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Softball Brings Home Millington's 1st Title
June 15, 2019
By Perry A. Farrell
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Runner-up a year ago – and seeking the first team championship in any sport in school history – Millington made sure it would be heading home with a softball title Saturday.
The Cardinals dominated Schoolcraft from the start of an 8-0 victory in the MHSAA Division 3 Final at Michigan State’s Secchia Stadium, a year after missing out on that milestone victory by just a run.
Last year, Millington led Coloma 5-4 before eventually losing 7-6. Coach Greg Hudie said his team watched film of that game the first day of practice this spring, and then the issue of last season was put to rest.
“I know some of the players and parents probably didn’t want to watch it, but after that we didn’t talk about last year at all,” he said. “That was in the past. This group loves each other, and we have team chemistry. They put a lot of work and sacrifice into doing this. They are like my daughters.”
Millington, which also won its first Regional title and made the Semifinals when these seniors were freshmen in 2016, finished this season 38-2-1.
“To win the first championship in school history is something special,’’ said senior Gabbie Sherman. “This is the first in school history to win in anything. We worked so hard for this. For it to come true is amazing. We’re like family, and watching us play you can see that.’’
After Sherman set Schoolcraft down in order in the top of the first inning, Millington outfielder Darrien Roberts got the Cardinals’ offense rolling with a blast on the first pitch she saw to deep center field that climbed up the light pole and over the fence to give her team a 1-0 lead.
“It was definitely a starter; it got my team going,’’ said Roberts, who hit her 18th home run of the season. “Anytime I go up as the leadoff hitter, my coaches tell me I set the mood and I have to set the tone and get on base. They told me I have to be the explosive player. Hitting that home run right away, I knew it was gone. I knew it was going to be a good finish for my team. I knew this was our year. No more of that Coloma stuff. This was our year.’’
Before the Eagles could get an out, Leah Denome singled, Sherman singled, Madi Hahn had a two-run double and Sydney Bishop had an RBI single to make it 4-0.
Sabrina Gates had an RBI single, forcing a pitching change with the Eagles down 5-0. After the switch, Elizabeth Bees singled. Roberts, who started the fireworks, lined a shot to center which was hauled in by Allie Goldschmeding to end the rally.
On the mound, Sherman struck out the first five batters she faced before giving up a single to Jordan Watts. Sherman quickly struck out the next batter to end the inning.
She helped her cause again in the fourth inning with an RBI single to make the score 6-0.
Hahn added an RBI single to make it 7-0 and a fielder’s choice throw to home was late as the lead swelled to 8-0.
Millington had 17 hits total, and for the second straight season Denome tied the Finals record with four. Sherman had three hits and struck out 13 batters in her final high school start.
Mikayla Meade was solid in relief for Schoolcraft (32-5), giving up just three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings pitched.
Of course, there was no better way to finish for seven Millington seniors who have helped the program achieve so much. The Cardinals upped their record over the last four seasons to a combined 150-16-1.
“This was hard because a lot of the media talked about last year,’’ said Roberts. “Parents and fans would mention it. So we told them ‘no more.’ We didn’t want to talk about it.”
PHOTOS: Millington players welcome home Darrien Roberts after her home run Saturday. (Middle) Sydney Bishop calls for timeout after beating a Schoolcraft tag.
![Algonac pitcher Kenna Bommarito makes her move toward the plate during last season’s Division 3 Semifinal against Millington.](/sites/default/files/2023-05/230524_Algonac_2H.png)
Algonac Diamond Teams Hope Matching Successes Lead to East Lansing
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
May 24, 2023
Kenna Bommarito remembers how many people were in East Lansing a year ago to support her and her Algonac softball teammates at the Division 3 Semifinals.
So, she has an idea of how many people from the town would show up if both the softball and baseball teams were there this time around.
“I think everyone would be,” the junior pitcher said.
There’s a decent possibility that Bommarito’s theory could be tested. The Muskrats softball team is ranked No. 2 in Division 3, and Tuesday night clinched the first Blue Water Area Conference title in program history.
That came one night after the baseball team – ranked No. 1 in Division 3 – also won its first BWAC title. The BWAC was created in 2002, and Algonac was an original member.
“It’s amazing – this town loves it,” said senior baseball player Tyler Schultz. “We’ve got a small community, and everybody is tagging along. I remember last year, a couple of our final postseason games, that was the most people I’ve ever seen at a game. All of the sports here are starting to build up. We have athletes all around the school. I think as time goes on, I think each sport will get better and better.”
Bommarito’s imagined scenario nearly played out a year ago, as both teams made their deepest postseason run.
While the softball team was making its historic run to the Semifinal, the baseball team was making one of its own, advancing to the Quarterfinal for the first time in program history.
