Savvy Seniors Lead Frankenmuth to Final
June 11, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Senioritis always weighs on a spring coach’s mind. It can drain the potential from the best of MHSAA championship contenders.
Frankenmuth softball coach Brad Walraven discussed that possibility once with his team, which includes seven recent graduates. And then he forgot they ever had the conversation.
That’s how focused the Eagles have been this spring. And they were thankful for veteran composure Thursday during the final innings of the first Division 2 Semifinal at Secchia Stadium.
Carleton Airport had advanced to Michigan State with an epic extra-inning comeback against Portland in Tuesday’s Quarterfinal, and looked to be mounting another with Frankenmuth up two runs in the sixth inning. But a heads-up play and a clutch strikeout from their ace ended the rally and the only threat faced by the Eagles in a 4-0 win.
“One little thing can cost you this ballgame when you get to this point. You have to literally focus one pitch at a time … or else you could just blow up,” Frankenmuth senior pitcher Amariah Wright said. “I’m really proud of my team for staying focused all the way through.”
Frankenmuth (37-3-1), ranked No. 10 at the end of the regular season, will face No. 1 Wayland in the Final at 10 a.m. Saturday. Both teams have an MHSAA title to their credit – Wayland’s coming in 2006 and the Eagles’ in 1991.
Since finishing Division 3 runner-up in 2011, Frankenmuth reached the Regional round both in 2012 and again last season. But both times the Eagles fell shy of returning to the season's final week.
Led this time by a strong senior class including six who start, Frankenmuth built on a league championship with wins over honorable mention Saginaw Swan Valley and No. 6 Escanaba over the last two weeks.
Airport trailed Portland by four runs in the seventh inning of its Tuesday Quarterfinal. The Jets came back to down the Raiders 5-4 with a walk-off double in the eighth inning.
Frankenmuth led by 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth Thursday when Carleton Airport put runners on first and second base with one out. A fly to left field dropped in for another single just in front of senior Alyssa Jarlock. The hit could’ve loaded the bases.
Instead, Jarlock made perhaps the most astute play of the game. Bypassing the usual toss in to second, she threw to third base and threw out the advancing runner for the second out of the inning.
Wright then struck out the next batter, and the Eagles added a few more runs to put the game away in the seventh.
“That’s what senior leadership does,” said Walraven, a veteran himself of 36 seasons and nearly 1,100 wins to rank as the second-winningest softball coach in MHSAA history. “The one thing you have to worry about with seniors is sometimes they phase out at the end of the year (with) a lot of activities with school. This group stayed focused the whole time, and they talked to the underclassmen. Everybody’s always prepared and ready to play.
“It’s a little bit of the coaches. But it’s mostly on the girls.”
Frankenmuth scored its first two runs in the third inning, with the lone hit of the rally an RBI-single by Wright. Senior Makenzie Sipes, who had reached base on a fielder’s choice, moved to third on the single and scored the second run as part of a double steal that forced a throw to second base and opened up home.
Senior Kayla Brooks scored in the seventh inning after a single, and Jarlock came around for the fourth run on a ground out after reaching base on an error and stealing second base.
Wright finished with nine strikeouts and walked only one batter. She gave up four hits and only one over the first five innings. Airport junior Emily Bindus also was sharp, giving up only one earned run for the Jets (36-5), striking out nine while giving up only three hits and walking two.
The win was Frankenmuth’s 12th straight.
“Last year was just kinda like a building year. This year finally the team is just strong. It’s so exciting to watch us just go,” Wright said. “I’ve been wanting this since my freshman year, and now we’re finally here and it’s insane. I love it.”
Wayland 11, St. Clair 0
Wayland had unfinished work after getting back to the Semifinals last season but falling in 10 innings to Livonia Ladywood. The Wildcats entered this postseason ranked No. 1 in Division 2 as arguably the most impressive team in Michigan this season regardless of division – and only added to that reputation Thursday.
They led 4-0 before St. Clair (23-13) got a chance to bat in the first Semifinal in that school's history.
Wayland (35-2) added seven more runs in the fifth inning to finish the game for senior pitcher Mallory Teunissen, who struck out more than half the batters she faced – nine of 15 – and allowed only two hits.
“I made sure I said let’s score on the first thing so we don’t have to wait and have stress,” said Teunissen, who also was 2 for 3 at the plate. “My sister Morgan came up and had a hit, and everyone followed, and we scored, and it just made the stress level for everybody and me so much easier.”
Wayland was playing in its third Semifinal in four seasons. But there was shock and sadness instead of celebration after as coaches and players were told of the death of Bill Merchant, father of assistant coach Nicki Cardosa and brother-in-law to head coach Cheri Ritz, earlier Thursday after an apparent car accident.
Merchant also was Wayland’s junior varsity boys basketball coach. His four daughters all played large roles in the Wayland program – Jessica and Macy appear in the MHSAA record book – and then at the college level, and Jessica, Macy and Brittini coach in the Big Ten. His wife Deb Merchant has coached tennis for Wayland.
“(I told the players) that we have another angel in the sky, because my dad was killed in a car accident too,” Ritz said. “I was the AD at Wayland, and it was after a basketball game. He was helping me and got in a car accident, so our family has been through this before.
“But we have another angel in the sky.”
Senior shortstop Hailey Houck had two hits, scored two runs and drove in one for Wayland. Sophomore catcher Leigha Morse also had two hits and three RBI, and senior third baseman Morgan Winger and freshman designated player Sydney Urban both drove in two runs.
PHOTOS: (Top) Frankenmuth’s Amariah Wright prepares to unload a pitch during Thursday’s Division 2 Semifinal win. (Middle) A Wayland runner grabs for the plate while being tagged by St. Clair catcher Sydney Griffor.
