Grass Lake Caps 2025 Softball Season with Classic Title Clincher
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 14, 2025
EAST LANSING — The last high school softball game of the 2025 season was played by Grass Lake and Clare, and fittingly the old adage “saving the best for last” applied in what was a thrilling finish between two teams making their first championship game appearances.
Grass Lake ultimately got to celebrate its first title by holding off Clare for a 5-4 win in the Division 3 Final. But it was the seventh inning that had the overflow crowd buzzing, even long after the final out was made.
Clare entered the top of the seventh up 2-1 after scoring a run in the sixth, and Grass Lake had its 7-8-9 hitters coming up.
But Grass Lake head coach Roger Cook wasn’t worried.
“It seems like the bottom of order has been coming through quite a bit,” Cook said. “One through nine, we’re comfortable with the next person.”
Sure enough, freshman Kennedy Collins walked, sophomore Reese Late reached on a bunt single and junior Addalynn Hensen walked to load the bases for the top of the order.
Grass Lake then tied the game at 2-2 when Collins beat a throw to the plate on a ground ball hit to second base.
With the bases still loaded and nobody out, Grass Lake took a 4-2 lead on an infield error, which scored two runs. Grass Lake then went up 5-2 on a sacrifice fly by senior Bree Salts.
Then, it was Clare’s turn to mount a comeback.
In the bottom of the inning, senior Addison McMillan tripled and scored on a single by senior Tessa Kelly to make it 5-3. With two outs, Clare cut the Grass Lake lead to 5-4 on an RBI double by sophomore Breez Yarger.
The Pioneers eventually had a runner on first and third base with two out, but Grass Lake junior pitcher Morgan Conrad ended the game by inducing a flyout.
Whew. What an ending.
“I was definitely nervous, but over the years I’ve learned how to handle those nerves,” said Salts, one of the team’s seniors and catcher. “So I just knew this was the only place in the world I wanted to be in this moment.”
An alum and current teacher at Grass Lake who is in his 24th year as head coach, Cook said he walks by pictures in the school of past Finals championship and runner-up teams.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and I’ve been thinking, ‘Gosh, just one time for us to get up there,’” Cook said. “Today is the day.”
Much like it did during its Semifinal win, Clare scored in the bottom of the sixth inning to grab a 2-1 lead.
With runners on first and second and one out, senior catcher Savannah Buzzelli hit a hard ground ball that deflected off the pitcher and went to the left side of the infield. That gave enough time for pinch runner Sophia Buzzelli to score from second base and put Clare ahead.
Grass Lake opened the scoring in the third inning, grabbing a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Salts. Clare tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth inning when a run scored on a wild pitch.
“We got the ground balls we wanted, we just didn’t capitalize,” Clare head coach Shane Kelly said. “We were in that situation against Gladstone (in a Quarterfinal), got a double play and got out of it. I every bit thought we were going to do the same thing. We just didn’t capitalize.”
PHOTOS (Top) Grass Lake players hoist their championship trophy Saturday at Secchia Stadium. (Middle) Morgan Conrad (11) yells after arriving at second base.
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.