The baseball team’s movement toward this started with the 2017 and 2018 seasons, when the Muskrats won back-to-back District titles.
“We had a couple DI (college) players, and when you have those players come through, it generates excitement through the youth,” said Algonac baseball coach Scott Thaler, who took over the program in 2017. “It’s been a trickle-down effect from that initial first two years. That really set the bar. We’ve had some really good baseball players come through, and I have a great staff.”
Thaler had stressed back then that he wanted to build a program at Algonac and not have it be a flash in the pan. That certainly looks like it’s happening, and not just because his Muskrats are winning and sitting atop the state rankings.
Algonac – which has fewer than 500 students in the entire school – has junior varsity and freshman baseball teams. Thaler also said there are 25 eighth graders coming into the program next year.
“I think that when I was smaller in little league, we didn’t really have that where we went out on the field with the varsity players,” said junior pitcher Josh Kasner. “Now, that’s gotten a lot better. A lot of the smaller kids we see around town, they know who we are and about (the program).”
Of course, talent wasn’t enough to get there. Thaler needed to instill belief in his team in order to help the younger generation see what was possible.
“I was a (football assistant) coach under Scott Barnhart, and one of the things we preached to the kids back then is ‘To believe in the things you haven’t seen before,’” Thaler said. “That’s the mantra we brought to them last year, ‘Why not us?’ Just because it hasn’t happened before here doesn’t mean you can’t believe in that. We had to get them to believe.”
The Quarterfinal run provided proof beyond the belief for the Muskrats, and then the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association added to it all, naming Algonac the preseason No. 1 team in Division 3.
Luckily for Thaler, his team took it in stride.
“I mean, it was a great feeling, but part of me had some doubts,” Schultz said “We’ve got some younger kids on the team, and I thought that maybe they might look at that and might get complacent, but me and some of the other seniors have done a good job of keeping all of these guys looking forward. We’ve still got one goal, and that’s to finish (with a Finals title).”
While the softball team didn’t enter the season with a No. 1 ranking, the expectations were certainly there, as was a new target on its back.
But bigger than both was motivation following a walk-off loss to Millington in the Semifinal.
“I think it just shows us that in those big games with those types of teams, you can never say never,” said first-year softball coach Natalie Heim, who was an assistant on last year’s team. “You really have to bear down. That Millington team that beat us, they fought hard. But I definitely think it fuels us more to get back.”
The softball program’s rise may have seemed more sudden to those on the outside, but senior Ella Stephenson said it had been bubbling for a while.
“My sophomore year, we had some talent for sure,” she said. “We had a really good season, but not as good as junior and senior year. The class above me was really talented. But they kind of turned the program around in my eighth-grade year, and it kind of kept building from there.”
During Stephenson’s sophomore season, the Muskrats lost a tough District game against Richmond, which went on to win the Division 3 Finals title. Not only are the Blue Devils a common early postseason opponent for the Muskrats, they’re also a conference rival. As is Almont. And Croswell-Lexington. And … It’s a brutal conference.
So, much like the baseball team, even during the softball team’s historic 2022 season, winning the conference this spring proved to be tougher than making a deep postseason run.
That made Tuesday night’s sweep of North Branch to clinch the BWAC that much sweeter.
“Honestly, it’s a rush of just happiness,” Bommarito said. “We’re all so excited and just can’t believe we did it. We just played game-by-game today, and really took it one pitch, one out at a time.”
Not only has the BWAC prepared the Muskrats for the possibility of another deep postseason run, it helped keep them focused throughout the season.
“I think a lot of teams don’t have that luxury of facing the best competition during the season,” Heim said. “I think it keeps (the Muskrats) not looking too far ahead. We try to have that approach of one game at a time, one inning at a time, one pitch at a time. It helps with having goals that are a little tougher to achieve. Winning our league, it’s tough. It’s not an easy feat. Especially after last year’s success, it would have been easy to look ahead.”
Now, with league titles secured, both teams can focus on their ultimate goals and the postseason that is directly in front of them.
All with the hope that their similarities – on top of the league titles, both teams are 29-2 as of Wednesday, and both have a University of Michigan-bound player (Kasner and Stephenson) – continue through the third weekend of June with matching trips to East Lansing.
“That’d be unreal. That would be so cool,” Stephenson said. “We all have really good friendships on the baseball and softball teams. Our records are identical. We both won our conference. It’s just really cool. I’m really happy for their success, and ours, too.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Algonac pitcher Kenna Bommarito makes her move toward the plate during last season’s Division 3 Semifinal against Millington. (2) Matthew Rix slides into home as a throw comes in. (3) The Muskrats huddle up in the baseball outfield. (4) The Algonac softball team stands together for a team photo. (Baseball photos and softball team photo courtesy of the Algonac athletic department.)