Richmond Follows Freshman into History

June 18, 2016

By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half

EAST LANSING — The pitching circle is Erin Shuboy's comfort zone.

It doesn't matter if it's an MHSAA championship game against a team with a .433 batting average and a full set of bleachers on either side of her.

Pitching is easy for Shuboy.

Talking about it? That's when the nerves start to show.

"I'm so overwhelmed," the freshman pitcher told a group of reporters after throwing a no-hitter in Richmond's 2-0 victory over Vicksburg in the MHSAA Division 2 championship game on Saturday at Michigan State University.

When one more reporter joined the scrum around Shuboy, she exclaimed, "Oh, my gosh! There's more!"

She'd better get used to the attention, because she has three more years of dealing with interview requests in high school, and possibly beyond that in college.

"She feels like she doesn't have anything to say," said freshman catcher Kennedy Caperton, who has been playing softball with Shuboy since elementary school. "Once you get to know her, she opens up. I think she's just in shock about it."

Shuboy pitched the 14th no-hitter in an MHSAA Final, the first since Mattawan's Lauren Gevaart had one in the 2011 Division 1 title game. Shuboy struck out seven, facing the minimum of 21 batters.

The only runner she allowed was pitching counterpart Avery Slancik, who walked with one out in the second inning. A grounder by Olivia Holmes forced out Slancik's courtesy runner, Lauren Goertler, at second base. Holmes was then caught stealing by Caperton to end the inning.

"As soon as I let go of it, I was like, 'I hope this is good,'" Caperton said.

Shuboy retired the last 16 batters she faced. Even though the scoreboard told the story, she had no clue she'd thrown a no-hitter until a reporter told her while walking from the field to the awards area.

"We had to slow her down several times," Richmond coach Howard Stuart said. "Even the officials were telling us to slow her down. She was in such a hurry to get the ball and throw it. There was no mention of a no-hitter; not one word was said. Even at the end of the game, she didn't know. She was so focused. The team was not allowed to say anything to her."

Richmond's two runs came in the top of the fourth inning. Lindsay Schweiger led off with a single to left, then moved to third when the throw to first went into the outfield on a bunt by Allison Swantek.

Shuboy delivered the first run with a slow groundout to second base.

"I just wanted to make contact with it," Shuboy said. "That's all we had to do, get the RBI."

Swantek made it 2-0 when she raced home on a wild pitch.

"We made a couple of mistakes," Vicksburg coach Paul Gephart said. "Those couple of mistakes all happened together, and that led to the couple of runs."

Vicksburg went down in order in the final five innings, striking out six times, but putting three balls in the outfield. The final out came on a foul ball down the right field line.

"The few solid hits we had went right at them," Gephart said. "One of our quicker girls, they were playing way up to take away the bunt option we've used in the past. You have to give them all the credit. They're a good team. They wouldn't be here if they weren't."

It was Richmond's first MHSAA softball championship after losing in the Finals in 1985, 1998 and 1999. The Blue Devils (32-9) had reached the Semifinals seven times prior to this season under Stuart, who is 954-288 in 38 years at the helm.

Shuboy broke down when asked what it meant to help deliver a title to Richmond's six seniors.

"I just wanted to help them out," she said. "I'm gonna cry. I just wanted them to have a good end of their senior year, and a state championship would be a perfect way."

One of those seniors, Schweiger, knows that the program is in good hands with Shuboy and Caperton returning for three more years as the team's battery.

"Erin handled it so well," Schweiger said. "She could be put in tough situations and play fantastic. Kennedy can throw people out like it's nothing. She's amazing at catching. They work so well together, because they've been playing with each other since they were little; all of us have, basically. They'll be good next year, too."

Slancik allowed six hits, struck out eight and didn't give up a walk for Vicksburg (36-9). She kept the game close by getting out of jams in the fifth and seventh innings after Richmond moved runners to third base.

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS: (Top) Richmond players rush to celebrate their MHSAA Final win with pitcher Erin Shuboy (19). (Middle) Shuboy prepares to unload a pitch during Saturday’s championship game.

'No Superstars' Reeths-Puffer Undefeated, County Tournament Favorite Entering May

By Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com

May 1, 2024

Natalie Kunnen is in her fourth year as a varsity softball player for Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, but she has never experienced anything remotely close to this team’s vibe.

West MichiganNot only are the Rockets unbeaten at 20-0-1, but no deficit seems too big to overcome.

Puffer rallied to beat Holton and later scratched out a tie with Allendale, then last week pulled a rabbit out of their hat twice in one night – coming back from a four-run deficit in the opener and a nine-run deficit in the nightcap in an improbable sweep at powerhouse Muskegon Oakridge.

