![Gaylord’s Alexis Shepherd sprints toward second base; she scored the game-winning run in Saturday’s Division 2 Final.](/sites/default/files/2024-06/240615_D2s_2H.png)
Vicksburg Sends Finals Rematch to Extra Inning, but Gaylord Locks Down Repeat
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
June 15, 2024
EAST LANSING – Gaylord junior pitcher Aubrey Jones was given a second opportunity to close out Saturday’s Division 2 championship game and help her team repeat.
She had her older sister Jayden Jones to thank for it.
Jayden helped bring home the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning to give Gaylord a dramatic 3-2 win over Vicksburg at Secchia Stadium.
Vicksburg had evened the score in the bottom of the seventh inning, extending the game. But after Gaylord retook the lead, Aubrey Jones retook the pitching circle and shut the door with a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth.
“It was definitely stressful because the whole postseason we hadn't been this close with a team,” Aubrey Jones said. “I was a little upset with myself because I let a pitch hang (in the seventh), but I’m super proud of my sister because we wouldn’t have scored that run without her, and I’m proud of her for being in that pressure situation and coming through for our team.
“This is super special for us because we’ve been playing together since we were 5 years old and the goal was to go out on top one more time, and we accomplished our goal.”
It was a rematch of last year’s Division 2 Final, but this ending was much different as Vicksburg rallied to tie it in the bottom of the seventh inning.
“The heart rate was up a little bit, but we couldn't show too much emotion because we didn't want the girls to feel that,” Gaylord coach Ron Moeggenberg said. “We talked to them before the playoff run started that at some point in this tournament we are going to have a close game and that was today, and they came through when they needed to.”
Down to their last strike in the seventh inning, Vicksburg delivered a stunning comeback.
Back-to-back singles with two outs by Maddison Diekman and Emily Zemitans and a Gaylord error evened the score at 2-2 and sent the game to extra innings.
“It hurts,” Bulldogs coach Paul Gephart said. “Very proud of the girls because they never give up and they fought to the end. Two strikes, two outs, and they still put it into that extra inning.
“They will get past the hurt and have a special memory. First class at our school to do that back-to-back, so I’m very proud of them.
In the top of the eighth inning, Alexis Shepherd singled with one out and then Jayden Jones knocked a single to right field. Shepherd raced home on a throwing error at third base, and the Blue Devils retook the lead.
Aubrey Jones then got a pair of flyouts with a strikeout in between to end the game. She finished with five strikeouts and allowed just one walk over eight innings.
“This team has overcome a lot, and I’ve had to overcome a lot,” Jayden Jones said. “I was out last year (with a broken wrist), so being in this moment one more time with my team meant a lot to me. I had an opportunity to come through for my team and get the job done, and I was able to do that.”
The sisters combined for five of Gaylord’s 10 hits.
“They’ve come up big for us for the last four years, and we are going to miss Jayden,” Moeggenberg said. “It was special for us to do this again, and we knew that Vicksburg was going to be ready for us. Their pitcher was great today.”
Gaylord (38-4) took an early 2-0 lead with runs in each of the first two innings before Vicksburg trimmed the deficit in the bottom of the second with an RBI double from Ella Luegge.
Vicksburg senior pitcher Delaney Monroe was stellar again as she struck out six and didn’t allow a walk.
“She was keeping them off balance with her change-up, and she’s been so strong physically and mentally,” Gephart said. “She’s done a great job, and we couldn’t ask for anything more. That’s the No. 1 team in the state all year, and we were right there with them.”
Brooklynn Ringler and Audrie Dugan had two hits apiece for the Bulldogs (37-8).
PHOTOS (Top) Gaylord’s Alexis Shepherd sprints toward second base; she scored the game-winning run in Saturday’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) The Blue Devils begin their celebration. (Below) Vicksburg’s Peyton Smith and Maddison Diekman (10) enjoy a moment in the field.
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D2 Semis: Confident Contenders Roll On
June 12, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Rozlyn Price’s gutsy performance Thursday afternoon at Secchia Stadium had less to do with how far she’s come in the last year as it was about how far she’s come over the last month.
A year ago, the then-freshman Price pitched the Blazers back to the MHSAA Division 2 Semifinals. But this spring hardly began the way she and Ladywood expected – the Blazers started 8-8, and as recently as May 17, Price walked 17 batters over just more than five innings in the Detroit Catholic League championship game.
