For the sixth year in a row, the Alpena softball team will be able to raise another flag in the outfield as the Wildcats went on to defeat Traverse City Central on Wednesday to become Big North Conference champions.

“This is just a really great accomplishment for each and every one of the these girls. They worked so hard all year and as a coach I could not be happier for this group,” Alpena assistant coach Christin Sobeck said.

The title not only marks Alpena’s sixth consecutive Big North title, but the Wildcats have been a juggernaut in the conference for nearly the past two decades, winning their 14th conference title in the last 19 seasons.

The journey was not an easy one for this year’s team and the Wildcats split their first conference doubleheader of the season with Cadillac.

Alpena had its back against the wall after falling to Cadillac in the first conference game of the season. Knowing that they were pretty much in need of winning out to have any chance of a BNC title, the Wildcats did exactly that and won 11 consecutive conference games to finish 11-1 on the season.

The last time the Trojans came to Alpena was exactly two weeks ago. The Wildcats took game one of the doubleheader and carried a 7-5 lead after three innings before the game was delayed due to weather, forcing Traverse City to come back to Alpena for the final four innings.

Two weeks ago, Cadillac suffered its second conference loss of the season, falling to Petoskey, leaving the door open for the Wildcats as they knew going into Wednesday’s game all they had to do was hang on and win to secure a 2016 Big North championship.

Alpena did more than just hang on as it added three quick runs in the home half of the fourth inning to extend the lead to five.

Jenna VanDusen led off with a perfect bunt single and scored a batter later on an RBI single by Mary Schimmel.

Jessica Marwede ripped a one-out triple that plated Schimmel and Marwede scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jordan Modrzynski.

The Wildcats added their final run in the fifth when VanDusen hit a sacrifice fly to score Alexis Smith. It was more than enough run support for Lauren Heath who was dominant in the final four innings of the game, not allowing a hit and striking out five Trojan batters.

For the game, VanDusen was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored. Schimmel went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Along with the sacrifice fly, Modrzynski hit a bases clearing double in the first inning to end the game with four RBI.

“Our girls knew what they needed to do after losing that first conference game to Cadillac. They responded and they definitely deserve this championship,” Alpena assistant coach Louie Hoppe said.

The Wildcats fell in the nightcap by a score of 4-3 and currently hold a 28-8 overall record to go along with their 11-1 BNC championship record.

Alpena will be back in action Friday for its regular season finale when it travels to Rogers City to take on the Hurons in a doubleheader.

Jonny Zawacki can be reached via email at jzawacki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5690.