High 5s - 4/24/12
April 24, 2012
Each week, Second Half gives "High 5s" to multiple athletes and a team that have performed exceptionally on the field or made a notable impact off of it.
Please offer your suggestions by e-mail to editor Geoff Kimmerly at [email protected]. Below are this week's honorees:
Mallory Weber
Northville senior
Soccer
Weber, a two-time Division 1 all-state forward, leads one of the best teams in the state. Northville is 5-0-2 and ranked No. 3, with its most significant win so far coming last week, 1-0 over reigning Division 1 champion and current No. 5 Novi. Although Weber did not score that goal, she did help open up the field by drawing two and at times three defenders. She has nine goals and five assists this season, and has signed with reigning Big Ten regular-season champion Penn State after also considering the University of Maryland and the University of Miami (Fla.). She also played basketball at Northville.
For love of the game: "I love soccer. It's so competitive. It's just fun. It's fast-moving; basketball you stop so much, but in soccer you're always continuing."
I learned the most about soccer from: "Probably my (club) coach Andy Vanover. He was my coach for probably six years, and he taught me to never give up. That work ethic is part of what makes my game so hard to defend."
I model my game after: FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi. "Just how he's so good with his foot skills. That's the biggest part of my game I try to work on."
Up next: Weber is undecided on her major at Penn State, but is considering something in food science and nutrition. "I just like the whole thing of how food affects your body, how it plays into your performance."
Jake McFadden
Clare senior
Track and Field
McFadden won the 110-meter hurdles (14.9 seconds), the 300 hurdles (39.3) and the 200 dash (22.3) on Saturday at the Remus Chippewa Hills Invitational as Clare scored 174 points to finish first. He's the reigning MHSAA Division 3 champion in both hurdles races and helped Clare to a third-place team finish at the 2011 Final. He also owns school and Jack Pine Conference records in the 110 (14.82) and 300 (39.28), according to a report by the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun. McFadden played football in previous falls until this school year, when he switched to cross country to help him get into better shape for track season.
Up next: McFadden has signed to run track at Michigan State University, and will study biomedical engineering. "I just like the working-with-my-hands aspect, making new things (like) replacements for hips and knees, making innovations in that kind of stuff."
Quick learner: McFadden shot put and ran on a relay in junior high, but didn't try hurdling until high school. "I just watched a lot of film on myself, just fixed stuff there."
I look up to: "I'd say my brother (Mike McFadden, a 2010 Clare grad). He's the one who really got me into track. He played baseball freshman year and ran track sophomore year, and he really liked track. I wanted to follow in his footsteps and see what I could do."
Crossing over: "I played football every year but senior year. I ran cross country this year. It was a good experience, got me in shape. I ran about what I wanted to run, time-wise."
Stevensville Lakeshore softball
In a battle of top-ranked teams, Stevensville Lakeshore -- ranked No. 1 in Division 2 -- downed Division 1 No. 1 Mattawan 4-3 in eight innings to win Saturday's Mattawan Invitational. The Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference rivals also met in last season's Mattawan championship game, with Mattawan winning in eight innings, and again in last weekend's Portage Invitational final -- a 4-2 Wildcats win. Mattawan had won 38 straight games before falling to Portage Central earlier Saturday.
Lakeshore also beat Division 1 No. 3 Grandville, 7-1, and Vicksburg 6-1. The Lancers improved to 11-2 with the tournament sweep.
This spring's previous honorees
Sarah Appold, Saginaw Valley Lutheran softball
Nick Stiles, Bath baseball
Richmond's Ace, Paw Paw's 'Ms. Walk-Off' Send Teams Into Saturday
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2025
EAST LANSING — You might as well dub Paw Paw sophomore Elizabeth Vanderburg as “Ms. Walk-Off” this season.
Paw Paw head coach Mike Mottl noted Thursday that Vanderburg has had four game-winning walk-off hits this season for the Red Wolves. But none were as important or dramatic as how she finished her team’s Division 2 Semifinal against Carleton Airport.
With her team down to its final out, Vanderburg delivered a 2-run home run inside the foul pole and over the left-field fence to give Paw Paw a 3-2 victory and its first trip to an MHSAA championship game. The Red Wolves will face Richmond for the Division 2 title at 10 a.m. Saturday at Secchia Stadium.
