Grass Lake Slugger Turner Writing Name All Over MHSAA Record Book
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
May 7, 2024
Bill and Julia Turner have not only put in a lot of miles on the road, but they’ve also put a lot of miles in on the softball field.
Before Olivia Turner was hitting the cover off the ball and becoming Michigan’s career RBI leader for the Grass Lake softball team, Bill and Julia were taking her to the field for batting practice.
“I always wanted to go to the field, and my dad would take me and my mom would shag balls in the outfield,” Olivia said. “They’ve spent countless hours, especially traveling around the country. They’ve been my biggest support system. They are awesome.”
Her Warriors teammates are grateful, too. Last week Turner became Michigan’s all-time leader in runs batted in, surpassing Taylor Light & Life Christian’s Kelly Kennedy, who held the record with 304 RBIs from 1991-94.
“It was crazy to think I beat a 30-year-old record,” Turner said. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. I’m just super thankful.”
Having her name on the state record book for softball is nothing new to Turner. She barely missed the state mark for RBIs in a season last year when she had 102 and is the state’s all-time career doubles leader already.
Grass Lake head coach Roger Cook said Turner never talks about hitting home runs or driving in runs – just about being a teammate.
“I’m going to tell you, she’s one of the most modest people you’ll ever talk to,” Cook said. “She just talks team, team, team. She always has since I’ve known her. She has never said one thing about a home run or a base hit.”
Turner, who plays third base, has been around the Grass Lake program for a long time. When her sister Madeline was playing for the Warriors before heading off to play at Findlay University in Ohio, Olivia would tag along.
“I just wanted to be at the field, be around softball,” she said.
Turner first picked up the game when she was on an 8-and-under team.
“I fell in love with it,” she said.
She started as a pitcher, but quickly converted to infielder, where she has played with Grass Lake and various travel teams. She also plays volleyball and basketball for Grass Lake, but softball is her sport.
“We’re all one family,” she said. “I love that you get to play with girls that you may not be friends with at school. It shows you who you are. Softball gives you a lot of life lessons – dedication, teamwork, how to work with others.”
She loves to hit, too.
“Every at-bat, even if there is no one on base, I want to get on base,” she said. “I’m always going up to the plate doing it for my team, not for myself. The RBIs are pretty cool. My team gets on base for me. All of the girls are phenomenal.”
Cook said he sometimes gets worried that opponents will just pitch around Turner. But because of who is in the lineup in front of and behind her, he doesn’t have to worry about that.
“We have Rylee Fitzpatrick, Emily Brown, then Olivia,” Cook said. “After Olivia we have (junior) Bree Salts, who has committed to Central Michigan. It’s hard to pitch around her. When we get to some of these big games, teams will have to throw to her.”
Last year’s Division 3 runner-up Ottawa Lake Whiteford has faced Grass Lake multiple times over the past couple of seasons, and coach Matt VanBrandt is plenty familiar with the damage Turner can do.
"You'd better have a plan when you are pitching to her,” VanBrandt said. “She’s a dangerous hitter. She’s someone you need to think about before the game starts.”
Turner hit .714 last season with 30 doubles and those 102 runs batted in. For her career, she’s belted 48 home runs and knocked in 309 runs after Saturday’s tournament. She’s never hit below .535 for a season and is nearing 100 career doubles.
Grass Lake currently is 22-1 and leading the Cascades Conference.
“It’s crazy to think I am actually a senior now,” Turner said. “Now that it is my senior year, I just want to work hard and play for my team. We’ve had great seniors the last couple of years. It’s crazy to think this is my last season.”
Turner will attend Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. She chose Bradley because of its nursing program.
“Academics has always been first for me,” she said. “I fell in love with the campus. It’s not too big or too small. The staff there is great.”
Before taking her swing to college, Grass Lake wants to make a deep tournament run this season. And the more games the Warriors play, the more RBIs Turner is likely to add to her record.
“Olivia has one of the smoothest, most beautiful swings I’ve ever seen,” Cook said. “She’s one of the girls you want up there at bat with the game on the line. She can do it all. If you need a single, she’ll get you a single. If you need a walk-off, she can do that, too.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Grass Lake’s Olivia Turner focuses on a pitch coming her way. (Middle) Turner will graduate this spring with multiple MHSAA records. (Photos courtesy of Pictures by Marisa and the Grass Lake softball program.)
Where There's a Willea, There Are Several Ways for Oakridge to Win
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
April 9, 2025
Every so often at practice, Muskegon Oakridge softball coach Joe Coletta will hear fighting behind him and worry he has a problem on his team.
“Then I turn around and I see that it is just the Willea sisters getting after each other,” explained Coletta, who is in his 17th year as softball coach and 43rd year overall of coaching at Oakridge.
“And I know that we’re all good.”
The Willeas – specifically fraternal senior twins Kylee and Gracie and sophomore Avery – definitely push each other and certainly cause problems for opposing teams as one-third of the Oakridge lineup, all playing critical positions in the field and occupying key spots in the batting order.
Kylee is an honorable mention all-state pitcher for the Eagles, who compiled a 16-5 record last spring with 141 strikeouts and a 2.36 ERA. She also will be expected to knock in runs from the No. 4 spot in the batting order.
Gracie returns as an honorable mention all-state centerfielder, using her instincts and speed to cover tremendous ground. At the plate, she bats second and hit .402 last year.
Avery made a huge impact last year as a freshman and now will move to the crucial shortstop position as a sophomore. She hit .382 last year with 28 RBIs.
The Willeas have continued the strong softball tradition at Oakridge, helping the team to three consecutive West Michigan Conference titles, two straight Districts and a breakthrough Division 2 Regional championship last year – the first that all three Willeas were on the varsity together.
Now the trio gets one last season to play on the same team, and they are determined to savor every second.