“I walked out of Oakridge just stunned and asking myself, ‘Who are we?’” said Kunnen, who swings one of the biggest bats in the lineup with three home runs and 22 RBIs. “There is a completely different feel this year.”

Who are these Rockets?

They remained a rare unbeaten more than one month into the season after a sweep of host Grand Rapids Union on Tuesday, setting the stage for a doubleheader tonight at state power Hudsonville, followed by Saturday’s Greater Muskegon Athletic Association Tier 1 tournament – where the Rockets are both the host and the No. 1 seed.

They are a team devoid of a superstar, but also without a weak link.

Rockets coach Sarah Bayle has guided her team to an 18-0-1 start, with many of the wins coming in dramatic, come-from-behind fashion. “We don’t have an easy out in our lineup, 1 through 9, and that is something that makes us unique,” said coach Sarah Bayle, 28, a 2013 Reeths-Puffer graduate who went on to play at Muskegon Community College and Ferris State.

“We have speed that we try to use to our advantage and three different pitchers who all bring something different.”

The Rockets adopted that “no superstars” mantra earlier this season after athletic director Cliff Sandee stopped by a practice and gave the huddled team an impromptu pep talk.

“He have us our motto: ‘It’s not who’s best on the team, it’s who’s best for the team,’” said junior pitcher and first baseman Mady Snyder. “We really believe that. We have a lot of grit. There is not one person on this team who gives up and says we’re done.”

Puffer sprints out of the gate behind the speedy trio of Kaylee Jones, Lainey McDaniel and Abbie Critchett at the top of the order – a threesome who have 61 of the team’s 90 stolen bases.

That trio sets the stage for the big bats of Snyder (three home runs and a team-best 26 RBIs), Kunnen, Megan Barnes and Kyleigh Bilek.

Puffer, which has outscored its opponents 216-53, is batting .406 as a team, with eight of the 13 players batting .400 or better. Leaders in that category are McDaniel at .558 and Snyder with .474.

The Rockets have played in only one tournament thus far, winning April 20 at Hamilton.

Bayle, who is officially in her fifth year as R-P’s coach but looks at it as her fourth year after COVID wiped out the 2020 season, said one of the turning points in the program came at the start of the 2021 campaign.

“We brought up four freshmen to the varsity, which is something that just wasn’t done much here,” said Bayle, who is assisted on the varsity by Kat Hyder, Sydney Recknagel, Scott Huebler and Chris Bilek. “That sparked a new reality. It doesn’t matter what year you are, you can’t slack off or someone could take your place.”

McDaniel slides safely into second base during a game against Allendale.Those four freshmen are now the team’s only four seniors – Kunnen, Jones, Barnes and Emme Buzzell.

The closest thing to a star for the Rockets this spring has been McDaniel, a crafty left-handed pitcher who has a 0.85 ERA in 41 innings of work. Her improvement from freshman year to this spring as a sophomore has been remarkable, Bayle said, and a big reason for the remarkable start.

McDaniel and Jersi Bilek are the sophomores on the varsity roster, which also includes freshman Tessa Ross. The future looks bright as R-P also boasts an unbeaten junior varsity team, coached by Cody Jacobs.

Bayle, who is seven months pregnant with her second child, knows that much tougher challenges lie ahead, starting with Wednesday’s showdown at Hudsonville (a team which she believes R-P has never beaten in softball).

One of the team’s biggest goals this spring is to win this Saturday’s county tournament and then the Division 1 District, two tournaments which haven’t been kind to the Rockets in recent years.

This year, Puffer goes into the county tournament as the heavy favorite in its pool, with big wins over fellow Pool 1 teams Muskegon Mona Shores and Holton. Should they emerge from that group, the Rockets would likely face revenge-minded Oakridge or two-time reigning county champion Ravenna.

“We haven’t done good in the county, and haven’t made the finals in the past three years,” said Kunnen. “We’ve been really young, but this year we have a lot of juniors and seniors and a lot of leadership.

“I can’t even tell you how amazing it would be to win it my senior year.”

Tom KendraTom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Madi Snyder delivers a pitch for the Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, which has been led by the 1-2 pitching duo of Snyder and Lainey McDaniel. (Middle) Rockets coach Sarah Bayle has guided her team to an 18-0-1 start, with many of the wins coming in dramatic, come-from-behind fashion. (Below) McDaniel slides safely into second base during a game against Allendale. (Photos by Joe Lane.)