Regulars Return to D4 Softball Finale
June 12, 2015
By Butch Harmon
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – With many of the players having graduated that helped lead Kalamazoo Christian to MHSAA Finals the past two seasons, Comets coach Terry Reynolds never expected his young Comets to be back this spring.
That’s exactly where the Comets have arrived, however, earning their third straight trip to the Division 4 Final by defeating Hillman 13-2 in five innings at Secchia Stadium on the campus of Michigan State University.
“At the end of the basketball season, I was wondering what we were going to do this season,” Reynolds said. “This is surreal. I never expected it. On March 9 when the season started, I was not sure of what we had. Now, I’m very proud of these girls.”
Kalamazoo Christian (29-14) will face Unionville-Sebewaing (37-3) in the Final at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Final will be Christian's 11th; it has played in the most championship games in MHSAA softball history.
The Comets didn’t just earn a trip to the title game; they slugged their way to the Final scoring in all four innings, highlighted by a seven-run fourth that blew the game open.
Up 6-0 going into the bottom of the inning, their already-hot bats turned blistering. Kalamazoo Christian reeled off eight straight hits during the inning in putting seven runs on the scoreboard.
The inning began quietly enough when junior Brooklyn Block led off with a bunt single. After a sacrifice bunt by junior McKena Razenberg, the floodgates began to open. Sophomore Monica Locker, one of eight sophomores on the Comets’ roster, doubled to plate Block. Junior shortstop Kara Gjeltema then followed with a RBI single.
One of few veterans who returned this season, Gjeltema has been a hitting standout the past two seasons, and this year entered the Semifinals with a .541 batting average and 66 RBI. Gjeltema added to that total with two hits and three RBI.
“We’ve come together this year as a family,” Gjeltema said. “We work as a family and have all come together.”
A catcher last season, Gjeltema moved to shortstop this spring.
“We had four shortstops in the spring,” Reynolds said. “Kara has a rifle for an arm, and I wanted someone who is fearless and Kara would run through a wall for you.”
Sophomore Aliyah Lemmer followed Gjeltema in the batting order and added a single to keep the fourth inning going. Lemmer also drove in the first two runs of the game for the Comets with a two-run double in the bottom of the first inning.
Along with supplying offense, Lemmer was also Christian’s starting pitcher and in charge of silencing the Hillman bats. Lemmer did just that, as she allowed one base runner during the first four innings before giving up a pair of runs in the fifth.
Lemmer backed up last year’s staff ace Rebekah VanDam and took over the mantle of top thrower for a program long known for producing quality pitchers.
“The first inning I was pretty nervous,” Lemmer said. “Seeing all the fans and everything, I was nervous but then I settled down after getting the first three outs.”
Lemmer allowed three hits and no walks while striking out two over five innings.
Eight of the nine hitters in the Comets starting lineup collected at least one hit, and all but one of the nine scored a run.
I was up until four in the morning watching tape on Hillman,” Reynolds said. “I told the girls to stay off the high pitch and make her come down. The girls were patient and did that. We had some opportunities, and the girls took advantage of it.
“Nothing will surprise me at this point,” Reynolds added. “The girls say that we are a family and they will keep battling and keep pushing no matter who we play.”
Hillman finished 30-4.
Unionville-Sebewaing 4, Holton 1
Unionville-Sebewaing softball coach Steve Bohn saw Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo on the Michigan State campus Friday morning and was going to ask him what his secret is for winning titles.
With the way USA junior pitcher Nicole Bauer performed, and the way his hitters performed in the clutch, any advice from Izzo wasn’t needed this time as the Patriots handed Holton (37-1) its first and only loss.
Bohn, in his fourth season at Unionville-Sebewaing, has brought the Patriots to the Semifinals the past three years, getting his team into the Division 3 title game the past two years. This spring, playing in Division 4, the Patriots will play on the final day again.
“We’ve been down here for the fourth time now,” Bohn said. “I saw Tom Izzo earlier and I wanted to ask him how he does it.”
Having a pitcher like Bauer helps. Bauer gave the Patriots an outstanding pitching performance as she scattered four hits and allowed one walk over seven innings. Bauer also struck out 11 Holton hitters.
The Patriots also had some timely hitting. With two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, Bauer helped her own cause when she reached on a double. Senior Erica Treiber followed with a single that plated pinch runner Lauren Adam with the first run. Senior Madison Zimmer then gave the Patriots some breathing room with an RBI single that scored Treiber.
“We like to score with two outs,” Bauer said. “We go up there thinking we have nothing to lose when we have two outs.”
The Patriots added another two-out run in the fifth inning when Kayla Gremel hit a two-out double that plated Sara Reinhardt. Unionville-Sebewaing added an insurance run in the sixth inning on an RBI single by Katie Engelhardt.
“We just hope to execute and get it done tomorrow,” Bohn said.
