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D3 Semis: Contenders Survive Comebacks
June 13, 2014
By Kelsey Pence
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Tinner Sharon’s chance at an MHSAA title was slipping through her fingers.
After giving up back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to lose a 4-1 lead, Sharon knocked a hit to left field and rounded the bases at full speed on a fielder’s choice by Sadie Strasser to give Gladstone its lead back.
With an injured ankle, Sharon then retired three in the bottom of the eighth inning to secure a 5-4 win over Coloma (34-10) in the Division 3 Semifinal at Secchia Stadium on Friday.
The senior pitcher was carried off the field as her team celebrated its fourth championship game appearance.
“All season we’ve had this motto of ‘never say die,’ and you never know what can happen in the bottom of the seventh, which was very important to (Coloma) today,” Gladstone coach Ashley Hughes said. “Tinner was struggling with her foot today, but she’s one incredible kid and definitely a leader for us.”
The Braves (29-2) had a 3-1 lead in the top of the seventh inning but scored on a balk to take a three-run lead.
But Coloma coach Wendy Goodline knew her team wasn’t completely out of it with Jenna Faultersack and Lexee Summers coming up.
“The two that got us back into it at the end are two of my hardest working girls,” Goodline said. “I’m not surprised that they were able to do that at all.”
Faultersack smacked a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, and Summers followed with a solo blast to left field to tie the score at 4-4.
“It was huge, but we had some solid hits throughout the day too that could have been brought in,” Hughes said of the balk. “The game can go either way, so thankfully everything was in our favor today.”
Sharon was able to score on a throwing error by the Comets to get the winning run.
“We thought about putting a runner on for her, but she got on base in the eighth and looked over and was like ‘Nope. That’s not happening,’” Hughes said. “She is just unbelievable. It takes something unbelievable like that to happen, and she was great for us today.”
Teammate Jess Beaudry agreed.
“She’s one of our quickest people on the field and with her ankle like that, that’s adrenaline, that’s her wanting to win so bad,” Beaudry said.
The Braves scored first in the top of the first inning when Strasser stole home on a missed bunt by Beaudry. They increased the lead to 3-0 when Lexi Hongisto tripled to right field and Beaudry brought her home with a home run to center.
“Nothing has felt better,” Beaudry said. “I can’t even tell you. I didn’t know it was gone at first, but I wanted to get my teammates in and it felt great.”
Coloma’s Katie Scheuer got on base with a hit to center field to start off the bottom of the fourth inning, and Kristin Potter brought her home with a single to right field to make it a two-run game.
Both teams were blanked in the fifth and sixth innings, and it looked like the Braves were going to cruise to the win when Sharon struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh.
“That’s the name of the game,” Beaudry said. “We get some hits, they get some hits. You just have to get that momentum back when they have it.”
Bridget Becker added two hits for the Braves, while Potter tallied two for the Comets.
Sharon struck out seven for the Braves, giving up seven hits and walking four. Coloma pitcher Emily Najacht struck out four, walked two and gave up six hits for the Comets. Click for the full box score.
Unionville-Sebewaing 7, Clinton 5
Rachael Hahn belted a home run to right field in the top of the fourth inning, and Unionville-Sebewaing held off a late rally by Clinton en route to earning a trip to the Division 3 Final.
The Patriots, back in the championship game after finishing runner-up last season, had a 6-1 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning but saw it vanish quickly when Clinton’s Megan Nelson and Sarah Turner both smacked two-run homers.
“I think that just gave us more momentum,” Hahn said. “It fired us up. We knew those runs were coming; we just had to go out and get them.”
USA’s Kayla Gremel reached on a Clinton error in the top of the seventh inning and Jennifer Winchell brought her home with a double to deep center to give the Patriots some cushion.
Clinton’s Ashleigh Donahey got a base hit to start the inning for the Redskins, but the Patriots retired the next three to book their ticket for Saturday.
“For me, this is my first time being on the field for a state tournament as a senior. So that was really exciting,” Hahn said. “I think we are doing a lot better this year, and I think it’s because we are closer as a team. We’ve just had a lot of great team chemistry.”
Erica Treiber and Stephanie Neuman both had two hits for the Patriots. Treiber struck out 12 and walked just two from the mound in six innings of work. Nicole Bauer picked up the save.
Donahey had two hits for Clinton. Megan Burton took the loss, striking out six, giving up eight hits and walking one in seven innings of work. Click for the full box score.
PHOTOS: (Top) Gladstone’s Tinner Sharon connects during her team’s Division 3 Semifinal win Friday. (Middle) Unionville-Sebewaing’s Madison Zimmer prepares to apply a tag to Clinton runner Caitlyn Schuler in front of third base.
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South Haven Building on Memorable Run
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
April 23, 2019
SOUTH HAVEN — When A.J. Jeffries injured her shoulder during basketball season, she was devastated, afraid that she would be watching her teammates instead of playing this softball season.
But the South Haven junior catcher opted for physical therapy instead of surgery and, although she missed tryouts in March, she was ready to take her place behind the plate for the Rams after spring break.
Senior Olivia Ellis, who goes by “Gracie,” did miss the first day of tryouts, but not because of injury.
