D1 Semis: Pitchers Hit Big for Finalists
June 12, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Portage Central senior Gina Verduczo was maybe a tad bummed as she recalled in detail two walks she gave up Thursday morning. After all, she’d walked at most 10 batters this entire season.
But the Mustangs’ ace also was a little surprised to find out some of her personal highlights in what might be the most memorable game of her high school career – until Portage Central plays again in Saturday’s MHSAA Division 1 Final.
Verduczo threw a no-hitter and drove in the game’s only run in the sixth inning as Portage Central advanced to its first championship game since 1977 with a 1-0 victory over Utica Ford.
She’d glanced at the Secchia Stadium scoreboard a few times. But apparently she missed the “0” in Ford’s hits column indicating her near-perfect performance from the pitching circle.
“My dad was a baseball player; he was a pitcher, and he taught me to focus on the job and hand and not look at what you’ve done,” Verduczo said. “You still have six more outs to go, three more outs to go. Obviously, down to the end, she could’ve gotten a hit. I still had a job to do.”
Portage Central (42-3), ranked No. 3, will try to finish that job against No. 4 Bay City Western in the championship game at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
Verduczo finished the Semifinal with 11 strikeouts and allowed only those two runners who reached on bases on balls. She closed the game by striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh inning.
As Mustangs coach Tom Hamilton pointed out, Verduczo also knows the disappointment of falling in such a tight game. Portage Central was top-ranked in Division 1 heading into last season’s tournament, but lost to eventual MHSAA champion Mattawan on a walk-off home run in the District Final.
“If there’s a person we’ve got on this team (that) we want on that mound, she’s got that bulldog mentality,” Hamilton said. “This is her moment to shine.
“She’s been in games like that where she’s been on the other end. So it’s nice to see her be on this end of it.”
Portage Central senior outfielder Lea Foerster singled with one out in the sixth inning, and after moving to second on senior Taylor Snyder’s sacrifice came home on Verduczo’s single to right field.
Verduczo had a pair of singles, the only batter in the game with multiple hits.
“We’re excited for the last seven innings,” Verduczo said, referring to Saturday’s Final. “This was one of our goals, and we’re happy to be part of it.”
Utica Ford freshman Nikki Sorgi also was impressive in the circle, allowing only six hits and walking one batter in her team’s first Semifinal appearance. Ford finished 30-9. Click for a full box score.
Bay City Western 2, Romeo 1
Bay City Western (40-3) returned nearly the same lineup that carried the Warriors last season to their first MHSAA championship game in team history. And the lessons learned during that run surely paid off in Thursday’s second Semifinal.
Western fell behind 1-0 in the fourth inning when Romeo sophomore shortstop Morgan Gardner drilled a Hannah Leppek pitch over the left-field fence – the only home run Leppek has given up this season.
“I don’t like that feeling, obviously, and I wasn’t used to it,” said Leppek, an all-stater last season. “I had to teach myself really quickly how to get over it.”
Still, with Romeo pitcher Taylor Weaver also dominating, it began to look like the Bulldogs would be advancing to their first-ever MHSAA Final instead of Western returning.
But Leppek did bounce back quickly. She doubled in the tying run and scored the go-ahead in the sixth inning, and allowed only three hits the rest of the game.
Leppek ended with two hits in three at bats, and struck out six batters while walking only one.
“I learned (in last year’s Final) how to handle my emotions and the stress and the crowd, and everything like that,” Leppek said. “(And) my hits definitely built me back up.”
Sophomore second baseman Kelsie Popp – whose walk-off homer Tuesday pushed the Warriors past Hudsonville 4-2 and into the Semifinals – drove in Leppek with a double.
“She’s starting to learn how to be a clutch hitter, isn’t she,” Western coach Rick Garlinghouse said of Popp. “She comes through. She protects (Meredith) Rousse, (Kaylynn) Carpenter and Leppek in our batting order, and they can’t pitch around those three with her batting fourth. We’re a pretty hard team to beat that way.”
Weaver allowed only four hits, striking out six without allowing a walk. Romeo, ranked No. 2, finished 31-8. Click for a full box score.
PHOTOS: (Top) Portage Central pitcher Kim Verduczo fires a pitch during her Division 1 Semifinal no-hitter. (Middle) Bay City Western pitcher Hannah Leppek unloads a pitch in the Warriors’ Semifinal victory.
