Hitters Become Heroes for Division 2 Finalists
June 13, 2019
By Jason Schmitt
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Sometimes all it takes is a slow roller, or maybe taking one for the team.
Finding a way to get to a dominant pitcher is never an easy task. But Thursday morning, Stevensville Lakeshore pretty much did a little bit of everything to find a way past No. 3 Eaton Rapids and star pitcher Grace Lehto, 8-1, in a Division 2 Semifinal matchup at Secchia Stadium.
The Lancers broke open a tight game with six runs in the fourth inning, using a hit by pitch, a pair of singles, an error, a gap-shot triple, another hard-hit double and a softly-hit fielder’s choice to get the job done.
Junior Meghan Younger opened things up by being hit by a pitch. After freshman Gianna Kerschbaum reached based on an error and a groundout by sophomore Shelby Grau moved a pair of runners into scoring position, Lakeshore used back-to-back ground balls by freshman Anna Chellman and senior Nadia Amicarelli to plate a pair of runs and take a 3-0 lead. One out later, junior Sierra Ciesielski found the gap in right-center, scoring both Chellman and Amicarelli. Ciesielski would then score on a single by junior Isabella Najera.
The Lancers capped off their scoring on an RBI double by junior Laney Mead, scoring pinch runner Grace Connelly.
“Coach (Steve) Spenner has just done a fabulous job with our hitters. We knew we couldn’t just go up there and swing wild,” Lakeshore head coach Denny Dock said. “We said, ‘Every pitch is hit with two strikes,’ and we really disciplined ourselves to do that. We told them to not go up there with the idea that you’re just going to outswing this girl. Because history says that’s not going to happen. (Lehto) is a good pitcher. We tried to just cut back a little bit and then once we got momentum going, holy cow, did we see it.”
Lehto, an all-state pitcher who led her team back to the Semifinals for the second straight season, entered the game with a 30-1 record and a miniscule 0.34 earned run average. But on Thursday, she just didn’t have her best stuff.
“It was surprising, how they hit the ball (off Lehto),” Eaton Rapids head coach Scott Warriner said. “But again, you’ve got to give them credit. They were well-prepared, and they drove the ball well on us.
“We had a couple chances to make a few plays that we didn’t quite make. She hadn’t been hit like that this year. The most runs she had given up this year was two runs in a game.”
Ciesielski, Najera and Amicarelli all had two hits and two RBI each for the Lancers. Mead also collected a pair of hits.
“This was kind of a schedule win,” said Dock, who credited a tough slate against some of the state’s top pitchers for his team’s success against Lehto. “We’ve seen the (pitcher) from Gull Lake. We’ve seen the girl from Penn (Ind.). We’ve played Caledonia three games. It’s not like we don’t see (this kind of pitching). Don’t get me wrong, she’s good. But our schedule, we build it to see kids like this. You hope you get a chance to play at this level and see if it all works. Today it worked.”
Kerschbaum picked up the win in the circle for Lakeshore, which will face Escanaba in Saturday’s Division 2 championship game. She pitched 3? innings of scoreless softball. Najera and Connelly finished the game up to help their team advance.
“We’ve got a pitching staff, and we’re not afraid to put them in there,” Dock said. “All three of them did a great job in their time. What a team. We used our roster.”
Lehto finished with three hits at the plate to lead the Greyhounds (39-4). Junior Kendi Richardson drove in her team’s lone run with her groundout scoring pinch runner Mallory Orr in the fifth inning.
Escanaba 2, North Branch 1
The celebration started when the ball left the yard off the bat of Escanaba sophomore Nicole Kamin. It continued when junior pitcher Gabi Salo struck out the last North Branch batter of the game. And it was certain to continue well into the afternoon Thursday, as the Eskymos were set to make a trip to the MSU Dairy Store to celebrate yet another appearance in the Division 2 championship game.
Kamin hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Salo pitched a one-hit gem to help lead their team over North Branch as they continued to pursue a repeat title.