The reigning Miss Bangor competed in, and won, the Miss Blossomtime pageant, quite a different experience than suiting up for a softball game.
Instead of wearing spikes for tryouts on March 11, Ellis was wearing dress shoes and walking across a stage.
“Being an athlete, I had to buy heels and I did horrible (walking in them),” she said, laughing. “I never wore heels before, and they hurt my feet.
“I didn’t know how to do makeup. It was bad.”
Coach Wilma Wilson said she knew Ellis planned to compete in the pageant.
“I actually have Miss South Haven (junior Liz Johnson) on my team as well,” Wilson said. “It’s one of those things where the kids who are usually good at a lot of things, do a lot of things.
“You have to try to be flexible. It can hurt. We missed her at our tournament (a week ago), but I also know that is going to be a great experience as well in the whole scheme of life.”
Wilson looks at sports as well as preparation for life, and South Haven softball has been living well over the last 10 months.
The Rams are the reigning Division 2 runners-up, making last season’s MHSAA Finals championship game – their first since 1979 – after finishing just third in their league. South Haven is off to a 5-3 start this spring, with five starters returning from that run including Jeffries and Ellis – although the team lost its entire infield to graduation and almost lost its catcher for this season.
Jeffries, who has played on the varsity team all three years, injured her labrum in the Rams’ first basketball scrimmage in December. The original diagnosis called for surgery.
“I was on vacation in Hawaii and she called me, bawling her eyes out,” Wilson said.
“I could hardly understand what she was saying because she said ‘I’m not going to be able to play this year. I have to have surgery, and I’m not going to be good.”
Wilson recommended a second opinion, which suggested physical therapy. Jeffries opted for that and finally was cleared to play after spring break.
“During a team meeting, she said she will not let one minute be taken for granted because basically when you think the opportunity is going to be taken away from you, then you can appreciate the opportunity so much more,” Wilson said of Jeffries.
“AJ is that dirty, gritty, sparkplug catcher,” she added. “If you watch her play, it’s joyful because she plays the game hard, like it should be.”
Still, Jeffries was surprised at the team’s run last year.
“I had no idea we’d be in the state finals (for the first time since 1979),” she said. “It was just an unexpected thing, but we just played game by game and took everything that we learned from each game and applied it to the next.
“This year, I expect to play every game like it’s our last game for our seniors and for everybody that came up because I think we can do really good things this year.”
Ellis, who is headed to Manchester College in the fall to play softball, is one of those seniors.
“My advice to the girls coming up is give it your all because in two months or so, I’m going to be done with high school and softball,” said the second baseman, who played left field a year ago. “I know I’m going to regret not putting in as much effort as I could have.
“We actually lost five from last year and three of them were starters pretty much since freshman year, so we lost a lot. We’re all, especially the returners, itching to be just as good as we were last year.”
Wilson said Ellis has grown a lot over the last four years.
“She’s one of those quiet freshmen who came up and didn’t play a lot those first couple years and then this year, she’s been a great leader on our infield and is very vocal in a positive way but (by) also letting the kids know when they have to step it up a little bit,” she said.
Joining Jeffries and Ellis among returning starters are junior Torie Loikits – who earned all-state honorable mention last season – junior Holli Dannenberg and sophomore Jordyn Holland. Holland led off and played center field in last season’s championship game against Escanaba, and Dannenberg played right field. Holland also hit the eighth-inning home run that pushed South Haven past top-ranked Stevensville Lakeshore in last season’s Regional Final.
Other seniors on this year’s team are Grace Lyons, Paeton Hayes, Jules Stuckum, Macy Jenks and Courtney Kelly. Juniors also include Mallory Dorow and Opal Eddy, and sophomore Lexi Young is another contributor.
While Wilson is listed as the head coach, “there are really three of us who are co-coaches,” she said.
Dave Gumpert pitched professionally with the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals from 1982-87. Mike Sweet has “coached softball for a long time and has been a head coach in different sports,” Wilson said.
All three coaches played sports at the high school and all three are members of the South Haven High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
“I think the three of us each bring something different to the program, but it helps us be cohesive and look at the game from different angles,” said Wilson, who was on the Rams team that lost in the Class B Semifinals in 1982, her senior year.
“Between the three of us, we bring a ton of experience.”
Wilson not only coaches, but also drives the bus to away games, “which is really nice because we have that time together with no interruptions with another team or a boys team,” she said. “When we do our ‘remember whens’ at the end of the year, almost all of our memories come from our time on the little bus.”
As noted above, Wilson looks at sports as a preparation for life. And South Haven sees this spring as another chance to build on last season’s dream run and the lessons learned along the way.
“One of my perspectives is that you’re probably going to end up involved in your life the same way you are involved in sports,” she said.
“You’re going to have to learn to get along with people, you’re going to have to learn to have some self-judgment, you’re going to have to make adjustments, you’re going to have to try to improve on things that you don’t do well in.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) South Haven catcher A.J. Jeffries fires the ball after a strikeout during last season’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) Gracie Ellis is crowned Miss Blossomtime last month. (Below) From left, South Haven coach Wilma Wilson, Ellis and Jeffries. (Middle photo by Don Campbell/St. Joseph Herald-Palladium.)