Fear Not; Caledonia Continues Record Run
June 11, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Everything about Thursday afternoon should have been at least a little intimidating for Caledonia and pitcher Samantha Gehrls.
The Fighting Scots were playing in their first MHSAA Semifinal. They were facing a Farmington Hills Mercy team that had hit 27 home runs.
Did you know Gehrls is only a freshman?
Could’ve fooled everyone at Michigan State University’s Secchia Stadium. Gehrls threw pitches that showed she was downright fearless, holding the Marlins’ big bats at bay in leading Caledonia to a 5-2 win and its first appearance in an MHSAA softball championship game.
The Scots will take on Warren Regina at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
“I went in with the mentality that we’re here right now. The farther you get in the tournament, the better the hitters are going to be,” said Gehrls, who struck out eight and walked one. “I just have to face the fact and know that I can’t be intimidated because my team needs me. Obviously, it’s definitely in back of my head, ‘I can’t hang this over the plate.’ (I was) just trying to stay concentrated on each and every pitch.”
Mercy did get nine hits as both teams drove balls all over the park. Marlins sophomore Nicole Belans hit a home run that stayed inside the fence; Caledonia senior McKenzie Butgereit drove her homer over it and also had a double as her team tallied nine hits as well.
Butgereit scored the first run of the game off that double in the second inning, when senior Danielle Oracz doubled her home. Caledonia (34-4) scored two more runs in the fifth inning when senior Ashley Miller tripled in a run and then scored on an error, and then one more each in the sixth and seventh – on Butgereit’s home run and then Miller singling and scoring, respectively.
That set the most daunting scene Gehrls would face all day.
Mercy (27-4) had gotten its two runs on Belans’ drive in the sixth inning, and the score stood 5-2 with Caledonia needing three outs to advance. Gehrls struck out the first of the seventh inning, but Marlins senior Alex Sobczak and sophomore Sophia VanAcker followed with singles. The tying run came to the plate – junior Abby Krzywiecki, she of a .594 average, 12 home runs and 56 RBI this spring heading into the week.
“I’m thinking ‘Oh my gosh, we have to get this girl out.’ I don’t even really know,” Gehrls said of the thoughts spinning through her mind at that moment. “I focused on every single pitch. … And I knew that once we get this batter, we’ve got to focus on the next. If we get this girl, we’re one step closer to getting that win.”
The titanic matchup could be repeated on this field a year from now. But round one went to Gehrls, who kept the ball on the outside of the plate to draw a fly out to third base. The next batter flew out to second base to end the game.
“She’s well beyond her years as a freshman,” Caledonia coach Tom Kaechele said of Gehrls. “She’s strong. She lives in the weight room. She’s just a great basketball player. She’s just a great athlete, and I’m fortunate to have her on my team.
“Her older sister (Alexa) went on to play at Saginaw Valley (State University), and she leans on her too. But I think one of the neatest things is my junior pitcher who is out in centerfield has been a great mentor to her. Taylor (VanZytveld) has pitched in some big games. … Sami asks her for advice all the time. There’s no competition, no jealousy, nothing like that, and that is so huge on a team when you have two kids, an older one and a younger one, that depend on each other.”
Miller, Butgereit, Oracz and junior Lexi Lieske all had multiple hits for Caledonia. Belans, Sobczak and VanAcker did the same for Mercy.
Warren Regina 7, Mattawan 1
Regina’s players chanted, “We’re still hungry,” after leaving the field at Secchia Stadium. They have room left for one more highlight from a season quickly filling up with them after an empty start.
The Saddlelites will play for an MHSAA title for the first time since 2007, and despite opening this season 3-11.
Regina unloaded seven runs during the fifth and sixth innings to stay alive for one more game after Mattawan scored its only run in the fourth inning.
The Saddlelites had 12 hits – with nine came over the final three innings.
“We’ve been really working on our bunts and working on the little things, because in the beginning we weren’t doing the little things, which really is helping us now,” said Regina senior Riley Hison, who singled in the go-ahead run. “We’ve been working on our hitting too. We’ve been doing a lot more drills and more fundamentals than what we usually do.”
Hison had two hits and three RBI total, and seniors Gina Munson, Marissa Tiano and junior Kristina Carlson all also had two hits apiece.
Tiano was near-flawless from the pitching circle, giving up only four hits without walking a batter. Junior Amber Mazahem had one of those hits for Mattawan (30-13) and drove in the lone run.
Regina moved to 26-16, with 11 wins over its last 14 games.
“We might as well win states now,” Hison said. “We’ve come this far.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Caledonia's Samantha Gehrls unwinds toward the plate during her team's Division 1 Semifinal win Thursday. (Middle) A Regina hitter connects for one of the team's 12 hits.
2023 Runner-Up Whiteford, 2022 Runner-up Evart Set to Face Off for 2024 Title
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
June 14, 2024
EAST LANSING – Ottawa Lake Whiteford clung to a precarious 1-0 lead over upset-minded Clare entering the final inning Friday, but fifth-year coach Matt VanBrandt showed no signs of panic.