Muskegon Oakridge Surging Again, but with Switch to Heavy-Hitting Style
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
May 5, 2022
Don’t expect much “small ball” from the Muskegon Oakridge softball team.
While veteran Oakridge coach Joe Coletta has fielded speedy teams in the past that terrorized opponents with stolen bases and bunting, this year’s edition manufactures runs the old-fashioned way – by swinging for the fences.
“We don’t have any girls at the top of the order that are going to steal bases – I’ll just let everybody know that,” said Coletta with a smile, after his team improved to 13-0 on Wednesday with two come-from-behind wins over visiting West Michigan Conference rival Ravenna, which also entered the showdown unbeaten.
“We’re not a speed team; we’re a long-ball hitting team. We have to be patient at times, but the long ball can change the game in a hurry.”
It certainly took some patience Wednesday, as Ravenna junior ace Emma Gillard baffled the Eagles early with her changeup, leading many in the crowd to wonder if they were witnessing a changing of the guard in WMC softball.
Then came the fifth inning.
The Oakridge “Smash Sisters” went to work and scored 11 runs, turning a scary 5-0 deficit into a comfortable 11-5 lead. The Eagles did it with not one, not two, but three over-the-fence home runs in that pivotal inning.
The lead basher for the Eagles is senior second baseman Jasmine “JJ” Pastor, who struck out in her first two at-bats Wednesday before getting her team on the board in that big inning with a two-run homer over the left-centerfield fence.
“I knew what happened the first two at-bats, and I knew it was time for me to step up,” said Pastor, a Muskegon Community College commit who is batting .444 with a team-high six home runs and nine doubles.
Pastor’s shot opened the floodgates, with the biggest hit of all coming from junior catcher Andrea Romero-Serrano (who bats sixth in the lineup), who belted a grand slam to give the Eagles a 6-5 lead. The final long ball of the inning came from sophomore first baseman Madison Clark, a lefty who pulled one over the rightfield fence for her team’s final runs in an 11-6 win.
The Eagles’ power is not contained to the top of the batting order, either, as eight of the nine starters have hit out-of-the-park home runs this spring.
Oakridge, which is ranked No. 7 in Division 2, had to rally again in second game, falling behind 6-3 heading into the sixth inning.
That was when the bottom of the Eagles’ batting order sparked another rally. Freshman Brenna Cabrera and sophomores Ahria Doornbos and Mallori Whipple all singled, leaving the bases loaded for Pastor.
After swinging wildly at a pair of lethal changeups from Ravenna freshman Addison Gillard, Pastor was ready for the third off-speed pitch, waiting on it perfectly and smashing a game-changing grand slam. Oakridge would add a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh for a 9-6 win.
Kaelinn Jozsa, a sophomore shortstop, leads Oakridge with a .600 batting average and three home runs. Other leading hitters are senior Brooklyn Galdeen (.467, two home runs), Clark (.412, two home runs) and senior centerfielder Delaney Ruel (.410).
Galdeen is the Eagles’ ace pitcher, with seven wins. Josza has five wins, and freshman Kylee Willea earned a gutty win in her first start of the season in Wednesday’s nightcap against Ravenna.
Oakridge now has a leg up as it seeks its sixth-straight WMC title. The Eagles have been the premier softball program in the Muskegon area over the past decade, winning seven District titles under Coletta. The highlight was a four-year stretch from 2016 to 2019, when the Eagles won 30 or more games each season.
Coletta said that Pastor, one of three seniors in the Oakridge starting lineup along with Galdeen and Ruel, was more vocal than he’s ever seen her at practice leading up to Wednesday’s showdown. Pastor said she was motivated by last year’s matchup with Ravenna, when the Bulldogs snapped the Eagles’ incredible 65-game conference winning streak in a doubleheader split, leading to a shared league championship.
“It’s just great competition between us and always back-and-forth,” said Pastor, whose father, Red Pastor, has coached her for many years in travel softball and is the Eagles’ longtime assistant coach. “Knowing that we have Ravenna right there, coming after us, pushes us even more.”
The two teams are likely to square off again in Saturday’s Greater Muskegon Athletic Association County Tournament, where Ravenna (16-2) will certainly be out for revenge.
One of the nice aspects of the budding softball rivalry between the two neighboring school districts is that they will go their separate ways in the postseason, with Oakridge in Division 2 and Ravenna in Division 3.
For Coletta, a three-sport athlete at Ravenna who has now won 280 games in 14 years as the Oakridge softball coach, the softball diamond is just the latest stage for one of the state’s best prep rivalries - which has been part of his life since he was a little kid.
Coletta served as the longtime offensive coordinator at Oakridge under Jack Schugars, the winningest football coach in Muskegon-area history. The Oakridge-Ravenna football rivalry ran red-hot during those years, particularly a 15-year stretch from 1994 to 2008, when the Bulldogs won four state titles and the Eagles won three.
“When I came over here to coach football, the rivalry was very intense,” said Coletta, who returned as softball coach this spring after stepping down in 2019. “I really enjoyed that rivalry, and now it’s going to be just like that for a while in softball – we both have some great young players. If you’re a competitor, this is exactly what you want.”
Tom 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) Muskegon Oakridge senior second baseman Jasmine Pastor connects at the plate. Pastor is batting .444 this season with eight home runs and nine doubles for the Eagles, who are 13-0 and ranked No. 7 in Division 2. (Middle) Head coach Joe Coletta, left, and assistant Red Pastor have built the Oakridge softball program into one of the best in West Michigan. (Photos by Sherry Wahr.)