Coach Scott Combs said there was a stretch when he didn’t feel he could put his ace in the pitching circle. But he never gave up on her.
“I was struggling a lot in the beginning of the season. My confidence was not there,” Price said. “I’m so thankful having my team behind me, cheering me up after every pitch. Whenever I get down, they always try to pick me up.
“Coach Scott worked with me a lot. He said, ‘Just calm down; just stay focused on the batter, and you’ll be fine.’”
Confident again, Price made a number of gutsy pitches Thursday to lead Ladywood back to the Division 2 Final with a 4-3, 10-inning win over top-ranked Wayland at Secchia Stadium. The No. 7 Blazers (29-13) will face No. 4 Stevensville Lakeshore in Saturday’s championship game at 9 a.m.
Price walked only two batters in the Semifinal and struck out six, including Wayland’s leadoff hitter with bases loaded and her team up 2-1 in the sixth inning. She also stranded a Wildcats runner on third base in the bottom of the ninth.
It was a far cry from her early-season struggles and 12 losses that became more forgettable with Thursday’s win.
“She could not throw a strike, and we worked and worked psychologically to get her to relax,” Combs said. “She was trying to muscle everything, trying to blow it by everybody. … She’s got all the ability in the world, and she’s a great hitter too, but she just needed to learn to focus and relax, and she did.”
Price did hit as well, doubling in her team’s first two runs. Sophomore rightfielder Rachel Hendrickson, batting ninth, tripled in junior Morgan Larkin in the seventh inning and then scored the game-winner in the 10th on senior shortstop Haley Lawrence’s single.
All three were in the lineup last season when Ladywood fell 8-0 to Tecumseh in a Semifinal. Tecumseh went on to win the championship.
This was Ladywood’s fourth straight trip to the Semifinals, and Saturday’s championship game will give the Blazers the opportunity to win their second title in three seasons – although the lineup is almost completely different than the one that won two years ago.
“It’s just crazy, the difference in the team last year to the team this year,” Price said. “I myself, I feel like I had a lot more confidence in this game than I did last year, or even in the games at the beginning of this season.”
Junior centerfielder Christina Meyer and Lawrence joined Hendrickson with a pair of hits. Every one of Wayland’s starters hit safely, led by senior catcher Britt McLain, senior rightfielder Elyssa Oostdyk, junior pitcher Mallory Teunissen and junior first baseman Morgan Teunissen with two hits apiece.
The Wildcats finished 42-2. Click for the full box score.
Stevensville Lakeshore 7, Croswell-Lexington 4
A couple things annually are expected from the Stevensville Lakeshore softball team: The Lancers will win at least 30 games and contend for the Division 2 title.
They won their 30th game this season in the District Final. And they’re back in an MHSAA championship game – even if they didn’t feel the same outside expectations this spring after a rough start.
“Our first game we lost to Edwardsburg, and we’re like, ‘Oh man.’ Portage Central beat us five out of six times,” Lakeshore senior pitcher Haley Thibeault said. “We didn’t start at the top like we have been. We started at the bottom and literally just shot up. We peaked exactly at the right time.”
The Lancers (35-9) kept the tournament momentum rolling with five runs in the first inning against Croswell-Lexington. They pushed the score to 6-0 in the fifth inning.
Croswell-Lexington (30-2) showed plenty of sparks scoring a pair of runs in both the sixth and seventh innings – but was a hit or two short in both of turning the tide completely.
Junior pitcher Megan Guitar had two hits and scored a run for the Pioneers. Senior shortstop Kylee Barrett drilled a home run in the seventh inning.
Sophomore leftfielder Rachel Riedel had three hits including two triples and drove in three runs. Freshman second baseman Hunter Thibeault and sophomore rightfielder Sidney Weaver both had two hits.
Lakeshore’s return to the championship game is its first since winning back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011.
“Everyone has been saying we’re not as good as last year’s team, or our team is young. (You don’t like) to hear that because we want to go as far as we can,” Haley Thibeault said. “I’m so proud because we’re defying all the odds to come this far. Maybe it doesn’t seem like that to other people, but it’s internal victories to us, moral victories.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Livonia Ladywood’s Rozlyn Price fires a pitch during her team’s 10-inning Division 2 Semifinal win over Wayland. (Middle) Lakeshore shortstop Alex Forsythe throws to first during her team’s Semifinal win.