1st-Time Semifinalists Walled Lake Northern, Grand Haven Earn Championship Chance
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 11, 2026
EAST LANSING — When Walled Lake Northern senior ace pitcher Lyla Turmell faced Northville in a tournament at New Baltimore Anchor Bay on April 25, things didn’t go as planned in a 6-3 loss.
Getting another chance at Northville in a Division 1 Semifinal at Michigan State’s Secchia Stadium on Thursday, Turmell said there were plenty of mental notes to recall from that first meeting.
“We played them earlier in the season, so I kind of knew some of them,” Turmell said. “I knew the hitters, (that) I had to move the ball out more or in more. It 100 percent helped.”
It certainly did, as Turmell limited a powerful Northville offense to just five hits in a 2-1 Northern victory.
In doing so Turmell, who has signed with Toledo, also helped guide the Knights to their first state championship game, where they will meet Grand Haven at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Northern head coach Kristen Woodard said she didn’t offer any special advice to Turmell before the game – other than to just be herself.
“To hit her spots, and I know she’s tough and can do that,” Woodard said.
While Turmell led the Knights in the run-prevention category, sisters Aubrey Kresbaugh and Makenna Kresbaugh provided the offense.
A sophomore, Aubrey Kresbaugh opened the scoring, leading off the game with a home run to right field to give Northern a 1-0 lead.
Northville countered with a run in the bottom of the first inning, tying the game at 1-1 on an RBI single by sophomore Jocelyn Burns after senior Kendall Heron had tripled.
It was the predictable pitcher’s duel from that point between Turmell and Northville senior ace Mary Gugala, until Northern broke through in the sixth.
With Aubrey Kresbaugh on third base and two outs, Makenna Kresbaugh hit a liner to right that ended up dropping for an RBI single that gave the Knights a 2-1 lead.
Northville got its leadoff hitter on base in the seventh inning on an error, but a double play on a popped up bunt, plus a strikeout, ended the game.
Gugala was just as brilliant in defeat for Northville, tossing a four-hitter and striking out 10.
The Mustangs (35-5-1) were making their first Semifinal appearance as well.
“That’s been Mary Gugala for three-plus years,” Northville head coach Scott DeBoer said. “She’s been somebody that just digs deep, and things don’t bother her. She’s only 5-foot-3, but she’s got a heart that’s bigger.”
Grand Haven 8, Macomb Dakota 3
It’s not a formula that Grand Haven head softball John Hall coach wants to consistently follow, but it has sure worked for his team thus far in the MHSAA Tournament.
The Buccaneers have consistently fallen behind in games, but rallied for victories, which happened again against Dakota in the first Division 1 Semifinal.
Grand Haven spotted Dakota a run in the bottom of first inning, but once again roared back in advancing to its first championship game.
“To me, we’re the hunters,” Hall said. “We were down 1-0 to Reeths-Puffer. We were down 4-0 to Rockford. We were down 1-0 to Hudsonville, we were down 1-0 to Traverse City Central and came back to win every game. It wakes them up. I’m not saying we want to go down 1-0 in every game. But it fires them up and wakes them up.”
After Dakota took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI single by senior Kiley Phelan, Grand Haven responded with a run in the top of the second on an RBI groundout by senior outfielder Claire Sova to tie the game at 1-1.
The Buccaneers then plated two runs in the third inning on an RBI sacrifice fly by senior Lorelei Chiciuk and an RBI single by junior Makenna VandenBrink. Grand Haven then broke the game open in the fifth, scoring four times to take a 7-1 lead. VandenBrink had an RBI single and Sova another RBI groundout during the rally that was aided by a Dakota error.
The run support was more than enough for Chiciuk, the team’s ace who settled down after a rocky first inning.
Chiciuk didn’t allow a hit in the second, third and fourth innings and pitched out of some trouble, most notably in the sixth when she got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam with two strikeouts. Sova also made a diving catch to end the fifth inning and save a run.
Chiciuk finished with 15 strikeouts as she moved toward 400 on the season.
“I’ve noticed through every game, the first inning is always the ice-breaker where I go through rocky stuff,” Chiciuk said. “There’s going to be something that happens. But it’s the comeback that happens.
Grand Haven (34-7-1) collected 10 hits.
“We hit all our metrics today,” Hall said. “We love 8 to 10 hits, we love to score four or five runs, and you need about one or two ESPN plays (defensively).”
Dakota made somewhat of an unexpected run in the tournament, with the signature win a 7-5 triumph over No. 2 New Baltimore Anchor Bay in a District Final.
