Coach's Hunch Proves True for Lakeshore
June 14, 2014
By Kelsey Pence
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Denny Dock remembers looking at his team midway through the regular season and thinking, “We’re on the verge of being something special.”
It turns out, the Stevensville Lakeshore coach in his 25th year was right.
The Lancers overcame a sloppy start and rallied back for a 4-3 win in the MHSAA Division 2 Final against Livonia Ladywood on Saturday at Secchia Stadium at Michigan State University.
“A lot of tears in this trophy,” Dock said. “There were times during the season where we weren’t very good. As we kept playing, as frustrated as I was and as frustrated as they were with me, we never lost to a bad team. Our losses are to good quality teams. I kept saying, if we can just finish a couple of these, we’ve got a chance.”
The Lancers ended the season at 36-9 and leave East Lansing with the school’s seventh softball title.
“This tournament I thought we really played extremely well,” Dock said. “These kids have really pushed themselves. We’ve pushed them to their limit, and some of them we’ve had to back off. It’s been a real up-and-down season, but they’ve worked through it.”
The Blazers scored first, putting up two runs in the first inning, both unearned on two Lakeshore errors.
Christina Meyer was hit by pitch to start the game and Haley Lawrence reached on an error. Haley Thibeault struck out the next batter, but Ladywood pitcher Rozlyn Price reached on a throwing error, scoring Meyer.
Lawrence then scored on Hallea Garcia’s foul pop-up.
“I can’t repeat what I said to them in the circle,” Dock said with a laugh. “We’ve tried all along to get them to play the game. You don’t play against a team in this game; you play the game. The kids sure found a way.”
Rachel Riedel managed to get the Lancers on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning, smacking the first pitch she saw over the left field fence.
“My coach says once you find your pitch, you swing at it,” Riedel said. “She was throwing good, and when I saw it I knew. I love the first pitch, and I was ready. I felt good and when I hit it, it felt great.
“Not trying to brag, but when we started hitting, our whole team just got up,” she added. “Once one of us hits, I feel like it’s a train. We all start hitting. It’s a great feeling having a team we can trust. “
Rebecca Meyer hit a drive to center to reach base and Mahri Younger subbed in as a pinch runner. Rachel Clem brought her home with a sacrifice bunt to tie the score at 2-all.
“She hid the ball really well, which was harder to see,” Riedel said of Price. “I think we just needed to concentrate more. We were so anxious and ready for this game that when we got here, we were just like we want to swing at everything. Once we got her, it just stuck with us.”
Haley Thibeault and Mackenzie Sanders walked to start the bottom of the fifth inning, and Hunter Thibeault was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Alex Forsythe then singled to score Toni Priebe, running for Haley Thibeault. Carpenter, running for Sanders, was tagged out at home on the same play – but Riedel’s sacrifice fly to right field scored Hunter Thibeault.
The Blazers (29-14) loaded the bases in the top of the sixth inning, and Rachel Hendrickson’s line drive past third base cut the deficit to one run with two outs and the bases still loaded. But the Blazers couldn’t bring the tying run home.
“With bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, we needed one hit and we got the bat on the ball. It was just a little too high,” Ladywood coach Scott Combs said. “I can’t be happier. They were feeling a little bit sluggish in the middle of the year when we were like 8-6. We did a wake-up call and got hot and played really well the last six weeks. As you can see, we can play with anybody. If you can come in here and go 4-3 with those guys you can’t be upset.”
Price struck out nine for the Blazers, walking three and giving up five hits in six innings. Hayley Thibeault struck out three, walked two and gave up just three hits.
“In that last inning Haley stuck three or four pitches right where she needed to stick them,” Dock said. “It was a beautiful thing.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Stevensville Lakeshore players hold up their MHSAA Division 2 championship trophy Saturday. (Middle) Lakeshore shortstop Alex Forsythe had a hit and an RBI in the Final.
Muskegon Oakridge Surging Again, but with Switch to Heavy-Hitting Style
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
May 5, 2022
Don’t expect much “small ball” from the Muskegon Oakridge softball team.
While veteran Oakridge coach Joe Coletta has fielded speedy teams in the past that terrorized opponents with stolen bases and bunting, this year’s edition manufactures runs the old-fashioned way – by swinging for the fences.
“We don’t have any girls at the top of the order that are going to steal bases – I’ll just let everybody know that,” said Coletta with a smile, after his team improved to 13-0 on Wednesday with two come-from-behind wins over visiting West Michigan Conference rival Ravenna, which also entered the showdown unbeaten.
“We’re not a speed team; we’re a long-ball hitting team. We have to be patient at times, but the long ball can change the game in a hurry.”
