The Milan High School softball team found itself in a pickle it couldn't get out of. And not the base-runner-caught-in-between-bases kind.

The Big Reds, after going 5-0 at Saturday's 30th Annual Ann Arbor Area High School Softball Tournament, had to forfeit their rights to play in the championship game against Clarkston.

With must-play Huron League games remaining on its schedule, Milan had reached the limit of the MHSAA rule that says teams can't play in more than 56 games and dates added together.

Milan defeated Jenison, ranked No. 5 in Division 1, in a semifinal and then allowed the Wildcats to move on to the championship game.

"We told them to go on and win for us," said Milan coach Stacey Heams, whose players were hoping to finish what they started.

"It kind of stinks," admitted pitcher Kat Hoffman, who pitched three games Saturday, including Milan's 2-1 semifinals triumph. "I really wanted to play the championship game, but unfortunately we couldn't."

Hoffman's showing against Jenison, however, put a fitting exclamation point on her and the Big Reds' dominance on Saturday.

In fact, Hoffman was on the verge of capping her day with a complete-game shutout, until the Wildcats' Danielle Marlink walloped a one-out, inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the seventh.

"We were just ... 'Wow, she can have that'," Hoffman said of the towering shot. "We'll hold them down now."

And Hoffman single-handedly did the holding, catching a pop-up and firing a strikeout to end the contest. (Boxscore)

Milan scored its pair of runs in the third when Nena Doran roped a two-run triple, scoring Hoffman and Vanessa Garcia. Doran finished with a team-high two hits. The Big Reds were the first team to score on Jenison all day.

"We had people come through with hits," said Heams. "Pitching was awesome. We had some great catches and some good plays. It was a good game."

Hoffman ended with up six hits allowed, no walks and four strikeouts.

Milan's completed a four-game sweep of its pool play by rallying to beat Ypsilanti, 4-3. (Boxscore)

"We were down by three against Ypsi, and we put our rally caps on and we came back," noted Hoffman. "I think we were still pumped up from that and just having fun cheering each other on."

Milan trailed 3-0 against the Phoenix in the fourth inning before the Big Reds chalked up back-to-back two-run innings.

Lani Ernst provided a game-tying triple, which Ann Hargrove followed up with an RBI double to give Milan the 4-3 lead it preserved.

"It was nice hitting it opposite field, getting that hit. That was great to come through," said Ernst.

"I've been in a slump so far," added Hargrove, "so I needed to get a hit and it felt great to help the team out. Once we start getting one hit, it gets contagious and everybody on the team just gets loud."

Pitching the win was Cheyenne Brierley, who allowed five hits, no walks and struck out five in six innings of work.

It was the fourth of five one-run wins for Milan, who also beat Howell (4-3), St. Clair (4-3) and Temperance Bedford (2-1) in pool play.

Ypsilanti was led by Africa Schauman, who had a two-run double in the first. Amber Frye added an RBI.

The loss left Ypsilanti winless in the tournament after dropping pool play games to Howell (9-2), St. Clair (9-3) and Temperance Bedford (10-3).

Saline and Pioneer were in the pool that sent Jenison to the semifinals. Saline won the matchup of the two Southeastern Conference Red Division teams, 10-4.

Saline lost to Jenison (4-0) and Lapeer West (2-1) and beat St. Johns (2-1).

The Hornets' Kaitlin Ward went 9-for-12 with three doubles, a triple, three RBIs, three runs scored and three stolen bases during the tournament.

Pioneer went 1-3 in pool play, earning its only win against Lapeer West (3-2). The Pioneers (12-16) also lost to Jenison (6-0) and St. Johns (6-3).

Carly Carn-Saferstein went 5-for-11 with two doubles, four runs and three RBIs in the four games for the Pioneers.

Huron went 0-4 on the day, losing to Clarkston (15-0), Wayland Union (16-0), Brighton (18-2) and Byron (22-3).

All games were played with a 75 minute time limit after the tournament's entire 28-game schedule was rained out on Friday. Organizers squeezed in 40 pool play games on Saturday with the winners of four pools qualifying for the semifinal round.