“We battled, we battled, we battled,” said Escanaba head coach Gary Salo. “Nicole’s a basketball kid, just an athletic kid who finds her way to the top of the order with a swing that drops her hands, drops her shoulders. She caught the middle of that ball.”
With her team trailing 1-0 and with two outs in the sixth, Kamin drilled a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left-center, sending the Eskymos’ bench – and the entire crowd – into a frenzy.
“The nerves were kicking in for sure,” said Kamin, who admitted not thinking too much when walking up to the plate. “I just went up there and swung it. It’s just amazing, honestly. Such a big game like this, to bring us to a championship game. It’s awesome.”
Through five innings Thursday, Salo wasn’t sure his team would get a chance to play for another title Saturday. North Branch scored an unearned run in the top of the fourth inning, thanks to an Escanaba error and RBI double by senior Reese Ruhlman, scoring senior Autumn Deshetsky.
“Our defense let us down just a little bit today, not bad,” Salo said. “I kept peeking at the board thinking, ‘You can’t go home giving up one hit.’
“I told (Gabi), ‘We’re gonna get ya two. I don’t know when it’s gonna happen, but we’re gonna get ya two.’ ”
North Branch head coach Alyssa Welling was proud of her team for battling back after a dominating start by Gabi Salo, who struck out 14 batters.
“We worked on hitting yesterday,” Welling said. “This is the best pitcher we've seen all season. We knew what we were getting into coming into this game. They've never said no. They said, 'OK, I've got this next at-bat.' They never stopped.”
Salo credited his team’s recent deep playoff runs with helping it rally for the win over the Broncos.
“I told these ladies when we got off the bus – as a coach you even try to make up stuff at times – that we’re the only team that this is the fourth year in a row (in East Lansing). I didn’t check my facts, but the kids bought into it. I told them, ‘Let’s play our best game,’” the coach said. “We have not played our best game yet, and that’s a scary thought. To get to a state championship game without playing your best game just puts a smile on our face. We’re going to go out and have a ball.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Escanaba’s Nicole Kamin circles third base into a celebration after her go-ahead home run Thursday. (Middle) Lakeshore’s Gianna Kerschbaum unloads a pitch against Eaton Rapids.
USA, K-Christian Power Way to D4 Final
June 14, 2019
By Jason Schmitt
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – It may have taken six-plus innings, but Kalamazoo Christian coach Kevin Lewis eventually had a chance to take it all in Friday morning.
And he had an opportunity to exhale as well.
All it took was a three-run home run from senior Jayme Koning, a shot which served as an explanation point on the Comets’ 6-1 victory over Coleman in a Division 4 Semifinal at Secchia Stadium.
“It was very relaxing after that sixth inning. It was then I knew,” said Lewis, referring to a four-run sixth that gave his team a five-run cushion. “(Koning) was hot all day. When she came up to the plate, I had that gut feeling, like, ‘If she drops a bomb right here, it’s done.’ And she did it. That’s not the first time. She did it against (Stevensville) Lakeshore. When you’re facing teams like that, for her to come up clutch in two situations like that shows me what kind of ballplayer she really is.”
Koning was 3-for-4 in the game, reaching base on all four of her plate appearances. She also had a double and an RBI single which tied the game at 1-1 in the first inning. Her home run was her 14th of the season. She went the distance on the mound, allowing just four hits while striking out four, including the last Coleman batter of the game – setting off a grand celebration for her team.
“Both (the home run and game-ending strikeout) were different excitements,” Koning said, answering which was more special to her. “The home run gave us a little insurance that I really like, and getting that out is just in-the-moment awesome.”
The game was extremely tight through five innings, the difference coming on an RBI single by freshman Faith Kline – scoring courtesy runner Nyla de Jong – which gave her team a 2-1 lead. To that point both Koning and Coleman starting pitcher Jaden Berthume were cruising along.
