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.
Richmond, Ida Earn Saturday Return
June 15, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Even reigning champions get a little nervous returning to the diamond of their greatest accomplishment.
But it took Richmond only a couple innings to get comfortable again at Secchia Stadium while kicking off Thursday’s Division 2 Semifinals.
The Blue Devils, ranked No. 2 at the end of the regular season and expected to reach this point all season after emerging to win their first title a year ago, will get a chance to play for another thanks to a 4-2 win over No. 3 Escanaba – last year’s Semifinal opponent as well.
Richmond had won its last three games all in extra innings, but put up four runs during the third Thursday. Escanaba rallied for two runs in the fifth inning before sophomore pitcher Erin Shuboy – the star of last season’s championship run – finished locking down the Eskymos for the second year in a row.
“Making it here once is something special. And now to be here twice … I think the returners got rid of the jitters a little bit, (and) all of the other people are starting to settle in,” Richmond senior shortstop Carley Barjaktarovich said. “They score a couple of runs (and you tell yourself) relax, you’ve got a little bit of cushion. You’ve got another at bat. I wasn’t nervous at all. I know Erin; she’s going to bear down and she’s going to get it done. And we go back in and we have our bats.”
Richmond (33-4) will face Ida (36-7) in Saturday’s first championship game, at 10 a.m.
A year ago, the Blue Devils entered the tournament as honorable mentions in the final state rankings, but reached MSU and downed Escanaba 6-2 in a Semifinal.
The teams should have recognized a number of faces in the opposing dugout. Longtime Richmond coach Howard Stuart also caught up with Saginaw Swan Valley’s Tom Kennelly, whose top-ranked Vikings were downed by Escanaba in Tuesday’s Quarterfinal, and felt as prepared as possible heading into the rematch.
Richmond got to Eskymos senior starting pitcher Katie Ross only in the third inning, and freshman Gabbi Salo threw three scoreless to finish the game. But that one frame was enough. A walk, infield single by Barjaktarovich and error loaded the bases, and after a fielder’s choice knocked in the first run junior catcher Evelyn Swantek doubled in the next three.
Escanaba scored its two runs in the fifth inning and loaded the bases again with two outs. But Shuboy got a pop out to end that rally and allowed only one hit in each of the final two innings.
“I felt sorry for (Escanaba), because I thought that was a great team,” Stuart said. “We just had one good inning. We had one key hit, and that’s all it took.”
Barjaktarovich finished 2 for 3, and junior leftfielder Emma Caperton also had a double. Shuboy struck out seven and gave up four hits.
Sophomore rightfielder Lexi Chaillier and senior centerfielder Emily Bruntjens drove in runs for Escanaba (33-5). Junior Maddie Griffin walked twice and scored.
Ida 3, Stevensville Lakeshore 2
How did it feel for unranked Ida to down No. 6 Lakeshore in its first Semifinal since 2006, to make its first MHSAA Final in softball since that spring more than a decade ago?
“This is what you play for. This is what they started out wanting when they were kids. Look at their parents – they wanted the same thing, and here we are,” Ida coach Dawn Forter said, pointing out an enthusiastic bunch waiting to greet the team. “I’m numb. I’m proud of every one of those kids, all 15.”
The Bluestreaks came back after Lakeshore jumped in with a run in the first inning, scoring one in the fourth and two in the fifth, and then withstood a last-inning Lancers rally to close out the victory.
Lakeshore scored that run when junior leftfielder Karlee Lambert misplayed a single by senior Olivia Freehling. But Lambert certainly made up for the brief miscue with a pair of triples, the second setting up her score on junior Hannah Tuller’s triple. Tuller kept going and scored on a throwing error to take the advantage up to 3-1.
“That’s a hard-hit ball and the field plays fast, and it got to (Lambert) a little quicker than she thought it was going to. She stuck with it though – she knocked it down,” Forter said of Freehling’s hit. “That’s the way every kid wearing a Bluestreak shirt has been all year. If they make a mistake on one side, they pick it up on the other.”
Ida’s first run came when senior Mallorie Duvall drove in senior Brooklyn Woelmer in the fourth inning. Woelmer, Lambert and Duvall all were 2 for 3 at the plate, and junior Lauren Kreps gave up only one earned run throwing all seven innings.
Junior third baseman Cassidy Zavoral and freshman designated player Sierra Ciesielski were 1 for 3 and scored for the Lancers (33-7-1). Junior Taylor Simon struck out four allowing only two earned runs while tossing a complete game.
PHOTOS: (Top) Richmond pitcher Erin Shuboy prepares to fire during Thursday's Division 2 Semifinal win over Escanaba. (Middle) Ida's Karlee Lambert gets to third base ahead of a tag after hitting one of her two triples Thursday.