Vanderburg most recently had hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to advance her team past Otsego in their District Semifinal two weeks ago.
Ms. Walk-Off indeed.
“I got pitched outside all game, so I was going to wait on the outside pitch and take it to right field,” she said. “It was a high, inside pitch, so I just took it that way. I knew off the bat it was gone.”
Mottl said, at the very least, he felt Vanderburg was going to make hard contact.
“I had no doubt whatsoever she was going to do that,” he said. “She’s just an amazing athlete and for a sophomore, I don’t think she has blood in her body. It’s all ice.”
🚨WALK-OFF. GONE. FINALS BOUND!⁰Paw Paw’s season-saving blast over the fence to walk it off and send the Red Wolves to the Division 2 Final with a 3-2 win over Carleton Airport!🔥🥎⁰#Softball #WalkOff #PawPaw #RoadToTheFinal #MHSAA pic.twitter.com/wm9H8bNK4B
— MHSAA (@MHSAA) June 12, 2025
It was an unusual Semifinal matchup in that neither team had a senior on the roster. As crushing of an ending as it was for Airport, knowing everyone will be back next year was something that allowed Jets head coach Jessica Irwin to smile.
“Just being here is good for them to see,” she said. “Just the pressure of it, and you can come in a little more relaxed next year.”
Airport (33-9) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a 2-out, 2-run double to left field by junior Peyton Zajac.
Paw Paw (37-3) got on the board in the fifth, cutting Airport’s lead to 2-1 on a single to left by Vanderburg.
Red Wolves sophomore pitcher Lauren Mackellar also starred. She didn’t allow a run after the first inning and finished with a 6-hitter, striking out 11 and not walking a batter.
Mottl knows not many people will be expecting his team to win the Final against Richmond, but his squad is fully capable of delivering the program’s first title.
“Don’t worry about next year,” Mottl said of what will be his team’s mindset. “You don’t know what’s going to happen next year. The opportunity is here. You’ve got to take opportunities when they are presented.”
Richmond 2, Escanaba 0
It was an all-state pitchers’ duel as No. 1-ranked Escanaba met No. 7 Richmond in the second Semifinal, with Richmond senior Katie Shuboy getting the better of Escanaba senior and Michigan signee Grayson LaMarche.
Shuboy tossed a one-hitter, striking out 12 and walking one batter. LaMarche threw a three-hitter, striking out 13, walking one, while not giving up an earned run.
“You can’t overthink it,” Shuboy said of facing the Escanaba lineup. “You just have to trust your stuff, go out there and throw.”
Richmond scored the only two runs of the game with two outs in the top of the sixth inning. The Blue Devils put runners on second and third base with one out following a passed ball after a strikeout, a bunt single and a sacrifice bunt.
Following a groundout, an Escanaba throw aimed at getting the Richmond runner at third went into left field, allowing both runners to score.
That was all the run support needed for Shuboy, who has tossed back-to-back shutouts beginning with a 6-0 win over Goodrich in a Quarterfinal.
“I just trust my defense,” Shuboy said. “When we got those two runs, I knew it was going to be game because my team made amazing plays in the field. I trust myself, and I knew that we were going to win that game.”
Escanaba (38-5) was seeking its first Finals title since winning the second of back-to-back crowns in 2019.
The Eskymos got their leadoff hitter on in the bottom of the fifth inning on their only hit of the game, but the rally fizzled quickly.
“She mixed it really well,” Escanaba head coach Andy Fields said of Shuboy’s performance. “It was nothing we haven’t seen this year. She did an excellent job locating. It was just tough to get a gauge on what she was doing."
On the other side, Richmond will go for its third title during the 47-year tenure of head coach Howard Stuart.
Richmond’s most recent Finals championship came in 2021.
“She was moving the ball, and we were really struggling,” Stuart said of LaMarche. “But we were OK in the end.”
PHOTOS (Top) Paw Paw players greet teammate Elizabeth Vanderburg after her game-winning home run Thursday at Secchia Stadium. (Middle) Richmond catcher Ashley Stafford frames a pitch during her team’s win over Escanaba.