D2 Semis: Confident Contenders Roll On
June 12, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Rozlyn Price’s gutsy performance Thursday afternoon at Secchia Stadium had less to do with how far she’s come in the last year as it was about how far she’s come over the last month.
A year ago, the then-freshman Price pitched the Blazers back to the MHSAA Division 2 Semifinals. But this spring hardly began the way she and Ladywood expected – the Blazers started 8-8, and as recently as May 17, Price walked 17 batters over just more than five innings in the Detroit Catholic League championship game.
Coach Scott Combs said there was a stretch when he didn’t feel he could put his ace in the pitching circle. But he never gave up on her.
“I was struggling a lot in the beginning of the season. My confidence was not there,” Price said. “I’m so thankful having my team behind me, cheering me up after every pitch. Whenever I get down, they always try to pick me up.
“Coach Scott worked with me a lot. He said, ‘Just calm down; just stay focused on the batter, and you’ll be fine.’”
Confident again, Price made a number of gutsy pitches Thursday to lead Ladywood back to the Division 2 Final with a 4-3, 10-inning win over top-ranked Wayland at Secchia Stadium. The No. 7 Blazers (29-13) will face No. 4 Stevensville Lakeshore in Saturday’s championship game at 9 a.m.
Price walked only two batters in the Semifinal and struck out six, including Wayland’s leadoff hitter with bases loaded and her team up 2-1 in the sixth inning. She also stranded a Wildcats runner on third base in the bottom of the ninth.
It was a far cry from her early-season struggles and 12 losses that became more forgettable with Thursday’s win.
“She could not throw a strike, and we worked and worked psychologically to get her to relax,” Combs said. “She was trying to muscle everything, trying to blow it by everybody. … She’s got all the ability in the world, and she’s a great hitter too, but she just needed to learn to focus and relax, and she did.”
Price did hit as well, doubling in her team’s first two runs. Sophomore rightfielder Rachel Hendrickson, batting ninth, tripled in junior Morgan Larkin in the seventh inning and then scored the game-winner in the 10th on senior shortstop Haley Lawrence’s single.
All three were in the lineup last season when Ladywood fell 8-0 to Tecumseh in a Semifinal. Tecumseh went on to win the championship.
This was Ladywood’s fourth straight trip to the Semifinals, and Saturday’s championship game will give the Blazers the opportunity to win their second title in three seasons – although the lineup is almost completely different than the one that won two years ago.
“It’s just crazy, the difference in the team last year to the team this year,” Price said. “I myself, I feel like I had a lot more confidence in this game than I did last year, or even in the games at the beginning of this season.”
Junior centerfielder Christina Meyer and Lawrence joined Hendrickson with a pair of hits. Every one of Wayland’s starters hit safely, led by senior catcher Britt McLain, senior rightfielder Elyssa Oostdyk, junior pitcher Mallory Teunissen and junior first baseman Morgan Teunissen with two hits apiece.
The Wildcats finished 42-2. Click for the full box score.
Stevensville Lakeshore 7, Croswell-Lexington 4
A couple things annually are expected from the Stevensville Lakeshore softball team: The Lancers will win at least 30 games and contend for the Division 2 title.
They won their 30th game this season in the District Final. And they’re back in an MHSAA championship game – even if they didn’t feel the same outside expectations this spring after a rough start.
“Our first game we lost to Edwardsburg, and we’re like, ‘Oh man.’ Portage Central beat us five out of six times,” Lakeshore senior pitcher Haley Thibeault said. “We didn’t start at the top like we have been. We started at the bottom and literally just shot up. We peaked exactly at the right time.”
The Lancers (35-9) kept the tournament momentum rolling with five runs in the first inning against Croswell-Lexington. They pushed the score to 6-0 in the fifth inning.
Croswell-Lexington (30-2) showed plenty of sparks scoring a pair of runs in both the sixth and seventh innings – but was a hit or two short in both of turning the tide completely.
Junior pitcher Megan Guitar had two hits and scored a run for the Pioneers. Senior shortstop Kylee Barrett drilled a home run in the seventh inning.
