Regina Goes 8 Innings for 7th Finals Win
June 15, 2019
By Perry A. Farrell
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Adriana James was nervous.
Saturday’s MHSAA Division 1 Final had moved into the eighth inning, and Warren Regina teammate Marisa Muglia had led off the bottom half by reaching first base on an error. After pinch-runner Jenna Holt moved all the way to third base on a sacrifice, James watched Howell walk Regina’s next two hitters to set up force plays at every base.
Now the Secchia Stadium bases were loaded for the Saddlelites freshman.
James sent a grounder back to the pitching circle, and a bobble gave Holt enough time to cross the plate and finish a 3-2 win that clinched the program’s seventh Finals championship.
“When Adriana came up and the pitcher bobbled it … I have no words for it,’’ Holt said.
Added James: “All (the pitcher’s) balls were moving outside. I just saw the ball right on the inside corner, low, and I just went for it. We had nothing to lose, and it paid off. I was surprised they walked the two batters because it has really never happened. I was really nervous.’’
The championship was the program’s first since 2015, and all seven have come in Division 1 or the former Class A under longtime coach Diane Laffey.
Howell’s Avrey Wolverton opened her team’s half of the eighth inning with a single, and Maddie Springer walked. Both moved up, but the threat ended on a Muglia strikeout.
“This is a resilient group. They never quit,” said Laffey, leader of the Regina program since 1963. “They are very team-oriented. The team chemistry is outstanding. The seniors have made the freshmen feel as welcomed as anyone could. I thought when we got ready for playoffs in the Catholic League, we were ready to make a move at that point.’’
Regina finished the year 30-11, while Howell ended 36-4.
Howell ran into problems in the second inning when a hit batter and two walks loaded the bases for Jacqueline Jozefczyk. She promptly singled off the glove of the shortstop to score two runs for the Saddlelites.
Muglia managed to keep the Highlanders at bay despite giving up some hard-hit line-drive outs to the outfield. Even after giving up doubles to Maddie Gillett and Skye Grant, the Regina ace was able to keep Howell off the scoreboard through four innings.
Regina had scored two runs in the second inning, and the Highlanders broke through in the fifth when Rosie McQueen singled and senior outfielder A.J. Militello doubled off the wall in left center field to cut the deficit in half. Muglia got out of the inning with a strikeout.
Jozefczyk led off the fifth inning with a double, and Alana LaRue sacrificed her to second base. But that rally died, and the Saddlelites clung to a one-run lead.
Howell kept banging the ball. Gillett walked in the sixth inning and Wolverton singled her to third on a hard drive past the shortstop. Springer tied the game on a sacrifice fly, as courtesy runner Avery Pruss tagged up and moved to third. But Muglia regained her composure and got another strikeout and popout.
Neither team threatened during the seventh inning, sending the game into an extra frame.
Muglia finished with 12 strikeouts, and Howell pitcher Molly Carney struck out seven and gave up only five hits.
PHOTOS: (Top) Warren Regina greets Jenna Holt after she scores the winning run in the Division 1 Final on Saturday. (Middle) Saddlelites pitcher Marisa Muglia unwinds toward the plate during a 12-strikeout performance.
Record-Setting Gaylord Makes Most Historic Headline Yet with 1st Finals Win
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
June 17, 2023
EAST LANSING – It was fitting that Gaylord senior Alexis Kozlowski got her team going on Saturday with a two-run homer to straightaway centerfield, at 220 feet the deepest part of Michigan State University’s Secchia Stadium.
It was home run No. 72 on the season for Gaylord, which continued building on a newly-achieved state record.
More importantly, it brought the huge crowd of Blue Devils fans to their feet and ignited the team in an 8-3 victory over Vicksburg in the Division 2 Final that clinched Gaylord’s first softball state title.
“This has been a goal of ours since we were little girls,” said Kozlowski, who was part of the Gaylord team which won a Little League softball state championship in 2016.
“We have so many good hitters. We knew if we kept putting the pressure on them, eventually we would break through.”
Kozlowski’s blast, her 14th of the season – ranking second on the team behind sophomore Aubrey Jones’ 18 home runs – opened the floodgates for the Blue Devils, who pulled away with three more runs in the fourth inning and three in the sixth.
It was a textbook offensive effort for Gaylord, as junior leadoff hitter Braleigh Miller went 4-for-4 and tied a Finals record with her four hits.
With Miller getting on base repeatedly, No. 2 hitter Alexis Shepherd did her part with two long doubles (tying a Finals record) and four RBIs and No. 3 hitter Kozlowski added two hits and three RBIs, highlighted by her two-run blast into the oak trees behind the centerfield fence.
“Braleigh is the spark plug,” explained first-year Gaylord coach Tony Vaden. “When she gets on, everybody feeds off of it. These girls have been on a tear for the last month or so.”
Kozlowski also had the game-winning home run in Thursday’s Semifinal against Dearborn Divine Child, which broke the record for single-season home runs by a team, previously set by South Lyon East in 2021. Her shot Saturday increased that team total for the season to 72.
Gaylord, 39-2, had used three pitchers – Avery Parker, Abby Radulski and Aubrey Jones – to hold off Divine Child, 2-1. Jones came on in the sixth inning of that game and shut the door, striking out three of the four batters she faced.
Jones then earned the start Saturday and was in complete control, allowing just three hits and two earned runs, while striking out four.
Vicksburg, which also finished runner-up in 2016 and was trying for its first Finals title, was a home-run hitting machine of its own this spring. The Bulldogs finished with 61 home runs on the season, good for fourth in state history.
Vicksburg cut the Gaylord lead to 2-1 in the top of the fourth inning when Maddison Diekman singled and then scored on a fielder’s choice.
The Bulldogs, 42-4-1, trailed 8-1 entering the top of the seventh, but never quit. Peyton Smith opened the inning with a homer, and the team then managed another unearned run.
“Their pitcher was very, very good,” said 10th-year Vicksburg coach Paul Gephart about Jones. “But our girls never quit. You could see it in that last inning. We were down big, but they just kept battling.”
Vicksburg senior pitcher Kennedy Davis, the hero of Thursday’s Semifinal win with a three-run homer, suffered her first loss of the season in the circle. Davis allowed 10 hits in six innings and finished the season 19-1.
The championship was especially gratifying for Gaylord assistant coaches Greg Jones and Lucas Shepherd, who both have standout daughters on the team.
Alexis Shepherd, a junior second baseman, has committed to Toledo. Jones has two daughters on the squad – junior Jayden Jones, a pitcher and shortstop who is out with a broken wrist but has committed to Virginia Tech; and sophomore Aubrey Jones, the winning pitcher Saturday who already has multiple Division I offers.
Coaches Jones and Shepherd have worked for years with this group of Gaylord players, who first made news with their Little League state title – and that odyssey continued Saturday with the school’s first MHSAA softball championship.
“Nobody knows exactly how much went into getting us to this moment,” Miller said. “We know, but not that many others do. That makes this extra special for us.”
PHOTOS (Top) Gaylord players celebrate their team’s Division 2 championship Saturday at Secchia Stadium. (Middle) Vicksburg's Maddison Diekman (10) slides into second base as Gaylord's Alexis Shepherd looks to make the tag. (Below) Avery Parker has been among the Blue Devils’ standouts this spring. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)