Bay City Western Finishes 1st Title Run
June 14, 2014
By Kelsey Pence
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Hannah Leppek tried not to think about last year.
Easier said than done.
After leading and then losing last year’s Division 1 championship game to Mattawan, Leppek was determined not to let this one slip away.
The senior pitcher struck out six, walked two and gave up just three hits through seven innings as Bay City Western held off Portage Central 4-2 in the Division I Final on Saturday at Secchia Stadium at Michigan State University.
“I tried not to think about it, but obviously it was in my mind,” Leppek said of last year’s loss. “I had that extra motivation, like, I need to finish it out this year. I really don’t know how to describe it. It’s just awesome. I have no words for how good I feel right now. I’ll probably be up all night just smiling.”
The MHSAA title is the first in softball for Western (41-3), after last season’s championship game appearance also was a first.
Meredith Rousse was hit by pitch in the bottom of the first inning to get things started for the Warriors, and Kaylynn Carpenter brought her home with a double to centerfield.
“That hit boosted (my confidence) up a lot, and I think it boosted up the girls' a lot,” Carpenter said. “Once our first, second and third girls get hits, it just riles everyone up. That’s how we win the game.”
Leppek then hit a foul ball to the first baseman that was caught, but Portage Central’s Meredith Adams fell into the dugout on the catch, and Carpenter came home for the second run.
The Mustangs (42-4) got on the board in the top of the third with a home run to right field by Lea Foerster.
Bay City Western built some cushion in the sixth inning when Leppek singled to left field and Kelsie Popp doubled to center. Blair Miller brought home a run with a single to short right field and Melissa Wegener singled to increase the lead to 4-1.
Portage Central found some fire in the top of the seventh inning. Brooke Wyman walked and Adams doubled to center to put runners in scoring position. With one out on the board, and the memory of last year’s loss lingering, Western coach Rick Garlinghouse rallied his team around the pitcher’s circle.
“We had a 4-1 lead, so we could allow those runs to score, but we wanted the batter to stay at first base,” Garlinghouse said. “Our throw from the outfield was going to second base. The infielders were going to first base. We weren’t worried about any tag plays at the plate. We wanted to get outs.”
Cole grounded out, scoring Wyman, but Leppek then got a strikeout to end the game.
“Honestly at the beginning I felt a little off, and then I found my groove in the middle of the game,” Leppek said of her performance. “That last game tripped me up a little bit, but I got it back.”
Foerster, Adams and Cole picked up Portage Central’s three hits. Gina Verduczo pitched six innings, striking out two, while allowing seven hits and no walks.
“This has been a fun year win or lose at the end,” Mustangs coach Tom Hamilton said. “You get someone crying or someone going home smiling, and we’re going home crying today. I’m going to go home crying too because these kids are wonderful kids, and that is what it’s all about. They’ve made it special. The kids will come back. I hope they look back on this and realize how special it is.”
Carpenter finished 1 for 3 with a run and an RBI for Portage Central, while Miller and Wegener each had a hit and an RBI.
“She has had two great years,” Garlinghouse said of Carpenter. “She drove in the first run and scored the second one. She’s a gritty player.
“It’s a very surreal feeling. I am real happy for the kids. They did all we asked them to do all year, play 21 outs. They wanted to get here after losing last year’s game.”
Added Carpenter: “It feels good going in my senior year and actually coming here and winning it. (Last season) wasn’t on my mind at all. I knew that was behind me. I had support, and I knew we could get it.”
PHOTOS: Bay City Western’s Meredith Rousse crosses the play during the Warriors’ Division 1 Final win. (Middle) Western’s Hannah Leppek finished 1 for 3 at the plate and threw a complete game.
Vicksburg, Gaylord Thrive on Plate Power to Earn Saturday Return
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
June 15, 2023
EAST LANSING – Vicksburg’s Kennedy Davis didn’t get mad, she got even.
Davis ripped what looked like a three-run home run Thursday morning in the second inning, but it curved just foul on its way out of Michigan State University’s Secchia Stadium.
No worries, as Davis connected on a nearly identical three-run bomb in the bottom of the sixth inning – this one a little farther right and clearly in the field of play – to erase a one-run deficit and lift the Bulldogs to a 4-2 victory over Richmond in a Division 2 Semifinal.