It certainly took some patience Wednesday, as Ravenna junior ace Emma Gillard baffled the Eagles early with her changeup, leading many in the crowd to wonder if they were witnessing a changing of the guard in WMC softball.
Then came the fifth inning.
The Oakridge “Smash Sisters” went to work and scored 11 runs, turning a scary 5-0 deficit into a comfortable 11-5 lead. The Eagles did it with not one, not two, but three over-the-fence home runs in that pivotal inning.
The lead basher for the Eagles is senior second baseman Jasmine “JJ” Pastor, who struck out in her first two at-bats Wednesday before getting her team on the board in that big inning with a two-run homer over the left-centerfield fence.
“I knew what happened the first two at-bats, and I knew it was time for me to step up,” said Pastor, a Muskegon Community College commit who is batting .444 with a team-high six home runs and nine doubles.
Pastor’s shot opened the floodgates, with the biggest hit of all coming from junior catcher Andrea Romero-Serrano (who bats sixth in the lineup), who belted a grand slam to give the Eagles a 6-5 lead. The final long ball of the inning came from sophomore first baseman Madison Clark, a lefty who pulled one over the rightfield fence for her team’s final runs in an 11-6 win.
The Eagles’ power is not contained to the top of the batting order, either, as eight of the nine starters have hit out-of-the-park home runs this spring.
Oakridge, which is ranked No. 7 in Division 2, had to rally again in second game, falling behind 6-3 heading into the sixth inning.
That was when the bottom of the Eagles’ batting order sparked another rally. Freshman Brenna Cabrera and sophomores Ahria Doornbos and Mallori Whipple all singled, leaving the bases loaded for Pastor.
After swinging wildly at a pair of lethal changeups from Ravenna freshman Addison Gillard, Pastor was ready for the third off-speed pitch, waiting on it perfectly and smashing a game-changing grand slam. Oakridge would add a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh for a 9-6 win.
Kaelinn Jozsa, a sophomore shortstop, leads Oakridge with a .600 batting average and three home runs. Other leading hitters are senior Brooklyn Galdeen (.467, two home runs), Clark (.412, two home runs) and senior centerfielder Delaney Ruel (.410).
Galdeen is the Eagles’ ace pitcher, with seven wins. Josza has five wins, and freshman Kylee Willea earned a gutty win in her first start of the season in Wednesday’s nightcap against Ravenna.
Oakridge now has a leg up as it seeks its sixth-straight WMC title. The Eagles have been the premier softball program in the Muskegon area over the past decade, winning seven District titles under Coletta. The highlight was a four-year stretch from 2016 to 2019, when the Eagles won 30 or more games each season.
Coletta said that Pastor, one of three seniors in the Oakridge starting lineup along with Galdeen and Ruel, was more vocal than he’s ever seen her at practice leading up to Wednesday’s showdown. Pastor said she was motivated by last year’s matchup with Ravenna, when the Bulldogs snapped the Eagles’ incredible 65-game conference winning streak in a doubleheader split, leading to a shared league championship.
“It’s just great competition between us and always back-and-forth,” said Pastor, whose father, Red Pastor, has coached her for many years in travel softball and is the Eagles’ longtime assistant coach. “Knowing that we have Ravenna right there, coming after us, pushes us even more.”
The two teams are likely to square off again in Saturday’s Greater Muskegon Athletic Association County Tournament, where Ravenna (16-2) will certainly be out for revenge.
One of the nice aspects of the budding softball rivalry between the two neighboring school districts is that they will go their separate ways in the postseason, with Oakridge in Division 2 and Ravenna in Division 3.
For Coletta, a three-sport athlete at Ravenna who has now won 280 games in 14 years as the Oakridge softball coach, the softball diamond is just the latest stage for one of the state’s best prep rivalries - which has been part of his life since he was a little kid.
Coletta served as the longtime offensive coordinator at Oakridge under Jack Schugars, the winningest football coach in Muskegon-area history. The Oakridge-Ravenna football rivalry ran red-hot during those years, particularly a 15-year stretch from 1994 to 2008, when the Bulldogs won four state titles and the Eagles won three.
“When I came over here to coach football, the rivalry was very intense,” said Coletta, who returned as softball coach this spring after stepping down in 2019. “I really enjoyed that rivalry, and now it’s going to be just like that for a while in softball – we both have some great young players. If you’re a competitor, this is exactly what you want.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Muskegon Oakridge senior second baseman Jasmine Pastor connects at the plate. Pastor is batting .444 this season with eight home runs and nine doubles for the Eagles, who are 13-0 and ranked No. 7 in Division 2. (Middle) Head coach Joe Coletta, left, and assistant Red Pastor have built the Oakridge softball program into one of the best in West Michigan. (Photos by Sherry Wahr.)