After all, his team has learned by experience how to handle the big stage – advancing to state championship games the past two years.
And the Bobcats are led by one of Michigan’s best pitchers in senior Unity Nelson.
“Unity lives for moments like that,” explained VanBrandt. “She is extremely intense and driven and determined to lead this team as far as she possibly can. We believe in her.”
Nelson made her coach look like a prophet, striking out three straight batters on just 11 pitches in the seventh inning to give her team the 1-0 victory over Clare in Friday’s first Division 3 Semifinal.
“Before that last inning, I took a deep breath and got myself centered and ready to go, one batter at a time,” Nelson said.
Whiteford (30-5-1) will take on Buchanan in Saturday’s 3 p.m. Division 3 Final at Secchia Stadium.
That title game is a classic matchup of the dominating arm of Nelson against the big bats of Evart, which totaled 14 hits – including three long home runs over the left-field fence – in an 8-3 win over Buchanan in Friday’s second Semifinal.
The Bobcats are seeking their first Finals title since 1987, when they capped a run of three Class D crowns over four years. Saturday’s will be their ninth overall appearance in a Final and fourth since 2017.
Whiteford lost last year’s Division 3 championship game to Standish-Sterling (1-0) and fell to Unionville-Sebewaing (4-1) in the 2022 Division 4 Final.
VanBrandt knows that in order to break through and take the final steps, his team’s offense needs to give their ace pitcher more help.
“I feel like our offense is close,” said VanBrandt, whose team has only allowed two runs over the past four games. “We put a lot of pressure on (Clare) today. We had baserunners almost every inning, and if we keep doing that, we will score some runs.”
The Bobcats left nine runners on base, but were able to make the one run they scored in the bottom of the first inning stand up.
Shaylin Alexander and Brooklyn Mills both had singles for Whiteford in the first inning, with Alexander scoring the game’s lone run on a bunt single from sophomore Koralynn Billau.
At that point, it looked like Whiteford was poised to score a bunch more, but Clare hung tough behind outstanding defense and a crafty pitching performance by junior Madison Jones.
Nelson, who entered this week with a 0.82 ERA and twice as many strikeouts as innings pitched, will play her final prep game Saturday before embarking on her college career at North Dakota.
“It’s amazing to get back here again in my senior year,” said Nelson. “This is the reason we have all worked so hard this season, to get one more chance.”
Mills and Billau both had two hits for Whiteford.
Clare, which closed its most successful softball season in 38 years at 36-6-1, was nearly flawless in the field, with just one error and diving catches by right fielder Macie Hensley in the fifth inning and second baseman Alissa Brandon in the sixth.
Jones kept the Bobcats off-balance all game, allowing six hits, two walks and striking out five.
“I never have to worry about effort from these girls, I’ll tell you that,” said third-year Clare coach Shane Kelly. “All year, we’ve always found a way to pull out close games. We had our chances today, but we couldn’t get that timely hit or bunt.”
Morgan Campbell, Breez Yarger and Jones all had hits for Clare.
Evart 8, Buchanan 3
First-year Evart coach Shaun Gray perfectly summed up Friday’s second Division 3 Semifinal with his opening postgame comment:
“We hit the crap out of the ball right from the start of the game,” said Gray, who had just guided the Wildcats to their second Division 3 title game in three years.
The first batter Friday, Evart sophomore pitcher Kyrah Gray, hit a pitch all the way to the warning track, foreshadowing things to come.
Buchanan led 2-1 after four innings, but Gray led off the fifth with a similar shot as her first, and this one cleared the Spartan head in left-center to tie the game. The next batter, Allyson Theunick, followed with another blast over the wall to give her team a lead it would never relinquish.
“That one felt so good,” said Theunick, a senior catcher who now has 11 home runs this season and was a member of the 2022 team that finished runner-up to Millington. “We pick each other up. One of my really good teammates struck out a little earlier, so I said that I was going to hit a home run for her.”
Katelyn Gostlin put the game away in the sixth inning with the biggest blast of all, clearing the Secchia Stadium scoreboard for a three-run homer.
Emily Miller led fourth-ranked Evart (36-4) with three hits, while Gray, Gostlin and Mattisen Tiedt all had two.
Gray picked up her 26th win of the season, going all seven innings, allowing five hits and one walk, while striking out seven.
Buchanan (35-6), which was ranked third, was led by senior shortstop Hannah Herman, who went 3-for-3. Camille Lozmack had two RBIs, and Hailee Kara had a hit and the final RBI.
“We got out-hit today. That’s really all there is to it,” said seventh-year Buchanan coach Rachel Carlson. “But these girls rallied an entire town. They have changed the face of Buchanan softball forever.”
PHOTOS (Top) An Ottawa Lake Whiteford hitter drives a pitch during Friday’s Semifinal win. (Middle) Evart’s Mattisen Tiedt stretches to make an out as Buchanan’s Aspen Berry races for the bag.