Jenison Reaches 1,000 Wins & Surging

May 23, 2019

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half

JENISON – The Jenison softball team wrapped up an Ottawa-Kent Conference Black outright title Tuesday night by sweeping Muskegon Reeths-Puffer.

The championship shouldn’t come as much of a surprise because the Wildcats have racked up wins at a consistent pace for the past 45 years.

Jenison has experienced another successful campaign thus far, and reached a program milestone earlier in the season.

The Wildcats notched the program’s 1,000th win by beating Zeeland East in mid-April.

Longtime coach Kari Kossen has been a part of several of those victories, as a former player and now in her 19th season at the helm.

“Our players had an idea, and it was told to them at the beginning of the season that it was coming up,” Kossen said. “We really didn’t make it known, but for us coaches and the whole program it was a really cool thing. They knew about it, but not enough to count it down.”

Jenison began as a program in 1974 and emerged as a perennial powerhouse during the late 1980s and mid 1990s.

Under the direction of legendary coach Jerry Hoag, who collected 529 wins from 1981-1999, the Wildcats won six MHSAA Class A titles over a nine-year span.

They’ve appeared in seven Finals, also including a runner-up finish to Okemos in 1999. Only five teams in MHSAA history have played in more. 

Jenison stockpiled state crowns with superb pitching and defense, posting five shutouts in its six championship game wins and allowing only one run overall.

Back then, Georgetown Little League opened up a new facility and was the feeder program.

Kossen, a pitcher who helped the team win back-to-back titles in 1987 and 1988, said pitching guru Ray Sheler had a huge impact in producing a dominant pitching staff.

“He taught the windmill (style),” Kossen said. “Slingshot was well known, but we learned from him and he taught us how to pitch like that and that played a big role in Jenison’s success, just learning how to do the windmill pitching. A lot of other schools didn’t know how to do it back then.”

The Wildcats continue to seek their first Finals appearance since 1999, but have continued to churn out quality players and competitive teams.

A change during the past eight years has been the development of the Wildcat Pride Program, and it has paid dividends on the diamond over the last four.

While various travel teams are abundant throughout the state and include players from different high schools, the Wildcat Pride program is designed to keep girls playing together on the same team in the Jenison community.

“The parent support has really helped with this and has helped make an impact in our success the last two or three years,” Kossen said. “It was something everybody had to buy into eight years ago.

“My sister (Karla Wojtas) and I had a vision to just play together as a community and see if we can learn how to win together, because eventually they’re going to have to do that anyway in high school. We just wanted to come back as a community, and parents have helped coach these teams.”

The idea is to have the girls playing together for several years and creating a bond and trust, much like what occurred in the past.

“We just played so well together because we played together since we were 10 years old,” Kossen said. “In today’s culture girls are playing for different teams, so it feels good to go back to that.”

Former Jenison standout Alexis Hylarides, a 1991 grad and member of the 1990 Class A championship team, said elite coaching in little league with the likes of Ed Kiscorni and Sheler, and then in high school with Hoag, helped catapult the program into a dynasty.

“It starts with good coaching and Ray Sheler took it to a whole other level because without him then they don’t have all those great pitchers,” she said. “The whole goal growing up was to play for Jenison softball because they were the dynamo, and if you played for them then you made it to the big show. It was an honor to play for them, and they don’t make coaches like that anymore.”

Hylarides wasn’t shocked to learn that the program had surpassed 1,000 wins.

“Not one bit,” she said. “This has been such a strong program for many years.”

Jenison produces elite talent as several girls have gone on to play at various levels in college, but fundamentals are the main focus of the current program.

“We’re scrappy, and we teach fundamentals,” Kossen said. “We do the little things that allow us to be that much better, and we do what we need to do to be in every ball game.”

The Wildcats improved to 30-3 with Tuesday’s wins and earned honorable mention in the latest Division 1 rankings.

Jenison has been led by seniors Evelyn Blood, Addison Hansen and Emily Mouat, juniors Kassidi Hill and Emily Siler and freshman Maria Griffore.

“I think we’ve been playing so well together as a group, and they know their roles,” Kossen said. “I can count on all of them to come in and get a hit when they need to or play good defense. They get along so well and are just fun. They want to win, and they have goals.”

Dean Holzwarth covered primarily high school sports for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years and more recently served as sports editor of the Ionia Sentinel and as a sports photojournalist for WZZM. Contact him at[email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.

PHOTOS: (Top) Jenison players huddle on the field during a game this season. (Middle) A Jenison base runner slides safely into third base. (Below) The Wildcats welcome a teammate crossing the plate. (Photos courtesy of the Jenison athletic department.)

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.”

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.”

Click for the full box score.

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 catcher Ashley Stafford frames a pitch during her team’s win over Escanaba.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.”

Click for the full box score.

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.