The Cougars advanced to the Semifinals for the first time since finishing Division 1 runner-up in 2022.
“We applied pressure, we got runners in scoring position,” Dakota head coach Shelby Weeks said. “We just couldn’t come up with those key hits today. That’s just how it was for us. The girls fought the whole seven innings.”
PHOTOS (Top) Walled Lake Northern players celebrate after their Semifinal win over Northville on Thursday at Secchia Stadium. (Middle) A Grand Haven hitter drives a pitch during her team’s Semifinal victory.
Bissett Aiming to Lead 2025 Runner-Up South Lyon Back to MSU for Another Title Try
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
April 9, 2026
SOUTH LYON — For those who thought the South Lyon softball program was going to take a serious drop after Ava Bradshaw graduated two years ago, one of the players she helped mentor has ensured that hasn’t happened.
Bradshaw was arguably the best player to come through South Lyon’s program, pitching the Lions to the Division 1 championship as a freshman in 2021 and leading South Lyon to a Quarterfinal appearance as a sophomore and Semifinal appearance as a senior last spring to conclude her comeback after missing her entire junior year with a knee injury.
While Bradshaw was at South Lyon, she often would have conversations with Havanna Bissett, who entered the program as a freshman when Bradshaw was a junior.
The advice from Bradshaw was really helpful two years ago when she was a senior and Bissett was a sophomore. During the Division 1 Semifinal loss to Lake Orion, Bissett had to relieve Bradshaw in the circle in the second inning after Bradshaw suffered a knee injury.
“Ava helped me a lot with my confidence,” Bissett said. “I really struggled to this day with confidence with pitching. I remember after the Semifinal game my sophomore year, I was talking to her and I was obviously upset. She was just talking, walking me through what I needed to do to get my confidence and how she struggled with confidence. How I just needed to take deep breaths and trust the process.”
Now heading Into her senior year, Bissett might end up being just as impactful for the program as Bradshaw.
After coming on in relief during that 2024 Semifinal — a 5-4 defeat to the Dragons — Bissett was back on the state’s biggest stage last year, pitching South Lyon to an appearance in the Division 1 championship game where it fell 5-2 to Saline.
With two trips to the Seccia Stadium rubber under her belt, Bissett aims to make it three in a row. Just as was the case last year, she and the rest of South Lyon’s roster want to show the program can remain among the state’s best with Bradshaw now playing at Duke.
“I think a lot of teams looked down on us because we didn’t have Ava,” Bissett said. “I think that’s what motivated us.”
Bissett went 19-5 with a 2.84 ERA and 151 strikeouts last year, but she is more than just a pitching ace. She also was one of the team’s best hitters, batting .439.
Over the offseason, Bissett said her biggest focus in preparing for this spring was to enhance movement on her drop ball and her rise ball to help complement what South Lyon head coach Jerry Shippe said is her best pitch, a changeup.
“She’s just been basically honing on what she already has and trying to get a little more pinpoint control,” Shippe said. “But nothing like starting over or reinventing the wheel. She’s pretty much sticking to what she’s doing.”
Shippe said he has also noticed a big improvement in Bissett’s bat so far in practices and scrimmages.
“Her bat speed increased and her confidence has increased as well,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what she can do at the plate.”
Bissett, who will play next at Huntington University in Indiana, said she played both softball and soccer growing up. While she was thrown into the fire unexpectedly during that Semifinal game in 2024, the same was also true during Bissett’s freshman year when she saw a lot of innings as Bradshaw was unavailable all year due to a torn ACL.
But those experiences have only made her better and figure to make her one of the state’s best seniors this year for an experienced South Lyon squad.
The Lions return 12 players from their 2025 runner-up team, with junior Bella Bracali (.469, 28 stolen bases), senior Ella Glowacki (.398, 32 RBI) and junior Kailyn Highstrom (.486) also key returnees.
With that core, don’t be surprised if Bissett is back on the rubber at Michigan State again, this time recording the final out to help South Lyon win another Division 1 championship and finish off what’s already been a stellar high school career.
“Coach Shippe has a lot more expectations for us this year because he’s seen what we’re capable of doing,” Bissett said. “But I’m excited for it. I like that pressure. I like that fire. I think the team likes that, and we’re all so excited.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Havanna Bissett (4) and her South Lyon teammates prepare for the start of an inning during last season’s Semifinal against Utica Ford. (Middle) Bissett delivers a pitch during the Division 1 championship game against Saline.