Whiteford, USA Win Big to Line Up Power-Packed D4 Decider

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

June 17, 2022

EAST LANSING – The Ottawa Lake Whiteford softball team has been an offensive juggernaut this entire postseason.

Not much changed in Friday’s Division 4 Semifinal.

The No. 2-ranked Bobcats registered 13 hits and used a big second inning to blank Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart 10-0 in 5 innings at Secchia Stadium.

Whiteford (40-4) will play reigning champion Unionville-Sebewaing in Saturday’s 5:30 p.m. Division 4 Final. The Patriots shut out Pickford 13-0 in the other Semifinal.

The Bobcats, who have advanced to the Semifinals four times over the last six years, have outscored their last four MHSAA Tournament opponents by a combined 48-0.

“We can score runs in a few different ways, which obviously is a big advantage, and because we’re so fast and aggressive on the bases that does force the issue for a lot of teams,” Whiteford coach Matt VanBrandt said. “When you know we are going to be running, sometimes you hurry too much defensively, and that’s to our advantage.”

Whiteford jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Junior Alyssa VanBrandt’s single to right field turned into an early run after a fielding error by the Irish allowed her to sprint all the way home.

“I did not expect that to happen,” Alyssa VanBrandt said. “He was waving me home and I was like, ‘I hit a grounder, why is he waving me home?’ But that felt amazing.” 

Senior Berlynn Keller followed with a solo home run over the centerfield wall.

The Bobcats poured it on in the second inning with seven runs on seven hits to take a commanding 9-0 lead.

The early barrage of runs helped set the tone. 

“Anytime you can get ahead of good teams at the end of the season, it can be a real momentum shift,” Matt VanBrandt said. “And it helps our pitcher stay calm. She knows we can typically score, and it gives her a little more confidence.”

Alyssa VanBrandt and Adrianna VanBrandt, along with Karlei Conard and Shaylin Alexander combined for eight hits.

Ambrelle Billau drove in a pair of runs with a single during the decisive second inning. Sophomore pitcher Unity Nelson tossed a two-hitter and fanned 11 in five innings of work. 

“Our whole team has confidence in everyone up and down our lineup, and Unity has been amazing,” Alyssa VanBrandt said. “She hasn’t hardly made any mistakes in our games, and she’s done really well when the pressure is on.”

Sacred Heart (27-12) was making its first appearance in the Semifinals since 2012. The loss snapped a nine-game winning streak.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been here and I wanted them to experience this, so we got what we wanted out of this,” Irish coach Josh Wheaton said. “I would've liked to put up a little better fight, but anyone that was here to see this game saw one of, if not the best team in the state of Michigan. That is some legitimate next-level talent right there, and that's why they are here a lot.”

Click for the full box score.

Unionville-Sebewaing 13, Pickford 0 (5 innings)

The Patriots had no trouble advancing to the Finals for the third straight season behind a powerful offense and stellar pitching.

Senior Laci Harris threw a gem, and the offense supplied plenty of support.

This has been Harris’ first season as lead pitcher after playing third base the past three for the top-ranked Patriots.

Unionville-Sebewaing/Pickford softball“It means a lot to me to finish in a Final like this because this was my first and only season to be our No. 1 pitcher,” Harris said. “I threw a lot of curveballs, and it was my best pitch. They weren’t touching it at all.”

Harris struck out 10 and walked one. Her bid for a no-hitter ended with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning when Finley Hudecek singled.

“Her pitches were working today, and she overpowered them,” USA coach Isaiah Gainforth said. “When her pitches are working good, she’s always going to give us a chance to win.

“This is something as a little girl she’s dreamt of, to be the pitcher that gets her team to the state championship. A senior in the circle is a good thing to have.”

The Patriots have won four of the last six Division 4 championships, including the most recent two in 2019 and 2021.

“You always want to get to the last week of the season and play in the last game, and literally we can say we are playing in the last game,” Gainforth said. “It’s pretty cool. It’s what we’ve worked for and prepared for, and for it to come to fruition is good, but we’re not done yet. We still have one more tough one ahead.”

USA scored runs in each of the first three innings.

The Patriots exploded for six runs in the third inning, with five coming before Pickford could get the first out. Sophomore Gabrielle Crumm slapped a two-run double to the wall to put the Patriots ahead 9-0.

USA added three more runs in the fifth. 

Crumm went 3-for-4 with four RBI, while Rylie Betson added two hits and three RBI and Harris helped her cause with two hits and a pair of RBI.

A historic season came to an end for the Panthers (25-15-2), who won the program’s first District title en route to the Semifinals.