Berthume scattered eight hits through the first five innings, allowing just two runs. Coleman’s defense struggled throughout the game – collecting four errors – while Kalamazoo Christian was flawless in the field.
“Defense is obviously the name of the game,” Lewis said. “We have a really good defense. We have freshmen in the lineup. We’ve got sophomores in the lineup. We’re deep all the way up through. It came down to defense and our pitching on the mound. Jayme held them tight, and we got the job done.”
Senior Sydney Duong was 3-for-3 with a walk for Christian (31-8), and scored a pair of runs. Sophomore Zoe Hazelhoff collected a pair of hits and junior Megan Snook had an RBI single and scored a run for the Comets, who will face Unionville-Sebewaing in Saturday’s championship game.
Berthume and freshman Katelyn Pnacek each had two hits for Coleman (35-8), which entered the postseason ranked No. 1 in Division 4. It was the Comets’ third straight trip to East Lansing. Last year they fell to Centreville in the championship game.
“When we’ve got chances to score, we’ve got to be able to get the hit,” Coleman head coach Chad Klopf said after the game. “We’ve been doing that all year. We’ve been able to keep the bats going when we needed them (this year). If it was tomorrow or if it was yesterday, we might have won it. But it was their day today.
“This was our third straight year down here. We’ve had lots of experience. That’s why we’re here again. It gave us so much experience the last two years, and it gave all of our young girls this year more experience. Hopefully we can do what we do and get back (here) again.”
Unionville-Sebewaing 8, Rogers City 3
Changing things up a bit from last year’s Semifinal appearance seemed to do wonders Friday afternoon for Unionville-Sebewaing.
The Patriots, limited to just four hits in last year’s 4-0 loss to eventual champion Centreville, exploded for eight runs on 16 hits in their win over Rogers City.
“The last couple days, I’ve liked where we’re at offensively,” USA head coach Isaiah Gainforth said. “We had two really good days of preparation. To put 16 hits up in the semis, you can’t ask for much more offensively. I’m extremely proud of the girls’ approach, their discipline. Hitting is contagious. When someone starts it, everybody else is ‘Let me get the bat and see what I can do.’ That was kind of our mentality there.”
Sophomore Maci Montgomery was a perfect 4-for-4 against the Hurons, collecting three doubles and a triple, scoring twice and driving in three runs. Her leadoff triple to start the game got things going for the Patriots (30-9), and her two-run double in the fifth capped off the scoring for her team.
“Couldn’t ask for a better start,” Gainforth said. “It’s so important, getting that first run in any game. Being able to score first was big because it just loosens everybody up. When you get production from top to bottom, that’s a dangerous team right there.”
The team’s No. 9 hitter, junior Danielle Harper, also had quite a game. She was 3-for-3, scored three times and added a two-run home run to give herself a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning.
Sophomore Brynn Polega and freshmen Macy Reinhardt and Laci Harris all collected two hits each in their team’s victory. Polega also pitched a complete game on the mound, allowing just two earned runs while striking out four.
“We kind of learned from some of our mistakes last year,” Gainforth said. “A lot of these girls are back, but you’ve got some new girls. We weren’t in awe (today). The experience factor. Last year we were kind of consumed by it, and I don’t know if it kind of got to us a little bit. Today we kind of switched it up a little bit, got down here this morning and tried to keep our same routine and same approach that we’ve had in all our tournaments.”
Rogers City (27-8) was led by senior Taylor Fleming, who was 2-for-4 at the plate. She connected for a two-run home run in the fifth inning. Senior Linnea Hentkowski was 1-for-2 with a run scored in the loss.
“They hit the ball well. Give them credit,” Hurons head coach Karl Grambau said. “We’ve shut teams down all year long. They outhit us today, no doubt about it. They’ve got a great tradition, and so do we. Hopefully we’ll meet again someday.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Kalamazoo Christian’s Sydney Duong makes a throw to first base during her team’s Division 4 Semifinal win Friday. (Middle) USA's Macy Reinhardt circles third base during her team's victory over Rogers City.