Kestrels' Ace Off to Near-Perfect Encore
By
Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
May 12, 2016
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
MONROE – Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central junior pitcher Meghan Beaubien is a self-proclaimed perfectionist playing in a sport that rarely sees perfection.
She comes close enough. Actually, she is such an outstanding softball pitcher that she recently was named the No. 5 high school softball player of the 2017 graduating class in the country by one publication, and last year she was the Gatorade state Softball Player of the Year for Michigan.
Beaubien, who stands 5 feet, 8 inches tall, capped her sophomore season by leading SMCC to the Division 3 championship. She threw her 10th no-hitter of the season in the Semifinal against Pinconning, and then flirted with a perfect game before settling for a one-hitter in the title game. She also had a two-run home run in the finale – a 2-0 victory.
The numbers are eye-popping:
As a freshman, Beaubien was 19-9 with a 0.69 ERA and 254 strikeouts.
As a sophomore, she was 33-3 with a 0.31 ERA and 456 strikeouts.
So far this year, Beaubien is 9-0 with a 0.51 ERA and 141 strikeouts.
Beaubien, however, is not consumed with the numbers. She doesn’t even know them.
“I don’t look at my numbers,” she said. “Maybe I’ll look at them at the end of the year.”
She also knows the expectations that come with such numbers.
“I’m a bit of a perfectionist myself in school and in sports,” she said. “There is no way you can be perfect, so you just have to forget what other people expect you to do and just go out there and do what you’re trying to do one pitch at a time.”
Bread-and-butter pitch
Beaubien, obviously, isn’t a typical high school softball pitcher. However, she isn’t even a typical elite high school softball pitcher. Although she throws hard, the change-up is her go-to pitch, and she is left-handed.
“It is a predominantly right-handed pitching game,” SMCC softball coach John Morningstar said. “You don’t see a lot of lefties, and when you bring the speed that she brings it at – even to right-handed hitters – it’s still very deceptive. She can go in and out and up, and then you have the change-up, so coming from the left side is a look that you don’t see very often. You can’t create that.”
Beaubien’s parents, Jason and Kimberly, recognized her talent at an early age and encouraged her to become more than just a hard thrower.
“She started playing grade-school ball, and I knew then that she had talent, so I started getting her to the right coaches,” Jason Beaubien said. “She had a lot of good pitching coaches along the way, but it all started with speed, which is how it all starts.
“As things progressed, speed is the prerequisite to all of the other things you have to do to become at a high level. Then the movement and changing speeds comes into it. She hit 65 on the radar gun when she was 13, and I knew at that point that she really needed to have some off-speed pitch to complement the other parts of her game.”
To throw the change-up effectively, a pitcher has to deceive the batter into thinking the pitch will be thrown harder. That is a science all in itself.
“Her change-up is one of the best I’ve ever seen, particularly because you don’t know it’s coming,” Morningstar said. “It is coming from the left side, the arm speed never changes, the mechanics never change.
“A lot of kids can throw hard, but when you can throw hard and have that mix of speed and the command, which she has, that’s special.”
Beaubien was asked which was more fun, overpowering a batter with heat or fooling them with the change-up. She thought about it a minute and said, “I have fun with the change-up.”
“I probably started working with that in seventh or eighth grade, and in the summer after my freshman year it got good, but it really got to where it’s at now after my sophomore year,” she said. “The whole point of a change-up is to make the batter expect something hard and throw something not hard. You have to be able to sell it and make your motion look like you’re going to throw it hard.
“Also, if you release it the right way and you get good downspin on it, the ball is going to drop off the table, too.”
Hitting counts, too
Because Beaubien is such an outstanding pitcher, it is easy to think of her as just a pitcher. But she can hit, too, as she showed last year with the two-run homer in the championship game.
Last year, she hit .430 with three home runs, 29 RBIs and a slugging percentage of .640.
However, hitting did not come as naturally to her as pitching did.
“At the plate, I used to just be a slapper, and I never used to swing away,” she said. “I think it’s because I focused a lot more on my pitching, and now I focus on my hitting as well. I want to be equally recognized as both a hitter and a pitcher because I don’t want to be a one-dimensional player.
“I want to be able to help our team out as many ways as I can.”
It also helps her relate to stepping into the batter’s box to face an above-average pitcher and the mental approach that goes with it.