PHOTOS: (Top) Kalamazoo Christian first baseman Monica Locker secures a throw just before a Hillman runner crosses the bag Friday. (Middle) A Unionville-Sebewaing hitter drives a pitch during the Patriots' win.
'No Superstars' Reeths-Puffer Undefeated, County Tournament Favorite Entering May
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
May 1, 2024
Natalie Kunnen is in her fourth year as a varsity softball player for Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, but she has never experienced anything remotely close to this team’s vibe.
Not only are the Rockets unbeaten at 20-0-1, but no deficit seems too big to overcome.
Puffer rallied to beat Holton and later scratched out a tie with Allendale, then last week pulled a rabbit out of their hat twice in one night – coming back from a four-run deficit in the opener and a nine-run deficit in the nightcap in an improbable sweep at powerhouse Muskegon Oakridge.
“I walked out of Oakridge just stunned and asking myself, ‘Who are we?’” said Kunnen, who swings one of the biggest bats in the lineup with three home runs and 22 RBIs. “There is a completely different feel this year.”
Who are these Rockets?
They remained a rare unbeaten more than one month into the season after a sweep of host Grand Rapids Union on Tuesday, setting the stage for a doubleheader tonight at state power Hudsonville, followed by Saturday’s Greater Muskegon Athletic Association Tier 1 tournament – where the Rockets are both the host and the No. 1 seed.
They are a team devoid of a superstar, but also without a weak link.
“We don’t have an easy out in our lineup, 1 through 9, and that is something that makes us unique,” said coach Sarah Bayle, 28, a 2013 Reeths-Puffer graduate who went on to play at Muskegon Community College and Ferris State.
“We have speed that we try to use to our advantage and three different pitchers who all bring something different.”
The Rockets adopted that “no superstars” mantra earlier this season after athletic director Cliff Sandee stopped by a practice and gave the huddled team an impromptu pep talk.
“He have us our motto: ‘It’s not who’s best on the team, it’s who’s best for the team,’” said junior pitcher and first baseman Mady Snyder. “We really believe that. We have a lot of grit. There is not one person on this team who gives up and says we’re done.”
Puffer sprints out of the gate behind the speedy trio of Kaylee Jones, Lainey McDaniel and Abbie Critchett at the top of the order – a threesome who have 61 of the team’s 90 stolen bases.
That trio sets the stage for the big bats of Snyder (three home runs and a team-best 26 RBIs), Kunnen, Megan Barnes and Kyleigh Bilek.
Puffer, which has outscored its opponents 216-53, is batting .406 as a team, with eight of the 13 players batting .400 or better. Leaders in that category are McDaniel at .558 and Snyder with .474.
The Rockets have played in only one tournament thus far, winning April 20 at Hamilton.
Bayle, who is officially in her fifth year as R-P’s coach but looks at it as her fourth year after COVID wiped out the 2020 season, said one of the turning points in the program came at the start of the 2021 campaign.
“We brought up four freshmen to the varsity, which is something that just wasn’t done much here,” said Bayle, who is assisted on the varsity by Kat Hyder, Sydney Recknagel, Scott Huebler and Chris Bilek. “That sparked a new reality. It doesn’t matter what year you are, you can’t slack off or someone could take your place.”
Those four freshmen are now the team’s only four seniors – Kunnen, Jones, Barnes and Emme Buzzell.
The closest thing to a star for the Rockets this spring has been McDaniel, a crafty left-handed pitcher who has a 0.85 ERA in 41 innings of work. Her improvement from freshman year to this spring as a sophomore has been remarkable, Bayle said, and a big reason for the remarkable start.
McDaniel and Jersi Bilek are the sophomores on the varsity roster, which also includes freshman Tessa Ross. The future looks bright as R-P also boasts an unbeaten junior varsity team, coached by Cody Jacobs.
Bayle, who is seven months pregnant with her second child, knows that much tougher challenges lie ahead, starting with Wednesday’s showdown at Hudsonville (a team which she believes R-P has never beaten in softball).
One of the team’s biggest goals this spring is to win this Saturday’s county tournament and then the Division 1 District, two tournaments which haven’t been kind to the Rockets in recent years.
This year, Puffer goes into the county tournament as the heavy favorite in its pool, with big wins over fellow Pool 1 teams Muskegon Mona Shores and Holton. Should they emerge from that group, the Rockets would likely face revenge-minded Oakridge or two-time reigning county champion Ravenna.
“We haven’t done good in the county, and haven’t made the finals in the past three years,” said Kunnen. “We’ve been really young, but this year we have a lot of juniors and seniors and a lot of leadership.
“I can’t even tell you how amazing it would be to win it my senior year.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Madi Snyder delivers a pitch for the Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, which has been led by the 1-2 pitching duo of Snyder and Lainey McDaniel. (Middle) Rockets coach Sarah Bayle has guided her team to an 18-0-1 start, with many of the wins coming in dramatic, come-from-behind fashion. (Below) McDaniel slides safely into second base during a game against Allendale. (Photos by Joe Lane.)