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.”
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.
“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.”
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.
'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.)