“This was an amazing run,” second-year coach Matt Hudecek said. “Districts was our goal, and then after that this was bonus softball. We caught fire in Regionals and were able to get down here.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Whiteford’s Shaylin Alexander sprints to first base during her team’s Division 4 Semifinal win Friday. (Middle) USA’s Laci Harris fires a pitch with a Pickford runner on second.

 

Nelson Aiming for Another Finals Trip to Close Stellar Whiteford Career

By Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com

April 16, 2024

OTTAWA LAKE – It’s easy to figure out what is on Unity Nelson’s mind.

Greater DetroitThe Ottawa Lake Whiteford softball pitcher is focused on getting the Bobcats back to Michigan State University and in a position to win a Division 3 championship.

“We’re going to get back there,” Nelson nods, while knocking softly on the wooded dugout at Whiteford’s softball field.

Nelson has been one of the most dominating pitchers in the state the past couple of seasons and has the No. 1-ranked Bobcats poised for another strong season. Whiteford has come painfully close the last couple of seasons to bringing home a Finals title but come up short.

In 2021 they lost in the Division 4 Quarterfinals after going 32-5. In 2022, Whiteford won a school-record 40 games before falling in the Division 4 championship game. Last season, a 37-5 season ended with a loss in the Division 3 Final.

Nelson said this year’s Bobcats are a new team with the same championship mindset.

“We are really close,” she said. “That helps us. On and off the field, we are very close. With some of the new faces on the team, I think all the seniors have had to step up a little bit. We want everyone to have fun, and we are trying to help them with the new experience.”

Nelson grew up in nearby Clinton, where her sister Tierney was an all-state pitcher who went on to play a season at Lamar State College in Texas. Unity followed in her sister’s softball footsteps.

“I remember watching my sister play,” Nelson said. “She was a pitcher and I looked up to her. I’ve seen videos of me pitching when I was 4.”

By 7, Nelson was pitching to her dad, Mike, and joined a travel team. As a ninth grader, she enrolled at Whiteford and was an instant hit.

The Bobcats are coached by Matt VanBrandt, previously an all-state baseball player at the school and Whiteford’s baseball coach for several seasons before he gave it up around the time his daughters Anna and Aly were born. His wife Audra assists him, and both daughters played for them. Aly won the Miss Softball Award last year as the top senior position player and is now starting for University of Indiana.

Nelson readies to make a play. (Photos by Kristie Conrad.)Nelson came into this season 64-6 over her three varsity seasons, with 858 strikeouts in 404 innings. She’s allowed just 26 earned runs in three seasons. Last year in the District, she struck out 22 of the 24 batters she faced over eight perfect innings.

She already holds several Whiteford single-season and career records, but Matt VanBrandt is careful not to overpitch the 5-foot-2 Nelson.

“I don’t plan on pitching her any more this season,” he said. “She’s pitched about 65 or 70 percent of the innings over the last three years, and that’s what she will do this year. She’s always had another pitcher alongside of her, and this year we have Karlei Conard, who is going to play in college and possibly pitch.”

The soft-spoken Nelson has become more vocal this season.

“At first she was a lead-by-example player,” VanBrandt said. “She was doing that as a freshman.

“This year, she’s become more vocal to the underclassmen, but in a positive way. She’s matured in her leadership. She’s grown every single year. It’s been so much fun to watch her grow and interact with her teammates. She’s everything you want in a leader. She pushes everyone to be their best.”

Nelson is devoted to the sport. She pitches to her dad as many as five days a week. She’s grown to understand what she needs to do to stay sharp.

“If I need to work on a certain pitch, I’ll do that,” she said. “I’ll listen to what my body needs. If it hurts, I’m probably not going to pitch. I’ll stretch and ice instead.

“If I don’t feel connected mentally and physically, I try to work and slow things down at home and get back to how I want to feel.”

While Nelson is focused on a state championship, she’s also not in a hurry to speed things up. She wants to enjoy her senior season before she heads off to pitch at North Dakota University.

“I try to just stay in the moment,” she said. “I don’t want to reach too far into the future. It’s about this game, this inning, this pitch. That’s what I want to live by right now. It’s my senior year. I want to hold on to that.”

While Nelson dominates the circle, future Bobcats stars often gather around the dugout to watch. When Whiteford faced Blissfield on Monday in a non-league game, several had a front-row seat, watching and cheering every pitch, every at-bat and occasionally had one of the Whiteford coaches check in to be sure they understood what was happening on the field.

It’s part of keeping the program connected, VanBrandt said.

Nelson and the rest of the varsity Bobcats love seeing the smiles on the faces of the kids watching.

“I hear them cheering when everyone is hitting,” she said. “It’s so cute.”

Doug DonnellyDoug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Ottawa Lake Whiteford’s Unity Nelson unwinds toward the plate during a game in the pitching circle. (Middle) Nelson readies to make a play. (Photos by Kristie Conrad.)