Sophomore leftfielder Rachel Riedel had three hits including two triples and drove in three runs. Freshman second baseman Hunter Thibeault and sophomore rightfielder Sidney Weaver both had two hits.
Lakeshore’s return to the championship game is its first since winning back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011.
“Everyone has been saying we’re not as good as last year’s team, or our team is young. (You don’t like) to hear that because we want to go as far as we can,” Haley Thibeault said. “I’m so proud because we’re defying all the odds to come this far. Maybe it doesn’t seem like that to other people, but it’s internal victories to us, moral victories.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Livonia Ladywood’s Rozlyn Price fires a pitch during her team’s 10-inning Division 2 Semifinal win over Wayland. (Middle) Lakeshore shortstop Alex Forsythe throws to first during her team’s Semifinal win.
Gladstone Follows 'Rally Girl' to D3 Win
June 14, 2014
By Kelsey Pence
Special to Second Half
EAST LANSING – On Friday, Gladstone pitcher Tinner Sharon gave up back-to-back home runs to Coloma in the seventh inning before the Braves came back in the eighth to win their MHSAA Division 3 Semifinal.
On Saturday, Sharon found herself in a similar position – Gladstone led undefeated Unionville-Sebewaing by a run and needed only three more outs to secure the third MHSAA title in program history.
She was anything by nervous.
Sharon struck out all three Patriots she faced in the bottom of the seventh inning, icing a 2-1 win and the Braves’ first championship since 2009.
“After being in the seventh inning (Friday) when they jacked the two homeruns, I was probably the least excited on the field actually,” Sharon said. “I was so focused.”
Sharon’s tournament has been a bumpy ride. She injured her ankle in Friday’s Semifinal while in the pitching circle.
“She knew she wanted to play today,” Gladstone coach Ashley Hughes said. “She is one of the most focused kids I know, and she was coming in here big and focused. It’s just amazing what that girl can do and what she can endure. She is a rally girl out there and got the troops ready in the seventh inning.”
Sharon tripled in the first inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Sadie Strasser. But USA’s Allison Hoppe doubled and eventually scored to tie the game in the Patriots’ half.
“I knew they were going to be tough competition, but these girls were in it every step of the way,” Hughes said. “We lost to them in the quarters last year, and our girls wanted revenge.”
Sharon walked and Strasser hit into a fielder’s choice to advance her to second base in the third inning. Lexi Hongisto then ripped a double to deep right field, allowing Sharon’s pinch runner, Alyssa Polley, to score the go-ahead run.
“She was pitching me inside, and I am not a fan of inside pitches,” Hongisto said. “Then she pitched me an outside pitch, and I just went with it and it felt so good.”
The Patriots had a chance to even the score in the fourth inning when Nicole Bauer got a hit to left field with two outs. Jennifer Winchell singled to left field to put two on base, but Rachel Hahn grounded out.
But after retiring three in order, the Patriots again had a chance to tie or take the lead in the fifth.
Mackenzie Eurich doubled to right field to start the inning, with Camille Mayhew subbing in as a courtesy runner. Hoppe struck out, but Stephanie Nueman smacked a pitch to short right field to put two on base with one out. But Gladstone got out of the inning with a double play.
“Our defense has been solid this year and with Tinner on the mound, we are always confident with Tinner,” Hongisto said. “Tinner always tells us one pitch at a time, not one out at a time.”
Sharon pitched seven innings, giving up eight hits, striking out 12 and walking none.
“We had eight hits. We just couldn’t get the one big one,” Patriots coach Steve Bohn said. “That lineout double play was huge for them.”
Neuman finished with two hits for USA, while Nicole Bauer took the loss on in the circle, striking out two, walking two and giving up four hits. Erica Treiber pitched in relief, striking out seven, walking one and holding Gladstone hitless over the last three innings.
PHOTOS: (Top) Gladstone pitcher Tinner Sharon gave up one run in a complete-game win. (Middle) Unionville-Sebewaing catcher Breanna Dinsmoore had a hit and caught a pair of pitchers who combined on a four-hitter.