“I don’t want it to be done,” said Kylee, who has added a curveball to her repertoire for this season. “I love high school ball, and it’s so much fun to play with my sisters and have our parents and family in the stands.
“I love that we come from a small school and have made something big out of it.”
Sisterly bond
Kylee came into this world two minutes before her sister Gracie, and the two have been together for most of the past 17 years.
But while the twins have many things in common (such as top-10 graduating academic status in their class and exceptional leadership skills), there are certainly differences that are evident in their roles on the team.
Kylee, who shares the pitching load for the Eagles along with sophomore ace Kelcey Osborne, is a steady and calm leader with the perfect temperament for a pitcher, according to Coletta.
Gracie is über-competitive and vocal in centerfield, and says she keeps herself entertained by making sure all of her teammates are lined up correctly and focused on every pitch.
“I guess you could say it is a blessing and a curse at the same time to have three sisters on the same team,” Gracie said with a smile. “We butt heads at times, but overall it’s a great thing. We definitely have a bond that can pull us through the hard times.”
Avery, who everyone describes as a blend of her older sisters, could be the key to the Eagles success this spring. Not only is she moving from second base to the pressure-packed shortstop position, but she is also being asked to provide more power and drive in runs at the plate.
Oakridge has become known for its home-run power, with past bashers Jasmine Pastor and Andrea Romero-Serrano and last year’s 1-2 punch of Kaelinn Jozsa (14 home runs) and Maddie Clark (12 home runs), who were both first-team all-state and have graduated.
In fact, Osborne is the only returning player who had more than one home run or more than 30 RBIs last season.
“Our team is a little different this year, but we have a lot of athletic girls,” said Avery. “I feel like I will have more power at the plate this year. That’s what I’m working on.”
Daddy’s girls
The Willea softball era for the Oakridge varsity started three years ago, when Gracie made the varsity right away as a freshman, while Kylee started that season on the junior varsity.
But injuries forced Coletta to move up Kylee, then a 14-year-old freshman as well, to pitch in a critical early May rivalry game against Ravenna.
“I remember being so nervous that I was shaking,” said Kylee, who is known for her rise ball and changeup. “I literally thought I was going to throw up.”
After a shaky first inning, Kylee settled down and led the Eagles to a huge doubleheader sweep. She has been a fixture in the circle ever since.
It’s no surprise that the Willeas were ready for varsity softball as freshmen, as they have played summer travel ball for years with the Michigan Sabercats – with their dad, Dan, as their coach. All three have a tight bond with their father, both as coach and dad.
“When we’re driving home after a tournament, one of them will ask me a question and I’ll say: ‘Do you want Coach to answer that, or do you want dad to answer that?’” said Dan, a handyman who also has worked tirelessly to improve the Oakridge softball facilities.
Gracie was the only one of the three who wasn’t “all-in” on softball from the start. All three girls grew up following in the footsteps of their mother, Shanda, in gymnastics, but Gracie took it the farthest – becoming the first gymnast at her mother’s family gym (Gonyon’s Gymnastics) to make the all-region team a few years ago.
“When I was little, I did gymnastics and I thought that softball was stupid,” Gracie said with a laugh. “But then I fell in love with it.”
The athleticism she developed in gymnastics is evident in the way she plays centerfield, making diving, acrobatic catches look somewhat routine.
“Gracie covers so much ground out there and is absolutely fearless,” said Coletta, who is assisted this year by former Oakridge players Alyssa (Wahr) Fessenden and Morgan (Giddings) Wahr.
Avery Willea might actually be the most like her father, even though he hasn’t coached her nearly as much as the twins. Avery and Dan share a passion for the outdoors, and when they take a rare break from softball, can often be found hunting and fishing together.
One final run
The singular focus of the Willea family this spring is to make the most of their final season together.
Specifically, the Willeas would love to put together a repeat of last spring, when the Eagles not only repeated as West Michigan Conference and Division 2 District champs, but then played some of their best softball in wins over Grand Rapids Catholic Central (13-4) and Allendale (14-8) to capture the second Regional title in school history.
That led to a police escort out of town, as residents and classmates lined the streets to send the team off to Ferris State for the Quarterfinals, where the Eagles lost to eventual Division 2 champion Gaylord.
Oakridge, 2-0 this season, has managed to get in only one doubleheader, a sweep of Division 1 Muskegon Mona Shores, before this week’s spring break, but faces a challenging, whirlwind schedule for the next two months.
“Softball is a pitcher’s game, and we’ve got that this year,” said Coletta, who also has talented sophomore Chloe Smith backing up Kylee Willea and Osborne on the mound. “And it’s sure nice having girls like the Willeas as one-third of the lineup. They all know how to play the game, and they make things happen.”
The other seniors on the 13-player Oakridge roster are Maddy Bowen, Brenna Cabrera, Rylee Vanderputte and Lily Coppedge.
Kylee and Gracie Willea will play together for at least the next two years at Muskegon Community College, but the whole family knows that their 12-year-plus softball odyssey - with countless restaurants, hotels, hilarious stories and treasured memories along the way – is nearing its end.
And all they can do is make the most of every minute this final spring.
“I’m going to miss them so much the next two years – it’s going to hit me pretty hard,” said Avery, with a sigh. “So, yes, all we can do is make this the best season ever and not take anything for granted.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Clockwise from left: Kylee Willea delivers a pitch, Avery Willea gets ready at her shortstop position and Gracie Willea makes a diving catch in centerfield. (Middle) From left: Avery, Gracie and Kylee pose with the trophy after winning a tournament title in 2022. (Below) Dan Willea, who has coached his daughters for several years, takes a photo with Kylie and Gracie (standing) and Avery five years ago. (Photos courtesy of Shonda Willea.)