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.
Just 1 Hit - Plus Brilliant Pitching - Earns Evart's 1st Finals Title in Any Sport
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
June 15, 2024
EAST LANSING – Evart flexed its muscles during Friday’s Semifinals, smacking three over-the-fence home runs.
In Saturday’s Division 3 Final, the Wildcats managed only one single the entire game – which turned out to be just enough to bring home the first team state championship in school history in any sport.
Sophomore ace Kyrah Gray threw a shutout, and her sophomore classmate Mattisen Tiedt delivered her team’s only hit in the bottom of the sixth inning – a run-scoring shot to right field to bring home Allyson Theunick – lifting Evart to a 1-0 victory over hard-luck Ottawa Lake Whiteford at Secchia Stadium.
“You could tell it was going to come down to one hit, and I still can’t believe that it was me,” said Tiedt, a first baseman who bats fourth in the lineup.
The Bobcats never gave up, using singles from Kaydence Sheldon and Koralynn Billau to put runners on second and third base with just one out in the top of the seventh inning. But Gray showed her grit, digging deep and striking out the next two batters to preserve the win.
Gray threw a five-hitter with 12 strikeouts in a classic pitchers’ duel against Whiteford senior Unity Nelson, who surrendered just the one hit and struck out eight.
“We won ugly,” said first-year Wildcats coach Shaun Gray, a 1998 Evart graduate and Kyrah’s father. “We have won ugly at times this year and, at other times, we showed off our bats. We’ll take it however we can get it.”
The win atoned for a heartbreaking Finals loss two years ago for Evart, which fell to Millington, 3-2, in eight innings.
This year’s game appeared headed for extra innings as both Gray and Nelson refused to give an inch.
Evart (37-4) finally got something going in the sixth inning when Theunick got hit by a pitch and stole second. That runner in scoring position brought the Evart fans, led by a loud and enthusiastic student section, to their feet.
After the next batter, slugger Katelyn Gostlin, fouled off several pitches before finally popping out to the shortstop, Coach Gray knew a breakthrough was near.
“Unity is such a great pitcher, but we were starting to get our timing down on her,” said Gray, who is assisted by Kevin Brigham. “I called a timeout and told Matty (Tiedt) that there was no one I would rather have batting right then than her. Then she got in there and came through.”
Whiteford (30-6-1) has lost in Finals three consecutive years, including now nearly identical 1-0 losses the past two.
In both of those games, Nelson dominated in the circle, only to see the opposition – Standish-Sterling last year and Evart this year – come through with one timely hit.
“Unity is one of the most inspirational players ever at Whiteford,” said fifth-year Bobcats coach Matt VanBrandt. “She keeps us in every game and, most of the time, we can do enough to win. Just not today.
“But we played six games in Secchia Stadium in the last three years, which is pretty impressive.”
Sheldon and Billau both had two hits for Whiteford.
Nelson, who will continue her pitching career at North Dakota, finished her senior season with a 19-3 record and 287 strikeouts.
Part of the reason Whiteford was not able to break this time through was the clutch pitching of Gray with runners on base. The sophomore came of age on the state’s biggest softball stage, also striking out the final two batters during the second inning after Whiteford put two runners on, just like her finish to the seventh.
She smiled when told that gave her dad a special Father’s Day gift one day early.
“My whole focus this weekend was just to pitch my game and not get overwhelmed by all of this,” Gray said, pointing around MSU’s sprawling Old College Field, where baseball, softball and soccer championship games are played.
“We knew it would be a dogfight, and we had to keep fighting to get one. We finally got it.”
The win made a prophet out of Shaun Gray, who completed his first year as Evart’s varsity coach but knows all of the girls extremely well after coaching them for years in recreation and travel ball, starting in elementary school.
“I got laughed at when I said that Evart could compete for the state title and that Evart could have all-state players,” said Gray about his hometown of about 1,700 people, just moments after turning that championship vision into a reality.
“No one is laughing now.”
PHOTOS (Top) Evart players celebrate their first Finals championship in any sport Saturday at Secchia Stadium. (Middle) The Wildcats’ Keira Elder (20) slides under a Whiteford tag. (Below) The Bobcats’ Unity Nelson unwinds as she steps toward the plate.