USA Triumphs with Pitching, Fielding Gems
June 15, 2019
By Perry A. Farrell
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – What a way to win a championship.
In a top-play moment, Unionville-Sebewaing turned a triple play in the seventh inning to secure a 3-1 victory over Kalamazoo Christian in the Division 4 softball championship game at Michigan State’s Secchia Stadium.
With runners on first and second base, the Comets’ Sammy Gano lined a shot off USA pitcher Brynn Polega’s arm. The ball ricocheted in the air to shortstop Rylee Zimmer, who touched second base and threw to first to complete the gem. (Click for video.)
Polega, a sophomore, had 15 strikeouts and a bruise on her arm.
“It hit me right in the elbow, and I just turned around and I said, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Polega said. “I said please get this, and I saw (Zimmerman) step on second. The runner on first was halfway to second, and I said that’s it. I was so excited when that happened. To win this as a sophomore is incredible.’’
“Chaos. I’ve never seen an ending like that,’’ added Patriots coach Isaiah Gainforth. “Whether in the Major Leagues, college baseball. I played a lot of different things, and I’ve never seen anything transpire the way that last inning did. I’m just glad we’re on the winning end of it.’’
Polega kept the Comets hitters at bay for most of the game.
“My curveball was working good,’’ she said. “My drop ball was good. Right before the game, my pitching coach and I were over there working on it. He said stay tall, keep my arm long and snap hard. That’s what I did all game.’’
She had six strikeouts through the first two innings, and by the end of the fifth she had racked up 12.
Staked to a 3-0 lead after the third inning and tossing a one-hitter, Polega never gave a young Kalamazoo Christian team a chance to get back into it before the seventh-inning dramatics.
Chants of “USA, USA, USA’’ rang through the Patriots crowd. It was the sixth Finals title for the Patriots (31-9) since 2009.
The teams finished with identical records, and it would be no surprise if they met again in next year’s Final with USA losing just three seniors and the Comets losing two.
“We’re a young team and so are they, so it could happen,’’ said Polega.
USA had a first-inning threat as Zimmer tripled with one out, but she was left on base.
Polega mowed through Kalamazoo Christian hitters, striking out eight through three innings and getting out of a jam in the third with a strikeout.
The Patriots got on the board in the third inning when Maci Reinhardt singled and scored on a throwing error with Maci Montgomery at the plate. Polega bounced out, scoring Montgomery, and Delanie Pavlichek doubled in another run to make it 3-0.
The Comets finally got to Polega in the sixth inning on a single by junior second baseman Megan Snook, who eventually scored on a single by freshman Reagan Broekhuizen to make it 3-1.
Polega ended the threat with another strikeout, her 15th of the game.
“She was zoned in,’’ said her catcher, Montgomery. “Everything was right on the spot. She made a couple of mistakes, but the defense supported her.’’
Especially in the seventh inning.
PHOTOS: (Top) USA's Brynn Polega works through an inning on the way to pitching her team to a Division 4 Final win. (Middle) Macy Reinhardt (14) connects with a Kalamazoo Christian pitch.
No Just-Miss This Time for Champ Inland Lakes
June 17, 2017
By Perry A. Farrell
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Indian River Inland Lakes didn’t want to leave Michigan State with that same feeling it had a year ago after falling 1-0 to Unionville-Sebewaing in the Division 4 Final.
This time around, the Bulldogs (35-5) combined extra-base power with more solid pitching to claim the school’s first MHSAA softball title with an 8-0 victory over Ottawa Lake Whiteford on Saturday.
Senior pitcher Cloe Mallory struck out the first five Bobcats batters.
“I voted her all-state in our division for a reason; she just kept us off-balanced,’’ said Ottawa Lake Whiteford coach Kris Hubbard. “They had the experience. They’re a junior-senior laden team. We’re seven sophomores. She controlled us, and I think we had a little bit of sophomore-itis.”
Mallory (who will continue at Central Michigan) handcuffed the Bobcats with 12 strikeouts and never pitched in a stressful situation. Left-fielder Sydney DePauw had three hits and scored two runs to pace the offense.
“It definitely was motivation all year, losing in the Finals last year, 1-0, gave us the motivation to get back here this year,” Mallory said. “I mixed up my pitches and mostly threw rise balls. Moving left to right.
“It means so much. Just in the past three years. You see it in the little children. You can see we’re going to have some good players come through the program, and it all started here.’’
Added coach Krissi Thompson: “To come so close so many times. … Even through Little League they got so close but just came up a little short. We wanted to put an exclamation point on it this year. We put up 460-some runs against our opponents, who scored just 65. These girls have busted their butts all year.’’
The Bulldogs put together their first threat Saturday in the third inning when Makayla Henckel walked and DePauw singled her to third.
Henckel scored on a wild pitch and Precious Delos Santos singled in another run to make it 2-0.
Mallory was hit by a pitch with two out, and cleanup hitter Vanessa Wandrie came through with a run-scoring single to make it 3-0 at the end of three. The Bulldogs tacked on another run when DePauw led off the fifth inning with a double and scored on an error.
Inland Lakes then blew it open in the sixth inning.
Henckel tripled to score a run, and DePauw and Braund followed with run-scoring doubles into the center field gap to open up a 7-0 lead. Delos Santos came through with a run-scoring single to make it 8-0, and redemption was all but complete with only the final three outs left to get.
“Oh my God, it felt so good to hit the ball,’’ said DePauw. “(Friday) we did pretty well, but to come out and just put it on them.
“We lost 1-0 last year, and to come back and just open it up like that was great. We came back with a vengeance. We played really hard last year, but we didn’t want to go out like that. We wanted to get it this year. Cloe is awesome. I can’t say enough about her and the team. We are family.’’
Whiteford, playing in its first Final since 1994 after also making the Quarterfinals last spring, ended at 33-7.
“We’ve had a great season,” Hubbard said. “I started seven freshmen last year, and we went a little further this year. Hopefully, we can get back here again.’’
PHOTOS: (Top) Inland Lakes raises its first softball championship trophy Saturday. (Middle) A Bulldogs runner is tagged out trying to get back to third base.