AUBURN, MI – Bill Sebald had his postgame scolding all planned out. And after his Bay City Western softball team scratched out one run in the fifth inning to avoid the mercy rule, it only gave the second-year coach more time to stew about it. Then the Warriors gave him a reason to change it altogether. An amazing one. Trailing Midland Dow 12-3 heading into its final at-bats, Western incredibly scored 10 runs – including six with two outs – to pull off a head-spinning 13-12 victory in the Saginaw Valley League showdown. The comeback came just four days after Western scored seven seventh-inning runs to stun Saginaw Heritage 9-8. “I was so ticked off at them, then they go and do that again,” said Sebald. “I said ‘Well, I guess I can’t yell at you guys… again.’ “As a coach, you just hope the kids play hard for you. I guess you know they’re playing hard when they don’t give up.” It was a day that seemed to be going nowhere for the Warriors. There was a bitter chill and 30 mph winds – but also some kind of magic – in the air at the Western softball diamond. Dow scored four runs in the fourth inning and seven in the fifth to build a 12-2 lead, moving the Chargers three outs away from a mercy-ruled victory. But Western pitcher Zoe Ziehmer knocked an RBI single to score Kayleigh Gransden with the run that – at the time – felt like it only prolonged the inevitable at 12-3. “I’ll be honest. I thought the game was over,” Sebald said. “I started thinking ‘Should I pull Zoe? Should I start getting some other girls in the game?’ For some reason, I didn’t.” Thoughts of their previous game lingered. Thoughts of Western’s stunning rally against Heritage, when it strung together seven consecutive hits and won on a walkoff home run by Abbey Berger after trailing 8-2 in the seventh, gave the Warriors a glimmer of hope. And rallies are built on hope. “We were down for the majority of the game, but we didn’t give up,” Western senior Kyra Smith said. “I would say overall we were quite hopeful. “After the first few batters, we were thinking ‘OK, we’re going to make run for it.’” The Warriors would send 14 batters to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, turning eight hits, two walks, two errors and one hit batter into an uprising for the ages. Seven straight batters reached safely after two were out. “All of a sudden, our No. 8 and 9 hitters get on and we turn the lineup over,” Sebald said. “Now I’m thinking ‘Holy cow, we might have a game.’ But then I look and it was still 12-6.” Calee Lijewski roped a two-run double and Hailie Fallstick singled to set the stage for Ziehmer, who laced a clutch two-run triple down the right-field line that dramatically tied the game at 12-12. Dow intentionally walked Leah Schumann for the second time in the game to pitch to Smith. The move did not pay off. Smith cranked an RBI single to left, bringing home the game-winning run and capping the most improbable of comebacks, Part II. “I wrote in my notes for the banquet ‘Crazy comeback vs. Heritage.’ Well, that was nothing,” Sebald said. “Once it starts rolling, it’s unbelievable.” One year after going 12-27, equaling the fewest wins in program history, the Warriors seem to have found something during their 6-2 start. They reached the title game of the Bay County Championship, own a 4-1 record in league play and have two of the most amazing comebacks in program history on their resume. And it’s April. “I told them ‘You wouldn’t need these big comebacks if you played a clean game.’ I don’t think they know how good they could be,” Sebald said about his highly edited postgame talk. “But after 12 wins last year, it might take a little roll to build their confidence.” The players are sensing a change as well, and it’s already made for a memorable season. “We’re able to uplift each other,” said Smith, the senior shortstop. “When things go wrong, we help each other forget about it and look forward to the future – which is usually our next at-bat. “And we’ve proven that no matter who we play, we’re going to put up a fight to the end.” Ziehmer and Fallstick each delivered three hits in the win while Schumann roped two doubles. Berger and Charlotte Waibel added two hits apiece. Game 2 was postponed until 5 p.m. Tuesday due to the weather conditions. THE MAKINGS OF A 10-RUN RALLY How Bay City Western’s seventh inning played out: Calee Lijewski: Walk Hailie Fallstick: Single Zoe Ziehmer: Single Leah Schumann: RBI fielder’s choice (12-4) Kyra Smith: Reaches on error (12-5) Abbey Berger: Single Miranda French: RBI fielder’s choice (12-6) Charlotte Waibel: RBI single (12-7) Kayleigh Gransden: Hit by pitch Calee Lijewski: Two-RBI double and E3 (12-10) Zoe Ziehmer: Two-RBI triple (12-12) Leah Schumann: Intentional walk Kyra Smith: RBI single (13-12) If you would like your local high school sports news delivered free to your inbox daily, click here and sign up for one of our local high school sports newsletters. Love reading about local sports? Don’t miss any of the excitement from the season ahead. Purchase your subscription now and get full access to every story on MLive!