D1 Softball Final: Safe at Home, Again
June 16, 2012
BATTLE CREEK – The combined numbers put up Mattawan and Hudsonville in Saturday’s Division 1 Final at Bailey Park indicate a game that came down to just one play.
And Eagles junior shortstop Danielle Freeman made it when she slid into home safely to give her team a 2-1 win in 10 innings and the MHSAA championship.
The teams did combine for 19 hits over 19 innings pitched, but only one earned run. At the end, Hudsonville freshman Lexi Agers won out by the slightest of margins over Mattawan senior Stacy Thompson, who had helped her team to the title in 2011.
Agers struck out six and walked only one in 10 innings. Thompson stuck out eight and walked only one as well for the Wildcats, who finished 33-11.
Freeman led off the bottom of the 10th with a single to center field. Junior first baseman Ellie Adams followed with a single to right. Freeman then scored on a throwing error after senior second baseman Bri Elliott had bunted her to third base.
Freeman finished with three hits and Agers had two for Hudsonville, which finished 40-3 and entered the tournament ranked No. 4. Sophomore second baseman Kyla Nickrent had two hits and scored the lone run for Mattawan, which was ranked No. 3. Click for a complete box score.
The championship was Hudsonville’s third in four seasons.
PHOTO: Hudsonville's Josie Hamming slides in safely during the second inning for the Eagles' first run in the Division 2 Final.
USA Triumphs with Pitching, Fielding Gems
June 15, 2019
By Perry A. Farrell
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – What a way to win a championship.
In a top-play moment, Unionville-Sebewaing turned a triple play in the seventh inning to secure a 3-1 victory over Kalamazoo Christian in the Division 4 softball championship game at Michigan State’s Secchia Stadium.
With runners on first and second base, the Comets’ Sammy Gano lined a shot off USA pitcher Brynn Polega’s arm. The ball ricocheted in the air to shortstop Rylee Zimmer, who touched second base and threw to first to complete the gem. (Click for video.)
Polega, a sophomore, had 15 strikeouts and a bruise on her arm.
“It hit me right in the elbow, and I just turned around and I said, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Polega said. “I said please get this, and I saw (Zimmerman) step on second. The runner on first was halfway to second, and I said that’s it. I was so excited when that happened. To win this as a sophomore is incredible.’’
“Chaos. I’ve never seen an ending like that,’’ added Patriots coach Isaiah Gainforth. “Whether in the Major Leagues, college baseball. I played a lot of different things, and I’ve never seen anything transpire the way that last inning did. I’m just glad we’re on the winning end of it.’’
Polega kept the Comets hitters at bay for most of the game.
“My curveball was working good,’’ she said. “My drop ball was good. Right before the game, my pitching coach and I were over there working on it. He said stay tall, keep my arm long and snap hard. That’s what I did all game.’’
She had six strikeouts through the first two innings, and by the end of the fifth she had racked up 12.
Staked to a 3-0 lead after the third inning and tossing a one-hitter, Polega never gave a young Kalamazoo Christian team a chance to get back into it before the seventh-inning dramatics.
Chants of “USA, USA, USA’’ rang through the Patriots crowd. It was the sixth Finals title for the Patriots (31-9) since 2009.
The teams finished with identical records, and it would be no surprise if they met again in next year’s Final with USA losing just three seniors and the Comets losing two.
“We’re a young team and so are they, so it could happen,’’ said Polega.
USA had a first-inning threat as Zimmer tripled with one out, but she was left on base.
Polega mowed through Kalamazoo Christian hitters, striking out eight through three innings and getting out of a jam in the third with a strikeout.
The Patriots got on the board in the third inning when Maci Reinhardt singled and scored on a throwing error with Maci Montgomery at the plate. Polega bounced out, scoring Montgomery, and Delanie Pavlichek doubled in another run to make it 3-0.
The Comets finally got to Polega in the sixth inning on a single by junior second baseman Megan Snook, who eventually scored on a single by freshman Reagan Broekhuizen to make it 3-1.
Polega ended the threat with another strikeout, her 15th of the game.
“She was zoned in,’’ said her catcher, Montgomery. “Everything was right on the spot. She made a couple of mistakes, but the defense supported her.’’
Especially in the seventh inning.
PHOTOS: (Top) USA's Brynn Polega works through an inning on the way to pitching her team to a Division 4 Final win. (Middle) Macy Reinhardt (14) connects with a Kalamazoo Christian pitch.