Top-ranked Unionville-Sebewaing, No. 2 Mendon Set Division 4 Matchup
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
June 16, 2023
EAST LANSING – Not even a once-in-a-lifetime, over the fence, home-run robbing catch by Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart centerfielder Alexys Zeien could stop the Unionville-Sebewaing softball machine.
USA junior catcher Gabriella Crumm belted what looked like a sure two-run home run to left-centerfield in the top of the seventh inning Thursday morning, only to watch in disbelief as Zeien leapt, fully extended over the fence and yanked the yellow ball back into play, safely “snow coned” in the top of her glove.
Instead of a 4-1 USA lead, it remained a narrow 2-1 edge.
Unfazed, USA junior pitcher Rylie Betson retired the upset-minded Irish 1, 2, 3 in the bottom of the seventh for the narrow 2-1 win at Secchia Stadium, as the Patriots advanced to Saturday’s Division 4 Final – which will be the school’s 12th Finals appearance. USA has won eight titles, including the last three.
“When I hit it, I was like: ‘YEAH, that’s gone,’” said Crumm, the team’s lone captain and a returning first-team all-stater. “Then I looked out there and saw that she caught it, and I was like ‘Respect.’
“We still had the lead and we just had to go get three more outs, and that’s what we did.”
USA, ranked No. 1 in the final Division 4 coaches poll, will try to make it four championships in a row Saturday against No. 2-ranked Mendon, which had only one hit but manufactured four runs in a 4-2 Semifinal win over Johannesburg-Lewiston.
The Patriots are the only softball team with a chance to repeat. In fact, the other three winners from last year – Allen Park (D1), Stevensville Lakeshore (D2) and Millington (D3) – all fell short of the Semifinals this time.
USA’s 12 appearances in Softball Finals will tie for the most in state history with Kalamazoo Christian. The Patriots’ first Finals appearance didn’t come until 2006, but they now have made 12 title games in the past 18 years.
“It never gets old,” explained Crumm, who started watching her school compete for Finals titles when she was just a little girl. “We know how important it is to our school, to our community and all of those little girls in the stands.”
The Patriots’ latest Semifinal victory will not go down as a thing of beauty, or perhaps it will, depending on who recounts it.
First-year USA coach Marc Reinhardt didn’t mind that his team tallied only seven hits and two runs – both of them unearned.
“We will take it any way that we can get it,” said Reinhardt, whose daughter, Macy, had a two-run double in last year’s championship game win over Ottawa Lake Whiteford. “This is the first time I haven’t sat in one of the stadium seats here and watched the game.”
Crumm was the only USA player with multiple hits.
The Patriots fell behind 1-0 after the first inning, then took the lead with single runs in the fourth and fifth.
Jenna Gremmel led off the fourth inning with a double and came around on a wild pitch and a throwing error. Lauren Green then led off the fifth inning with a single and eventually scored after a passed ball and another throwing error.
USA’s run in the fourth inning snapped a 37-inning postseason scoreless streak by the Irish, who won their first six tournament games by a combined score of 65-0.
Sacred Heart, which started three freshmen and three sophomores, showed off their bats in the first inning, jumping out to the lead behind doubles from senior Eliza Pieratt and sophomore Kallie Smith.
But Betson settled in after that, scattering four hits over the final six innings.
“They were a good team and were hitting me pretty good,” said Betson. “The thing is, I know my team is so solid behind me and that takes so much weight off of my shoulders.”
Mendon 4, Johannesburg-Lewiston 2
Mendon managed just one hit over seven innings, but took advantage of its opportunities and used aggressive base-running to advance to its first Final since 1992.
The Hornets broke through despite having one of the youngest teams in the field with two seniors, no juniors and a combined 11 sophomores and freshmen.
“We thought we’d be something special in a couple of years, but these girls are different – they don’t quit,” said Mendon co-head coach Mike Smith, who handles the duties along with Steve Butler. “We had one hit, but we won the game, so who cares?”
