeland at 10 a.m. Saturday. Romeo will play at noon and if it wins, the championship game will be played roughly at 2 p.m.
       "We're not sure who we will play but if the rankings mean anything it should be Clarkston,'' said Romeo Coach Dave McIntyre. "They are ranked second or third but you never know what is going to happen in the State playoffs, upsets happen all the time.''
       Against Rochester, sophomore Taylor Weaver (17-2) allowed three runs on eight hits and struck out eight in seven complete innings for the win.
       Romeo built a 3-0 lead in the third inning.
       Senior second baseman Rachael Gabrielson (3-for-4, one run scored and two RBIs) had a one-out single to center field that scored sophomore Emma Kinney and senior Taylor Waters.
       Later in the inning, senior shortstop Alex Szajna added a single that brought Gabrielson home to make it 3-0.
       Rochester made it a 3-2 game in the fourth inning on a two-run RBI triple by sophomore Maddie Williams that scored Emily Smith and Maggie Irvine.
       The Lady Bulldogs took a three-run lead in their half of the fifth when freshman Kayla Noch singled, went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Weaver, and scored when Szajna (3-for-3 two RBIs and one run scored) doubled to right-center field. Senior Melissa Staelgraeve followed with another double to right-center that scored Szajna to give Romeo a 5-2 lead.
       Noch added an RBI single, which scored sophomore Geordin Craun, in the sixth to round out the scoring for the Lady Bulldogs.
       "Kayla Noch has a very high softball IQ for a freshman,'' said McIntyre of his young third baseman. "She got off to a slow start this year but is really beginning to come on as the season winds down.''
       Romeo 7, Eisenhower 1:
       Saturday in the district semifinal, Weaver allowed just one run in seven innings for the win.
       Gabrielson went 3-for-4 with one run scored and had one RBI, Waters was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and Szajna had two RBIs to lead the Romeo offense.
       "We asked a lot of our seniors on Saturday and they really came through,'' said McIntyre. "Hopefully they will be able to do it again this weekend because we're going to need them again on Saturday and from here on out if we are going to keep advancing in this tournament.''