D3 Powers Book Championship Matchup
June 16, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Everyone who follows high school softball in Michigan expected another dominating Meghan Beaubien performance in Friday’s first Division 3 Semifinal.
But few expected a pitchers dual – broken up only by Beaubien the hitter as Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central earned the opportunity to play for a third straight MHSAA championship.
Beaubien allowed just two hits and struck out 15 Shepherd hitters at Secchia Stadium, and also led off the sixth inning with a triple before scoring the game’s lone run as the top-ranked Kestrels escaped the Bluejays and their pitcher Haley Peska 1-0.
Peska, who no-hit No. 4 Millington in Tuesday’s Quarterfinal, allowed only five hits and struck out six in just about matching the state’s most celebrated hurler of the last three seasons.
“We’ve played a lot of really good teams on our way here this year," Beaubien said. "This is a great example of it – Shepherd’s a team that nobody thought would be in the mix at this point, and they just played a great game and almost beat us.
“(But) the experience of being here has helped us mentally and with our confidence.”
Monroe St. Mary (26-3) will next face No. 3 Napoleon in Saturday’s 5:30 p.m. Final.
Maybe not the best news for Michigan State’s softball program – Beaubien will continue her career at University of Michigan – but the St. Mary’s ace has given up four hits total in 33 innings pitched at Secchia over the last three seasons. In fact, Friday’s was the first Semifinal in three seasons that she didn’t throw a no-hitter.
Not that giving up two hits made her any less dominating. That was made plain both in the sound the ball made pounding catcher Kenna Garst’s glove on her many fastballs, but also when she ended the game with a strikeout on a floating change-up that no one in East Lansing was expecting.
She’ll finish her high school career with an ERA well south of a run per game and passed 1,300 career strikeouts a while ago.
“This whole run was like, ‘OK, any game could be your last game.’ I know that,” Beaubien said. “Now I know for sure. Tomorrow is my last game. I don’t think it’s really hit me yet. It’s a little weird. I just want to go out there and make my last game of my career end with another state championship.”
The combination of two superb pitching performances made this one fly by in a mere 77 minutes. Freshman rightfielder Samantha Michael did have two hits in two at bats for St. Mary, with junior shortstop Kelsey Barron doubling in that lone run and junior third baseman Danielle Michael notching the team’s other hit.
Senior centerfielder Ryanne McKenna and junior shortstop Kianna Andrews had the hits for Shepherd (25-19), and of course Peska made the most memorable impact for a Bluejays team playing in its first Semifinal since 1997.
“They’ve got two coaches over there (Bobb Servoss and assistant Terry Lynch) that know a lot about the game … and in this game it’s all about keeping hitters off-balance,” St. Mary coach John Morningstar said. “You’re never letting anyone sit on something, and if all you’ve got is speed in this game it’s going to be a long season. Kids will catch up to that hard ball. Moving it around the way (Peska) does, she’s very effective. She had us chasing a lot of pitches that we wouldn’t normally swing at.”
Napoleon 16, Gladstone 0
Not that more proof was needed on top of a 36-4 record. But Napoleon’s seniors showed again Friday they’re ready for one last matchup with the St. Mary ace.
As freshman, they were part of a team that downed Beaubien and St. Mary in a Regional Final. But she and the Kestrels came back to eliminate the Pirates in a Quarterfinal in 2015, and Napoleon didn’t make it out of the District a year ago.
“We have been looking ahead, and saying we’re going to end up meeting Meghan, we're going to meet her,” Napoleon senior shortstop Paige Kortz said. “And just talking and scouting, hearing scouting reports. Of course they probably have with us (too), but just going ahead and figuring out what their weaknesses are, and we’re going to try to hit them tomorrow.”
They seemed to hit everything Friday, especially during the first inning. Napoleon jumped out to an 8-0 lead and finished the game with 19 hits over five innings.
Senior outfielder Kallie Pittman was 4 for 4 and scored two runs, while senior second baseman Ashton Jordan was 3 for 4 with two doubles, two runs and four RBI. Senior third baseman Haley Rose also was 3 for 4 and scored three runs, while Kortz, senior centerfielder Dylan Wiley, senior catcher Rachel Griffin and junior designated player Caitlin Pace all had two hits.
Senior Sydney Coe, in addition to driving in two runs, allowed only three hits in the circle and struck out six Gladstone batters. Senior centerfielder Alyssa Polley, sophomore third baseman Sydney Herioux and junior rightfielder Kaitlyn Hardwick hit safely for the Braves (34-10).
This was the fourth Napoleon team to make Quarterfinals and the first to make Semifinals, meaning of course that Saturday’s championship game also will be a first.
“Especially having eight seniors,” Kortz said, “we at the beginning of this season were determined to be Lansing bound. And determined to make school history.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Monroe St. Mary’s Samantha Michael rounds a base during Friday’s win over Shepherd. (Middle) Napoleon’s Sydney Coe takes a swing during the second Division 3 Semifinal.
Gaylord, Vicksburg Post Semifinal Shutouts to Set Up Title Game Rematch
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
June 13, 2024
EAST LANSING – Gaylord possessed one of the most productive offenses in MHSAA history entering Thursday’s first Division 2 Semifinal.
