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.

Click for the full box score.

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.

Tradition Continues to Grow as USA Claims Record 9th Softball Finals Title

By Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com

June 17, 2023

EAST LANSING - Unionville-Sebewaing won its record ninth MHSAA Finals championship – and fourth in a row – on Saturday, but this one might have been the most dramatic.

And most unexpected.

“This one is really special because no one thought we would make it again,” said USA junior left fielder Jenna Gremel, who was the star of the game with a three-run home run in the top of the fourth inning to lift the top-ranked Patriots to a 5-4 win over No. 2 Mendon in the Division 4 championship game at Secchia Stadium.

“We didn’t have a dominant pitcher or a lot of seniors, but we were determined to keep (our tradition) going.”

USA drew on years of experience to survive a serious scare in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Patriots led 5-3 entering the bottom half of the inning, with the No. 8 and No. 9 hitters in the Mendon order up next.

Olivia Jubar (4) rounds third base.But things would soon get interesting, as eight hitter Brielle Bailey led off with a solid single and Abby Butler got hit by a pitch. The bases were loaded with two outs when freshman Mattea Bingaman was hit by another pitch, forcing in a run to make it 5-4 and leaving the bases loaded.

Mendon’s next hitter made contact, but popped it up to pitcher Rylie Betson, who clutched it in her glove to secure perhaps the school’s most improbable championship.

“I don’t know where those hit-by-pitches came from, I don’t know if we’ve had one of those all year,” said USA coach Marc Reinhardt, who has coached travel softball in the USA community for more than 10 years but is in his first year as varsity head coach. “But Rylie is my warrior. She came through under some serious pressure.”

USA won its third title in a row last spring behind the dominant pitching of senior Laci Harris and the bat of fellow senior Macy Reinhardt, the current coach’s daughter.

But finding someone to replace Harris in the circle was a big question, and Betson was converted from a position player to No. 1 pitcher – and came through admirably.

“We didn’t have a kid who throws 60, so we’ve had to support her and play our best behind her,” Marc Reinhardt said.

After limiting the powerful bats of Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart to just one run in Friday’s Semifinal, Betson came back and went seven more innings Saturday, allowing five hits, three walks and four earned runs.

Then the Patriots did just enough with their bats to pull out the win.

Mendon actually made the first big move of the game in the bottom of the third inning, with a two-run triple by senior pitcher Lauren Schabes, who went on to score to give the Hornets a brief 3-1 lead.

USA struck right back in the top of the fourth, highlighted by Gremel’s three-run homer, which barely cleared the outstretched glove of Mendon left fielder Rowan Allen. The play was eerily reminiscent of Friday, when USA catcher Gabriella Crumm’s shot to left field was pulled back from over the fence by Sacred Heart centerfielder Alexis Zeien – a play which has garnered national attention.

“All I was thinking up there is that I wanted to get those runners in,” said Gremel, who had seven home runs coming into Saturday’s game. “I swung my hardest, and I ended up getting myself home, too. I wasn’t expecting a home run, that’s for sure.”

Rylie Betson makes her move toward the plate for the Patriots.USA added one more run to take a 5-3 lead, which is how it stayed until the dramatics in the bottom of the seventh.

“I thought maybe the lucky leprechaun was going to sprinkle some magic dust out there for us in the last inning, but it didn’t happen,” said Steve Butler, in his sixth year as the co-head coach of Mendon, along with Mike Smith. “We battled them right to the end, and we had a chance to win and we probably should have won. I can’t ask for anything more out of these girls.”

Schabes went five innings for Mendon (35-6) and Allen, a freshman, came in and allowed no hits over the final two innings. Schabes also finished 3-for-3 at the plate.

USA, 33-10, finished with eight hits. Gremel was 2-for-3 with the three-run homer and Olivia Jubar went 2-for-3.

Reinhardt said he took the head coaching job after his youngest daughter graduated last spring because he is determined to keep the USA tradition going. The Patriots have earned nine Finals titles, one more than Stevensville Lakeshore and Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes on the list of those that have won the most in state history.

Reinhardt got all the young players from Unionville and Sebewaing together for the team’s sendoff to the Semifinals on Friday.

“I wanted to do that to put a little bit of fire in their belly to keep this thing going,” he said. “You could hear them whisper to each other: ‘I want to do that someday.’”

Click for the box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Teammates welcome USA’s Jenna Gremel (13) home during Saturday’s Division 4 Final. (Middle) Olivia Jubar (4) rounds third base. (Below) Rylie Betson makes her move toward the plate for the Patriots. (Photos by Olivia Napier/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)