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.
Grass Lake Slugger Turner Writing Name All Over MHSAA Record Book
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
May 7, 2024
Bill and Julia Turner have not only put in a lot of miles on the road, but they’ve also put a lot of miles in on the softball field.
Before Olivia Turner was hitting the cover off the ball and becoming Michigan’s career RBI leader for the Grass Lake softball team, Bill and Julia were taking her to the field for batting practice.
“I always wanted to go to the field, and my dad would take me and my mom would shag balls in the outfield,” Olivia said. “They’ve spent countless hours, especially traveling around the country. They’ve been my biggest support system. They are awesome.”
Her Warriors teammates are grateful, too. Last week Turner became Michigan’s all-time leader in runs batted in, surpassing Taylor Light & Life Christian’s Kelly Kennedy, who held the record with 304 RBIs from 1991-94.
“It was crazy to think I beat a 30-year-old record,” Turner said. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. I’m just super thankful.”
Having her name on the state record book for softball is nothing new to Turner. She barely missed the state mark for RBIs in a season last year when she had 102 and is the state’s all-time career doubles leader already.
Grass Lake head coach Roger Cook said Turner never talks about hitting home runs or driving in runs – just about being a teammate.
“I’m going to tell you, she’s one of the most modest people you’ll ever talk to,” Cook said. “She just talks team, team, team. She always has since I’ve known her. She has never said one thing about a home run or a base hit.”
Turner, who plays third base, has been around the Grass Lake program for a long time. When her sister Madeline was playing for the Warriors before heading off to play at Findlay University in Ohio, Olivia would tag along.
“I just wanted to be at the field, be around softball,” she said.
Turner first picked up the game when she was on an 8-and-under team.
“I fell in love with it,” she said.
She started as a pitcher, but quickly converted to infielder, where she has played with Grass Lake and various travel teams. She also plays volleyball and basketball for Grass Lake, but softball is her sport.
“We’re all one family,” she said. “I love that you get to play with girls that you may not be friends with at school. It shows you who you are. Softball gives you a lot of life lessons – dedication, teamwork, how to work with others.”
She loves to hit, too.
“Every at-bat, even if there is no one on base, I want to get on base,” she said. “I’m always going up to the plate doing it for my team, not for myself. The RBIs are pretty cool. My team gets on base for me. All of the girls are phenomenal.”
Cook said he sometimes gets worried that opponents will just pitch around Turner. But because of who is in the lineup in front of and behind her, he doesn’t have to worry about that.
“We have Rylee Fitzpatrick, Emily Brown, then Olivia,” Cook said. “After Olivia we have (junior) Bree Salts, who has committed to Central Michigan. It’s hard to pitch around her. When we get to some of these big games, teams will have to throw to her.”
Last year’s Division 3 runner-up Ottawa Lake Whiteford has faced Grass Lake multiple times over the past couple of seasons, and coach Matt VanBrandt is plenty familiar with the damage Turner can do.
"You'd better have a plan when you are pitching to her,” VanBrandt said. “She’s a dangerous hitter. She’s someone you need to think about before the game starts.”
Turner hit .714 last season with 30 doubles and those 102 runs batted in. For her career, she’s belted 48 home runs and knocked in 309 runs after Saturday’s tournament. She’s never hit below .535 for a season and is nearing 100 career doubles.
Grass Lake currently is 22-1 and leading the Cascades Conference.
“It’s crazy to think I am actually a senior now,” Turner said. “Now that it is my senior year, I just want to work hard and play for my team. We’ve had great seniors the last couple of years. It’s crazy to think this is my last season.”
Turner will attend Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. She chose Bradley because of its nursing program.
“Academics has always been first for me,” she said. “I fell in love with the campus. It’s not too big or too small. The staff there is great.”
Before taking her swing to college, Grass Lake wants to make a deep tournament run this season. And the more games the Warriors play, the more RBIs Turner is likely to add to her record.
“Olivia has one of the smoothest, most beautiful swings I’ve ever seen,” Cook said. “She’s one of the girls you want up there at bat with the game on the line. She can do it all. If you need a single, she’ll get you a single. If you need a walk-off, she can do that, too.”
Doug 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) Grass Lake’s Olivia Turner focuses on a pitch coming her way. (Middle) Turner will graduate this spring with multiple MHSAA records. (Photos courtesy of Pictures by Marisa and the Grass Lake softball program.)