Tourney-Tested Scots Setting Bar High Again
April 24, 2019
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
CALEDONIA – The Caledonia softball team celebrated the program’s first MHSAA championship a year ago with a 6-4 win over Hartland in the MHSAA Division 1 Final.
With 11 players from that squad back, there’s a strong belief the Fighting Scots have the potential to make a similar postseason run.
“We want to live up to what we did last year a little bit,” senior infielder Brooklynne Siewertsen said. “Everybody thinks that we’re not going to be as good because we lost our star pitcher, but we can be just as good with the pitchers we have. We just need to step up our defense a little bit and show that we belong.”
Caledonia graduated only four seniors last spring. But the headliner of that group was starting pitcher Sammie Gehrls, who’s currently playing at Grand Valley State after earning all-state honors in the circle all four years of high school and leaving with eight entries for hitting in the MHSAA record book.
“She’s only one player, but she’s tough to replace,” 18th-year Caledonia coach Tom Kaechele said. “She did so many things for us on the mound and what have you.”
The Fighting Scots, who entered the week ranked No. 7 in Division 1, have a capable stable of pitchers to fill the void but have suffered early setbacks.
Their No. 1 pitcher, junior Emallee Hamp, can’t throw right now due to an injury, while senior starting catcher Taylor Cross also is sidelined due to an injury suffered in a scrimmage.
“We’re still trying to find the right pieces,” Kaechele said. “Just playing the right pieces and having girls feel comfortable with whoever is on the mound and realizing that they have to play more defense than they did with Sammie. We’re not going to get those 10 or 12-strikeout games.”
But with the bulk of its roster having experienced last year’s success, Caledonia understands what needs to be done to play at a high level.
“We know what it’s like to play at that level, and we know what we are capable of,” Fighting Scots junior Abby Mitchell said. “We’ve already grown tremendously from our first game, and we are all ready to keep getting after it in the coming weeks.”
Added Siewertsen: “It helps tremendously to have a lot of returners because we all know what it takes to get back there (to the Finals). We have a lot of grit and determination.”
The Fighting Scots, who also return seniors Ashleigh VanZytveld, Sage Turner, Jadon Huyser, Erika Dunham, Brenna Nurenberg and Julia Becker and junior Megan Claery, already have seen the effects of being the reigning champions.
Opposing teams aren’t making it easy, and that was obvious in Monday’s 20-13 extra-inning win over Ottawa-Kent Conference Red rival Rockford.
“It’s hard because you have a target on your back and everyone wants to beat you because you are the defending state champs,” Kaechele said. “So it doesn’t matter which team it is because they are going to come out and try to give you the best they have. Rockford never gave up against us and kept coming at us and fighting.”
This year’s team has a close-knit bond and motivates each other daily.
“We all get along really well and push each other in practice and games,” Mitchell said. “We all have so much fun playing the game together, which makes the opportunity to play with these girls incredible.”
Mitchell joined Gehrls in making the all-state first team last season, and Cross earned an honorable mention. Kaechele knew he had a majority of his big bats returning to the lineup, but defense would have to be improved.
“Because of the hitting we had coming back I thought we could be very good coming into the season. But I also knew we had to play better defense, and that’s one thing we’re still trying to work on,” he said. “Just getting our defense back to where it was last year.”
The Fighting Scots are off to a 7-4 start and compete in a highly-competitive O-K Red with the likes of state powerhouses Grandville and Hudsonville, both honorable mentions in the latest Division 1 rankings.
Caledonia didn’t win the conference crown last season, but played well down the stretch en route to its historic feat.
“Once we got on a roll last year we were so dialed in as a team, and we wanted it really bad,” Kaechele said. “We have to get that mindset back and hopefully we can put it all together and get the confidence we need and get some players back that will help us.”
Dean Holzwarth covered primarily high school sports for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years and more recently served as sports editor of the Ionia Sentinel and as a sports photojournalist for WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Caledonia’s Jadon Huyser is congratulated by assistant coach Amanda Kimes after tripling during last season’s Division 1 Final against Hartland. (Middle) Brooklynne Siewertsen fires a throw to first during the Fighting Scots’ Semifinal win over Warren Regina.