Forgettable Start, Unforgettable Finish
June 13, 2015
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING — The goal for Warren Regina after eight games wasn't to win an MHSAA softball championship.
It was much simpler than that: Just win one game.
Although records don't exist for such things, it's safe to assume that Regina is the first team to win an MHSAA championship after starting a season 0-8 (without forfeits).
The journey from frustration to elation concluded Saturday with a 5-0 victory over Caledonia in the Division 1 title game at Michigan State University.
Regina finished with a 27-16 record but more importantly, was 7-0 during the MHSAA tournament. The Saddlelites allowed only eight runs and had three shutouts in those seven games.
Once Regina's record hit 3-11, a team meeting was convened.
"We talked about, 'Hey, we have a lot of team talent. Why waste it this year?'" said senior pitcher Marissa Tiano, who pitched a two-hitter and struck out nine against Caledonia.
It was the kind of start that Regina's players can make light of in retrospect.
"We actually made jokes about it," said Regina junior Nicole Roeske, who was 3 for 3 in the Final. "It's a whole different team, like a family now. At the beginning, we were frustrated with losing."
Legendary Regina coach Diane Laffey said that, in her role as athletic director, she was partially to blame for the slow start.
"I was probably stupid," said Laffey, who has won 1,066 games in 45 years as Regina's coach. "I front-loaded the schedule and probably shouldn't have. Of those eight losses, two were to Mercy, two were to Ladywood, two were to Romeo, two were to Dakota. Those are all good teams. We weren't losing to flukes, but it gets really frustrating."
The only frustration Saturday was experienced by the Caledonia hitters, who couldn't get to third base and reached second only twice. The Fighting Scots' most reliable way to reach base was getting hit by pitches. They were hit three times, walked twice and had only two singles.
"We didn't show the kind of team we are today," Caledonia coach Tom Kaechele said. "She had us guessing up there. We just didn't adjust, but that's the game of softball. That's why you compete at this level. We just played at the highest level we could in Division 1, and there are 199 other schools who would like to be here just like us."
The game was scoreless through three innings before Regina broke the deadlock in the top of the fourth. Roeske led off with a single and scored on a two-out triple to right-center field by Hailey Reese.
"Knowing my team, I knew all we needed was one big hit and we'd win the game," Reese said. "I had faith in them."
The Saddlelites busted it open with a four-run fifth inning.
On a 3-2 pitch, Riley Hison lined a double deep to left field to score two runs. Hison moved to third on a throwing error and scored on a pitch in the dirt. Sydney Spatafore scored the final run of the fifth just before a tag on a runner going from second to third ended the inning.
Caledonia (34-5) had batters hit by pitches in each of the last three innings, but neither got past first base.
Regina has a 6-0 record in MHSAA Finals, winning its first title since going on a four-year run from 2004-07.
"Our picture goes up in the gym along with the other ones," Tiano said. "It feels great."
Caledonia was playing beyond the regional round for the first time.
"We're disappointed, obviously," Kaechele said. "This team has overcome a lot of adversity this year. To be 34-5 is an awfully good season. I told them to make sure you celebrate this moment and look at the accomplishments you've had this year. We've never been here before. We've never won a Regional before. You need to celebrate that for the program, the community and yourselves."
PHOTOS: (Top) Longtime Regina coach Diane Laffey hoists her team’s championship trophy Saturday. (Middle) Regina’s Lauren Buckowski tries to beat a throw to first base with Hannah Horvath covering.
Saline Earns 1st Trip to Finals, South Lyon's Bissett Makes Most of Semifinal Return
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2025
EAST LANSING — Saline head coach Rebecca Suiter said her team hadn’t been in a situation where it had to rally during its last at-bats much this season.
But that didn’t stop her from feeling confident when the situation arose in Thursday’s Division 1 Semifinal against Hudsonville.
“This team, they stay composed and they don’t get nervous,” Suiter said. “Before that inning, I told them, ‘Let’s fight. Let’s do what we do for the seniors. This is our last chance.’”
Saline made good in that last chance, scoring two runs in the top of the seventh inning and then holding off Hudsonville in the bottom of the inning to earn a 5-4 victory and a meeting with South Lyon in Saturday’s championship game.