The top-ranked Blue Devils showed no signs of a power failure in securing a spot in Saturday’s Final.
Gaylord scored in four of the seven innings in a 9-0 victory over Milan at Secchia Stadium.
The reigning Division 2 champion has recorded more than 400 RBIs this season and has outscored its last four postseason opponents by a combined 48-4.
“We just prepare really hard in practice and put a lot of time in,” Blue Devils coach Ron Moeggenberg said. “The offense is very good. We hit the long ball, and we can play short game. We do a little bit of everything, so it’s very special.”
Gaylord hopes to repeat Saturday when it faces Vicksburg in a rematch of last year’s Final. First pitch is at 12:30 p.m.
Senior shortstop Aubrey Jones was one of four Blue Devils to have multiple hits against Milan. She started and ended the scoring.
Jones’ RBI single in the first inning gave Gaylord a 1-0 lead, and her two-run blast in the sixth capped the win.
“It’s all about my team, and I'm just glad I could do something for my team,” Jones said. “I knew I would get one eventually because my (at) bats before that were decent. Just getting my pitch and doing what I could with it to help my team get a few more runs on the board.”
Senior hurler Jayden Jones, who scattered six hits through seven innings and struck out four to earn the shutout win, also had two hits.
Addison Wangler went 2-for-3, while Nora Bethuy registered two hits and scored two runs.
“No one trains like we do,” Aubrey Jones said. “We are very deliberate in our practice, and it shows up with the confidence we have at the plate because we know if we don't do it then the person behind us will.”
Kennedy Wangler cleared the bases with a two-out double in the third inning, and Gaylord went ahead 4-0.
The Blue Devils tacked on two more runs in the fourth.
“We said once we got past their pitcher the first time through we would start going after that,” Moeggenberg said. “It’s kind of the way it's been, and not at any time was I nervous about what was going on in the beginning. I knew we would prevail.”
Timely hitting also has been a trademark of Gaylord throughout the season.
“We’ve done a lot of that this year with two outs,” Moeggenberg said. “I’m not surprised that the girls just stayed focused. Our approach with two outs is the same as no outs. We don’t put any pressure on ourselves.”
This was Milan’s second trip to the Semifinals.
“Their defense was just phenomenal,” Big Reds coach Kirk Davis said. “We didn’t get too many strong hits, and they were able to field everything. We have a good pitcher (Mariah Stines) and she usually is able to shut people down, but their offense is good and they hit a lot of balls in the gaps. It was tough.”
Vicksburg 4, North Branch 0
Vicksburg was motivated to get another opportunity to play for the Division 2 championship.
The No. 4 Bulldogs (37-7) will get another crack at the team that spoiled their title hopes a year ago. Gaylord won last year’s Division 2 Final matchup 8-3.
“We've worked all year for this,” Vicksburg senior pitcher Delaney Monroe said. “We said last year that we wanted to get back to this point, and now we are back here and it's the best feeling in the world.
“It was a hard time last year with that loss, and having the opportunity to be back here against that team is even better – to have the opportunity to get them back.”
Vicksburg coach Paul Gephart didn’t want to use the word “revenge,” but he’s hopeful for a different outcome with eight returning starters from last year’s run.
“It's a new year, it’s a new season and, obviously, it's going to be a challenge,” he said. “They are extremely good, and they've been ranked No. 1 the entire year and rightfully so. They’ve earned it, and they've deserved it until someone can upset them. Hopefully we will be the ones to do it.”
Vicksburg took an early 3-0 lead in top of the second inning by taking advantage of two North Branch errors and a hit batsman.
The Bulldogs manufactured another run in the fifth with a bunt single by Madison Diekman, a hit batsman and a fielder's choice.
“Offensively we didn't hit like we normally would, but I think we capitalized on their mistakes and we took advantage of the opportunities that they presented us to score,” Gephart said. “Delaney always pitches pretty well here at the end since she's been healthy, and our defense is always pretty solid. We don’t make a whole lot of mistakes defensively.”
The Bulldogs managed only five hits, but Monroe kept the Broncos off the scoreboard with six strikeouts. She didn’t walk a batter and scattered five hits.
North Branch (15-20) came in as the only team in the Semifinals with a sub-.500 record, but won eight straight before Thursday’s season-ending defeat.
Senior ace Alana Deshetsky kept her team in the game with seven strikeouts and only one walk. She allowed only five hits and two earned runs.
“I stacked our schedule, and we played a lot of top-notch teams,” Broncos coach Alyssa Welling said. “I don’t think we won a game in May, but I knew we had the talent and I knew we could do it.
“We had one bad inning, and in the game of softball one bad inning can really put you south, but we weren't even supposed to make it out of Districts. People didn't have us winning Districts or getting out of Regionals, so we are so grateful to be here and we put in the work to be here.”
PHOTOS (Top) Gaylord’s Aubrey Jones throws to first Thursday as Milan’s Tierra Ronayne slides into second base. (Middle) Vicksburg’s Brooklynn Ringler (4) slides into second during her team’s Semifinal win.