Mendon, 35-5, scored two runs in the top of the fifth inning, capitalizing on a pair of errors, then scored its final two runs in the top of the sixth, taking advantage of two walks and three wild pitches.
Freshman Mattea Bingaman had the Hornets’ only hit, an infield single in the sixth inning, and sophomore Brielle Bailey was credited with her team’s only RBI.
The standout for the Hornets was senior pitcher Lauren Schabes, who went all seven innings, allowing six hits, three walks and striking out 12.
Schabes won’t have much time to celebrate, however, as she had to hurry home after the game for her graduation open house in Mendon, which is about 71 miles from MSU in the southwest corner of the state.
“It’s going to be a busy night,” said Schabes, one of just two seniors for the Hornets, along with third baseman Carlie Doehring. “I don’t even have time to go to B-Dubs (Buffalo Wild Wings) with everybody else.”
Johannesburg-Lewiston, 30-4-1, advanced to the Semifinals for the first time since 1981 and fell just short of its first Finals appearance.
Junior pitcher Jayden Marlatt was the hard-luck loser, allowing just one hit and striking out 15 over seven innings. Reagan Sides had two hits and two RBIs, and Brittney Fox also ripped two hits.
PHOTOS (Top) A Unionville-Sebewaing hitter makes contact during her team’s Semifinal win Friday. (Middle) Gabriella Crumm celebrates at second base. (Below) Mendon’s Lauren Schabes makes her move toward the plate. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Record-Setting Offense Helps Lift Vicksburg to 2023 Runner-Up Finish
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 26, 2024
Vicksburg finished Division 2 runner-up last spring led by one of the most accomplished offenses in MHSAA history.
The Bulldogs made the single-season wins list finishing 41-6, setting a record with 441 RBI, ranking second 538 runs and 541 hits and tying for third with 46 home runs.
Maddison Diekman tied for fifth individually both with 84 runs scored and 89 hits, while Peyton Smith made lists with 73 hits, 19 doubles and 12 home runs. Brooklynn Ringler earned listings with 75 runs and 74 hits, and Delaney Monroe did as well with 16 home runs and 76 RBI. All four are seniors this season.
Diekman will continue her career at Central Michigan, Smith will continue at Concordia-Ann Arbor and Monroe will continue at Lawrence Tech, and Ringler will golf at Davenport. See below for more recent MHSAA softball record book updates, and click the heading to see the record book in full.
Softball
A pair of Fowler standouts earned individual record book entries last spring, and the team also earned a pair of entries. Avery Koenigsknect had back-to-back home runs and six RBI in one game May 18 against Bath, making lists for both, and teammate Brianne Halfmann had three home runs, including two back-to-back, and seven RBI in a single game against Mendon on June 13 to make lists for all three categories. As a team, the Eagles were added for 391 hits and 297 RBI over 37 games. Koenigsknecht graduated last spring, and Halfmann is a senior this school year.
Now-senior Marissa Warren led another strong Big Rapids effort in 2023, reaching the record book with 71 hits, 70 runs, 17 doubles, 15 home runs, 84 RBI and with three listings for multiple homers in a game or inning. She was joined by teammate Pharis Carroll, who made the runs scored list with 68 and is also a senior this school year. Hanna Smith (46), Rylie Haist (41) and Josie Cornell (34) finished three-season varsity careers all on the career doubles list. As a team., Big Rapids made lists with 445 hits, 428 runs, 90 doubles, 353 RBI and a .416 batting average. Warren has signed with Toledo, Haist and Smith are continuing at Ferris State, and Cornell signed with Husson University in Maine.
Payton Manninen’s junior season last spring saw her reach the MHSAA record book with a .645 average over 27 games – and also climb the list of longest hitting streaks in state history. The Ishpeming standout’s run came to an end last May 10, almost two years to the day it started and after 61 straight games with at least one hit – good for second on the list.