In the top of the seventh, Saline put runners on second and third base with one out and tied the game on a sacrifice fly to center field by sophomore Gracelyn Waldrop.
Then junior Madison Bellus came to the plate, and after a lengthy battle, delivered an RBI triple to the wall in left field to make it 5-4 Hornets.
“Lately, I’ve been working on outside pitches and fouling them off because that’s what I’ve struggled with sometimes,” Bellus said. “That at-bat, I was just focusing on my pitch, and when I got it, to swing all the way through. Yeah, I had to make something happen there.”
It will be the first title game appearance for Saline (38-3-2).
The Hornets did a good job limiting a powerful Hudsonville offense that entered the Semifinal having scored a combined 26 runs over its previous three games. Abigail Curtis allowed four runs over five innings before junior Ainslee Tomaszewski pitched two scoreless innings to close it out.
“We watched a ton of film this week, and we knew their hitters were aggressive hitters,” Suiter said. “We knew they were going to chase outside. I talked to my pitcher and catcher and said, ‘Let’s start outside and see if we can chase.’”
Saline broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth inning, plating two runs on RBI singles by senior Ava Stripp and junior Jessica Phelps.
Hudsonville responded in its half of the fourth, tying the game at 2-2 with a solo home run to right-center by freshman Kamryn Stankus and on a Saline infield error that plated another run.
The Hornets regained the lead at 3-2 in the fifth inning, scoring on a Hudsonville throwing error.
Hudsonville answered again, this time taking a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth on a 2-run home run with two outs by senior Ava Gardner, who hit a rope over the wall in left-center.
Last year’s Division 1 champion, Hudsonville finished its season 35-4.
South Lyon 1, Utica Ford 0
This was quite a 180-degree turnaround for South Lyon junior pitcher Havanna Bissett.
Last year during a Division 1 Semifinal game, Bissett pitched on the rubber at Michigan State’s Secchia Stadium, but it was under unfortunate circumstances.
She had to come in during the second inning for injured ace Ava Bradshaw, being thrown into the fire for five innings in what turned out to be a loss to Lake Orion.
But Bissett returned Thursday to the Secchia Stadium rubber for the first MHSAA Division 1 Semifinal against Utica Ford, this time as the team’s ace and fully comfortable after her experience last year.
“I definitely felt a lot less nerves than last year,” Bissett said. “This year, I was ready to go and ready for anything. No matter what, I was throwing. So I was ready.”
Bissett certainly was, as she tossed a 2-hit shutout to lead South Lyon to a 1-0 win and its second appearance in a championship game over the last five seasons.
Mixing a rise and a changeup beautifully all game, Bissett struck out four and walked only one.
“It definitely gave her experience,” first-year head coach Jerry Shippe said of what Bissett experienced last year. “Knowing it was her game to pitch and she was going to do it from the start, it definitely gave her the confidence.”
Utica Ford head coach Matt Joseph said Bissett did a masterful job of keeping his lineup off-balance.
“She was mixing in that changeup,” he said. “I thought we were anxious today and a little bit excited. We never really settled down. We sat out on that front foot and hit fly balls and popups.”
South Lyon (32-7) got the only run it needed in the top of third inning on a 2-out RBI single by sophomore Isabella Bracali, who blooped a hit in front of the centerfielder.
The Lions collected nine hits, with Izzy Nooe, Avery Bourlier and Bracali each producing two.
Unranked when the playoffs started, South Lyon hopes to cap its improbable run by duplicating the Division 1 title it won in 2021.
Ford ended its season at 30-11-1, but caught fire after starting 10-8 to make its first Semifinal trip since 2014.
“This team has come miles,” Joseph said. “At the start of the year, we were not a very good team, I will tell you that. I think our seniors started it with a lot of leadership, grit and determination. We got contributions from a lot of different players.”
PHOTOS (Top) Saline's Madison Bellus, right, slides toward the plate as the ball bounces away during her team's Division 1 Semifinal win. (Middle) South Lyon's Havanna Bissett (4) makes her move toward the plate.