Unionville-Sebewaing Adds Title No. 8 in Record-Setting Fashion
By
Jason Schmitt
Special for MHSAA.com
June 19, 2021
EAST LANSING — There was a moment early on this season when Unionville-Sebewaing head coach Isaiah Gainforth had some doubts as to just how good his Patriots were going to be.
But all those doubts were erased as his team celebrated its 36th-straight victory in the Division 4 Final against Rudyard. The Patriots’ 14-1 win over the Bulldogs capped off a remarkable season which saw the team break or tie three championship game records Saturday afternoon.
“We started the season 4-3,” Gainforth said after his team captured its second-consecutive state title. “Obviously, you go without the year last year, so you don’t know who your team is, what its makeup is. You didn’t know what you had. It took a while. We weren’t pushing the panic button. We were playing the tough part of our schedule early on.”
Gainforth’s team righted the ship. The offense started hitting the ball, while senior starting pitcher Brynn Polega did her thing to near perfection.
“We just got on a roll. They’re just smart hitters. They understand hitting,” said Gainforth, whose team hit better than .400 for the season. “Considering where we were after game No. 7, up to now, I wouldn’t have guessed that. Once we got into the league and got it going, we just kept adding up the runs.”
USA (40-3) broke the record for hits in a championship game, collecting 20 against the Bulldogs. The previous record was 17, shared by Jenison (Class A, 1988) and Millington (Division 3, 2019). Eight players had multiple hits, including senior Emily Rieman, whose four hits tied a championship game record.
“It was my last game and I was like, ‘Bring it all, or nothing,’” said Rieman, who also scored two runs and drove in three more. “In the beginning (of the season), we were like, ‘Execute, execute, execute. Don’t miss a pitch. If it’s there, you at least have to foul it off.’ Our coaches have been there with us since the beginning, and that’s all we’ve been doing is practicing our hitting.
“I was just feeling everything (today). I couldn’t miss a pitch. I was just feeling it.”
Senior Maci Montgomery and junior Macy Reinhardt both had three hits and seniors Emma Stecker and Olivia Jubar, junior Laci Harris and freshman Gabriella Crumm each added two hits.
Polega, who had two hits herself at the plate, picked up the win in the circle. In the process, she set a championship game record for strikeouts in seven innings, with 19.
“I felt really good,” said Polega, who will play at Northwood University next year. “My warmup, I went to the bullpen and it was probably the best one I’ve had all year. I came out of the bullpen and told the coaches, ‘I’m ready. It’s game time. I’m ready.”
Polega retired the first 10 batters she faced, eight by strikeout. Rudyard senior Desta MacDowell’s one-out walk in the fourth inning broke up Polega’s perfect game. MacDowell would come around and score on an RBI single by sophomore Meagan Postma. But that’s all Rudyard would get.
“Brynn is a stud. Any game she pitches in, any game she will pitch in for Northwood, they’ll have a chance because she’s a gamer, just an absolute beast,” Gainforth said. “I’m so glad she’s wearing the red, white and blue.”
It was the 10th appearance in the championship game for USA, which has now won five titles in Division 4 (2009, 2015-16, 2019, 2021) and two more in Division 3 (2006-07). The 10 Finals appearances are the second-most in MHSAA softball history.
Rudyard proved it is a program on the ascent, having reached the Division 4 championship game this season after capturing the school’s first-ever Regional title in 2018 and following it up with two more Regional championships in 2019 and 2021.
“We’re happy to be here,” Rudyard head coach Stephen Davis said. “We had a great year. We have to look at what we did and enjoy it. It was fun to watch the kids we brought up from the JV get a taste of this. They’ll want to come back. They’ll want to be up on that stage. We’ll use that for motivation for the future.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Unionville-Sebewaing’s Macy Reinhardt takes a cut during her team’s Division 3 championship game win Saturday at Secchia Stadium. (Middle) USA’s Brynn Polega unloads a pitch; she would finish with 19 strikeouts.
Dundee, Ewing 'Prove' Up for Title Task
June 15, 2013
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
BATTLE CREEK — Mickey Moody knew what he was doing when he angered Dundee pitcher Vanessa Ewing.
As the Vikings’ softball coach, Moody knows which buttons to push to motivate his senior. When he took her out of the MHSAA Division 3 Semifinal on Friday, he expected Ewing to respond with a vengeance in the championship game.
Unionville-Sebewaing isn’t as familiar with Ewing’s personality, so the Patriots had no idea that walking the batter in front of Ewing in the top of the ninth inning would ignite such a fire under her.
After a semi-intentional walk to No. 3 hitter Haleigh Kimble on four straight pitches, Ewing came to the plate with runners on first and second base — and an attitude.
“I was just thinking about how they walked Haleigh and how mad that makes me,” Ewing said. “That’s really disrespectful. If they’re scared of Haleigh and don’t think I can hit, I have to prove them wrong.”
How’s this for proof? Ewing hit a three-run homer over the left-field fence to account for all of the scoring in Dundee’s 3-0 shutout of Unionville-Sebewaing in the MHSAA Division 3 championship game Saturday at Bailey Park.
Hannah Rachor began the winning rally by doubling with two outs. Patriots pitcher Erica Treiber, who allowed only four hits before that double, threw four outside pitches to Kimble to put runners on first and second. Ewing then cranked an 0-2 pitch over the fence in left to break the scoreless deadlock.
“I swung as hard as I could,” Ewing said. “I just hit an inside pitch. Those definitely fly far.”
Ewing made her blast hold up for the victory by completing her shutout in the ninth inning, striking out Jennifer Winchell to end the game.
The championship is Dundee's first; the team had never advanced past Regionals until this week.
Ewing pitched a four-hitter, struck out 15 and walked four just one day after being pulled in the fourth inning of an 11-6 victory over Allen Park Cabrini.
“Vanessa doesn’t like being taken out,” Moody said. “Call it a head game, whatever you want to call it. Anything to motivate her and make her mad, it’s good enough for me.”
Ewing pitched the gem, despite experiencing arm pain in the past few games.
“I’ve been struggling lately,” she said. “My arm’s been killing me. This was the last game. I didn’t care if my arm falls off.”
The Patriots (37-4) had a chance to win it in the bottom of the seventh when Treiber led off with a double and moved to third with one out on a bunt by Katie Gremel. Treiber stayed at third on a groundout to third and was stranded when Allison Hoppe flew out to center field.
Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the eighth inning before Dundee (45-1) won its first MHSAA softball title in the ninth.
“That was just a phenomenal softball game,” Unionville-Sebewaing coach Steve Bohn said. “That’s an old-time pitchers’ duel. The pitchers were dominating. They get in a jam and pitch their way out of it. That’s the way the game’s supposed to be played. That was just a classic softball game. They got one swing and got it on the barrel. That’s the way the game works.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Dundee senior Vanessa Ewing readies to fire a pitch during her nine-inning shutout Saturday. (Middle) A Vikings hitter prepares to bunt during her team's championship game victory. (Click to see more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)