Hamilton’s best season in several years saw the Hawkeyes rank eighth all-time with 503 hits, fifth with 40 triples and ninth with a .438 team batting average over 41 games in 2023 – those listings among six total to make the team record book. Individually, senior Madie Jamrog made the records with 66 runs scored and 15 triples last season and 27 triples and 22 home runs for her three-year varsity career. Ella Davison, just a freshman last spring, made the lists with 81 hits, 18 doubles, a .643 average and a 23-game hitting streak. Then-sophomore Taylor Oosterink was added for six RBI in a game, and then-sophomore Kianna Vork for being hit by pitches three times in one contest. Jamrog is continuing her career at Akron.
Another pair of Richland Gull Lake standouts has been added to the records, one a recent graduate and another a senior this season. Mandy Esman was added seven times including for 35 doubles, 29 home runs and a .530 batting average over her three-season career – and despite her sophomore year being canceled due to the pandemic. Now-senior Ava Coffinger was added five times; her 86 runs scored last spring are tied for third-most for one season, and she had stolen 79 bases consecutively without getting caught entering this year and stole 73 total in 2023. Esman played a season at Michigan State and now plays at Houston, and Coffinger has signed with MSU.
Grandville Calvin Christian’s Karsen Balmer twice last season hit home runs in back-to-back at bats – against Beaverton on May 6, 2023, and then against Sparta on May 23. She’s a senior this spring.
A trio of Leslie seniors this spring are all over the record book for single-season and career accomplishments after their first three years of varsity. Ada Bradford ranked on the career strikeout list with 937 and at the plate with 49 doubles, 26 home runs and 166 RBI heading into this spring. Jalen Fossitt joins her with 58 doubles and 152 RBI for her career so far, and Gabby Waldofsky ranks with 171 runs scored and 209 hits over her first three seasons. Leslie also was added for 387 hits, 79 doubles and 254 RBI over 39 games last spring. Bradford will continue her career at Aquinas College, and Fossitt will continue at Hope College.
Cecelia Thorington’s junior season last spring at Pinckney saw her reach the record book four times, including for season totals of 73 hits, 68 runs scored and 60 stolen bases over 36 games. Senior teammate Kylee Douglas was added as well for six RBI in a game. Douglas is continuing her career at Henry Ford College, and Thorington will continue hers at University of Michigan.
Olivia Turner entered her senior season this spring at Grass Lake with 16 record book entries and two MHSAA records. She tied the record for single-season hits with 100 over 40 games in 2023, and along the way broke the career record for doubles with 80 and a season to play. She’s also climbing career record lists for home runs (15th) and RBI (third), and last season added single-season listings for 30 doubles (tied for third), 17 home runs, 102 RBI (second) and a .714 batting average (seventh). She has signed with Bradley.
A pair of Okemos hitters reached the record book last season for RBI in one game – now-junior Violet Greborunis twice driving in six, and now-junior Keirlyn Bane also bringing home six runners in one game.
Parma Western’s Abby Nieswender smashed 30 doubles last spring as a junior, which landed third on the single-season list. She’s signed with Aquinas.
Grayling earned its first record book achievements in this sport over the last two seasons. The Vikings as a team are listed for 82 doubles and 284 RBI over 37 games in 2023, and 68 doubles over 35 games in 2022. Anna Wood made the single-season individual doubles list with 17 last spring, and Mandy Andrews made the hit-by-pitch list with 16. Wood, Cali D’Amour and Jessica Campbell all made the single-game RBI list for six or more either last season or during 2022. Andrews is a senior this spring, and the other three are juniors.
Otisville LakeVille Memorial made the record book several times after finishing 33-8 in 2023, with now-senior Jayla Thompson leading the way. The Falcons were added for 437 runs, 420 hits, 88 doubles, 32 home runs and 350 RBI as a team. Thompson scored 70 runs, hit 16 doubles and 10 home runs and also reached the career home runs list with 27 and a season to play. She and now-senior Brooke Newberry, now-sophomore Anabell Newberry and now-junior Mallorie Nevadomski also made lists with single-game accomplishments.
PHOTO Vicksburg’s Peyton Smith stands in for a pitch during last season’s Division 2 Semifinal win over Richmond.