Valley Lutheran's Appold Charges On
April 19, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Sarah Appold’s favorite pitch really depends on the day – and the various options she’s honed during a record-setting career at Saginaw Valley Lutheran.
Of course, there is the old stand-by fastball. The Chargers’ senior also can go change-up. She has a dangerous drop ball. But if she absolutely needs a swing and a miss, it’s got to be the rise.
“I just like the way I can kinda play games with it,” Appold said.
She’s won more than most seniors in Michigan this school year.
Appold is, without question, one of the most impressive all-around athletes in the state's class of 2012. A Second Half High 5 recipient this week, she made the Class C all-state second team in volleyball during the fall and then The Associated Press’ Class C all-state basketball team in the winter.
But softball has always been her number one – Appold holds multiple strikeout records at Valley Lutheran and has signed to pitch next for Saginaw Valley State.
“I played a lot of first base (growing up). But I liked being in control, playing all the time,” Appold said of pitching. “I like being able to be part of every single play. It’s just like playing a game every single time someone is up to bat.”
A decade ago, when second-grader Sarah decided she wanted to give pitching a try, her dad Randy – himself a fastpitch thrower – built her a pitching mound in the backyard.
It clearly got some use.
She set the Chargers’ single-season strikeout record of 272 as a sophomore – made more impressive by the fact she’s shared pitching duties all of her four varsity seasons and threw only 138 innings that season. She’s in the MHSAA record book three times for striking out at least 14 batters in one game, with her 15 in a 2010 contest tied for fifth on the list.
But the number that really pops is the school record she set last season for strikeouts per inning – 2.06.
This spring she’s faced 57 batters and struck out 36 in starting 2-0. She hasn’t given up an earned run and has allowed just five hits and walked four. Opponents are batting a mere .098 against her.
“Just being around her, and seeing her attitude, it’s hard to describe,” Valley Lutheran coach John Mueller said. “Because for all four years, watching her on the mound, she could strike somebody out or give up a hit, and you’d never see a change in her facial expression. She’ll get a couple of runners on base and it’s no big deal. She’s not so worried.”
He saw that confidence emerge especially last season. And her presence allows for her teammates – who together are ranked No. 5 in Division 3 – to remain confident even if they don’t make an offensive dent the first time through the line-up.
Appold also struck out 14 on Saturday as she and teammate Kelsey Schaus both threw no-hitters in a sweep of Flint Southwestern. Appold is joined by another four-year varsity player in Kara Englehardt among a group that Mueller said has shown exceptional work ethic across all sports over the last few years – and no doubt is working toward improving on last season’s finish in the Regional Final, a 7-5 loss to Sanford Meridian.
Appold also played four seasons of varsity volleyball and three on the basketball team. One more run would be a fitting end to an impressive softball career and incredible senior year as a whole.
“I guess I was a little shy coming in when I came in as a freshman. But I had juniors and seniors on the team who helped me settle down,” Appold said. “I definitely feel a lot older. And as you get older, there’s not a pressure, but a feeling of being almost done – and wanting to end the season winning the last game.”
Click for more on Appold and the rest of this week's High 5s.
PHOTOS: Saginaw Valley Lutheran Sarah Appold helped her team to last season's Division 3 Regional Final, playing both first base and pitching in the tournament.
Richmond Follows Freshman into History
June 18, 2016
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING — The pitching circle is Erin Shuboy's comfort zone.
It doesn't matter if it's an MHSAA championship game against a team with a .433 batting average and a full set of bleachers on either side of her.
Pitching is easy for Shuboy.
Talking about it? That's when the nerves start to show.
"I'm so overwhelmed," the freshman pitcher told a group of reporters after throwing a no-hitter in Richmond's 2-0 victory over Vicksburg in the MHSAA Division 2 championship game on Saturday at Michigan State University.
When one more reporter joined the scrum around Shuboy, she exclaimed, "Oh, my gosh! There's more!"
She'd better get used to the attention, because she has three more years of dealing with interview requests in high school, and possibly beyond that in college.
"She feels like she doesn't have anything to say," said freshman catcher Kennedy Caperton, who has been playing softball with Shuboy since elementary school. "Once you get to know her, she opens up. I think she's just in shock about it."
Shuboy pitched the 14th no-hitter in an MHSAA Final, the first since Mattawan's Lauren Gevaart had one in the 2011 Division 1 title game. Shuboy struck out seven, facing the minimum of 21 batters.
The only runner she allowed was pitching counterpart Avery Slancik, who walked with one out in the second inning. A grounder by Olivia Holmes forced out Slancik's courtesy runner, Lauren Goertler, at second base. Holmes was then caught stealing by Caperton to end the inning.
"As soon as I let go of it, I was like, 'I hope this is good,'" Caperton said.
Shuboy retired the last 16 batters she faced. Even though the scoreboard told the story, she had no clue she'd thrown a no-hitter until a reporter told her while walking from the field to the awards area.
"We had to slow her down several times," Richmond coach Howard Stuart said. "Even the officials were telling us to slow her down. She was in such a hurry to get the ball and throw it. There was no mention of a no-hitter; not one word was said. Even at the end of the game, she didn't know. She was so focused. The team was not allowed to say anything to her."
Richmond's two runs came in the top of the fourth inning. Lindsay Schweiger led off with a single to left, then moved to third when the throw to first went into the outfield on a bunt by Allison Swantek.
Shuboy delivered the first run with a slow groundout to second base.
"I just wanted to make contact with it," Shuboy said. "That's all we had to do, get the RBI."
Swantek made it 2-0 when she raced home on a wild pitch.
"We made a couple of mistakes," Vicksburg coach Paul Gephart said. "Those couple of mistakes all happened together, and that led to the couple of runs."
Vicksburg went down in order in the final five innings, striking out six times, but putting three balls in the outfield. The final out came on a foul ball down the right field line.
"The few solid hits we had went right at them," Gephart said. "One of our quicker girls, they were playing way up to take away the bunt option we've used in the past. You have to give them all the credit. They're a good team. They wouldn't be here if they weren't."
It was Richmond's first MHSAA softball championship after losing in the Finals in 1985, 1998 and 1999. The Blue Devils (32-9) had reached the Semifinals seven times prior to this season under Stuart, who is 954-288 in 38 years at the helm.
Shuboy broke down when asked what it meant to help deliver a title to Richmond's six seniors.
"I just wanted to help them out," she said. "I'm gonna cry. I just wanted them to have a good end of their senior year, and a state championship would be a perfect way."
One of those seniors, Schweiger, knows that the program is in good hands with Shuboy and Caperton returning for three more years as the team's battery.
"Erin handled it so well," Schweiger said. "She could be put in tough situations and play fantastic. Kennedy can throw people out like it's nothing. She's amazing at catching. They work so well together, because they've been playing with each other since they were little; all of us have, basically. They'll be good next year, too."
Slancik allowed six hits, struck out eight and didn't give up a walk for Vicksburg (36-9). She kept the game close by getting out of jams in the fifth and seventh innings after Richmond moved runners to third base.
PHOTOS: (Top) Richmond players rush to celebrate their MHSAA Final win with pitcher Erin Shuboy (19). (Middle) Shuboy prepares to unload a pitch during Saturday’s championship game.