“It was the same pitch she threw me the first time, when I bombed it foul,” explained Davis, the only starting senior for Vicksburg, who also went the distance for the pitching win.
“I heard them call the same number as the first one, so I was ready. It was a meatball on the inside of the plate.”
Davis sent that “meatball” into the oak trees over the left field scoreboard and, in so doing, sent Vicksburg to its first softball championship game since 2016 – when it lost, ironically, to Richmond in the D2 Final.
Vicksburg (41-3-1) will face another big challenge in Saturday’s 10 a.m. Final against top-ranked Gaylord, which used three pitchers to hold off Dearborn Divine Child, 2-1, in Thursday’s second D2 Semifinal.
Vicksburg coach Paul Gephart, in his 10th season, sure remembers that Finals loss to Richmond seven years ago – and recalls Davis being a little girl watching from the bleachers.
“Her cousin was on that team, and Kennedy was just a little girl in the stands,” Gephart recalled. “I reminded her about that this morning, and I could tell it motivated her.”
Davis’s home run was certainly the difference against a pesky Richmond team which entered the game unranked and playing just 16 hours after its Quarterfinal win Wednesday evening.
In spite of that, the Blue Devils took the lead Thursday by plating both of their runs in the top of the third inning.
Emma Hildreth singled and scored on a triple by returning all-stater Piper Clark, her 55th RBI of the season. Clark then scored on a single by Ashley Stafford.
Richmond, which finished 29-10 in coach Howard Stuart’s 45th year, looked like it might win by that score behind the pitching of sophomore Katie Shuboy.
Shuboy allowed just five hits in six innings of work – two by second baseman Peyton Smith, then singles by Delaney Moore and Kayla Chisholm, before the pivotal three-run homer by Davis in the sixth.
“This team always seems to find a way,” said Gephart, whose other pitcher, junior Audrie Dugan, broke her hand sliding during Regionals. “We’ve certainly come back from bigger deficits, but that hit was huge in that situation, playing here.”
After ripping the game-winning homer, Davis went to the circle and retired the Blue Devils 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh inning. She allowed two earned runs on seven hits and one walk, with three strikeouts.
Gaylord 2, Dearborn Divine Child 1
Top-ranked Gaylord (38-2) used two solo home runs and three pitchers to stave off an upset bid by unranked Divine Child and advance to its first Final after previously reaching the Semifinals in 2021 with many of the same players.
Her team behind 1-0 after two innings, Abby Radulski led off the third with a home run and Alexis Kozlowski did the same thing one inning later, giving the Blue Devils all the scoring they would need.
It wasn’t easy, however, as Divine Child put multiple runners on base in the fifth and sixth innings, but was unable to bring another run home.
“They put tons of pressure on us, and we were fortunate to persevere,” said first-year Gaylord coach Tony Vaden. “Our girls have learned to stay calm, and they will take advantage whenever a pitcher makes a mistake.”
The Falcons scored their lone run in the second inning on a single from senior Allison Surella. Isabella DePaulis led Divine Child (28-8) with two hits.
Gaylord was able to hold off the Falcons the rest of the way behind the pitching trio of junior Avery Parker, Radulski and sophomore Aubrey Jones.
Parker went the first three innings and allowed two hits and one run, Radulski allowed four hits in 2 2/3 innings, and Jones shut the door in relief – coming on with two on and two out in the top of the sixth and striking out three of the four batters she faced.
“I just wanted to come in and get the job done for my team,” explained Jones, the younger sister of junior standout Jayden Jones, who is out for the season with a broken wrist.
“It stinks that she can’t play right now, but she’s our biggest cheerleader. It just shows how many good players we have.”
Sophomore Jessica Nelson pitched a gem for Divine Child, allowing just five hits in six innings against the powerful Gaylord lineup. Nelson walked one and struck out four.
PHOTOS (Top) Vicksburg celebrates during its Division 2 Semifinal win Thursday at Secchia Stadium. (Middle) The Bulldogs’ Peyton Smith readies to make a play. (Below) Gaylord’s Alexis Kozlowski rounds second base during her home run. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)