“I can tell with individual hitters what their attitude is by their body language, how they carry themselves and how they look when they step into the box,” she said. “I’ve been there, I’m a hitter, too, and sometimes I go in confident that I’m going to get a hit off a pitcher and sometimes you are kind of thinking, ‘Oh gosh, I hope I don’t strike out.’
“You can tell when a hitter is not feeling confident or they are a little intimated. Then you know, ‘OK, I’m coming right at this person.’ ”
Michigan all the way
Beaubien had never thrown a pitch as a high school pitcher when she gave a verbal agreement to accept a scholarship to play at the University of Michigan. She received her offer letter on the field at Michigan Stadium prior to the Ohio State football game on Nov. 30, 2013.
“That was really cool,” Jason Beaubien said. “Michigan came up short by a point that day, but she didn’t. That was a very exciting time for her mother and me.”
Michigan had always been her first choice, so the decision was an easy one for her, but there was still a process.
“A lot of the recruiting process is hard,” she said. “I was 14, and it’s hard to make that big of a decision about your life at that point. A lot of schools will give you deadlines when they offer scholarships, and I didn’t have any schools tell me, ‘You need to decide by this date.’ I didn’t have any of that, thankfully.
“That was the age that the pitchers I knew were committing, so I knew I had to make a decision. I visited enough schools and knew what I wanted, so the decision was easy for me.”
Beaubien is an outstanding student – again with eye-popping numbers. Her GPA is 4.7, and she scored a 34 on her ACT. So her desire to find a school with top-notch academics as well as a top-notch softball program fit perfectly with Michigan, and Michigan wanted her.
“There is a stereotype that if you are a really good athlete, then you are not going to be smart in school,” she said. “I want to be both. I want to be successful in school and in softball.
“My parents taught me at a young age that my grades come first, and that is what will get you through the rest of your life, so I’ve always put a lot of emphasis on being successful in school. I don’t let that slide.”
The work in the classroom has attracted attention from some of the finest colleges in the nation.
“She is probably most proud of her grades,” Jason Beaubien said. “She is getting letters from Harvard and Princeton and all the Ivy League schools, which would be awesome, and she would love to go to those schools, but she also loves softball.
“She has the best of both worlds at Michigan.”
Staying grounded
The summer travel leagues offer players a chance to play at a different level and in different surroundings. Last summer, Beaubien played on a team based in Chicago, leaving her a five-hour, one-way trip to the games.
The Bandits 16 and under team lost its first game in the Premier Girls Fastpitch (PGF) Nationals before winning 10 games in a row to get into the championship game in the double-elimination tournament. The Bandits lost 1-0, but she finished the tournament with a 7-2 record and a 1.12 ERA with 75 strikeouts in 62 1/3 innings.
Beaubien handled all of the pressure quite well, and her father said she might have handled it better than he did.
“It was stressful,” he said. “We were travelling and there were a lot of showcases in the fall, and it’s tough. There were times when she was out there competing with 25 coaches behind the fence all clocking her and watching her.
“That’s a lot of pressure to put on any kid in that spot, and that’s just how it is. She has competed under pressure situations that I would wilt under. I can barely watch, and she’s out there competing and executing. It’s cool to watch and cool to see.”
The kind of success that Beaubien has enjoyed easily could go to the head of a teenager, but she has showed maturity and leadership beyond her years. After a game this week, she joined the rest of the team raking the infield.
That sort of thing is not something that happens by accident with Morningstar.
“The biggest thing I’ve ever learned is that you use the team as the catalyst and revert everything back to the team,” he said. “I set a premise that nobody is above the team, and she does a very good job as far as leadership is concerned and taking it seriously.
“She leads by example and works hard and shows the rest of the girls what it takes to compete at the next level. She’s a fun kid to coach.”
Beaubien is talented and successful on the field and in the classroom. And as focused as she is, there is little time for other activities. She still is able to find time for other things.
“When she does have some free time, she just wants to relax,” Jason Beaubien said. “Like any kid, she will watch Netflix or hang out with her friends. She’s a big Star Wars geek – she likes that.”
She also said she enjoys watching baseball, and she watches the Detroit Tigers on television as much as possible.
It hasn’t all been easy, either. She did lose nine games as a freshman, even though her numbers were fantastic.
“There are days when she struggles, but her struggle is someone else’s best game,” Morningstar said. “She picks the team up and puts it on her back when she wants to, and that’s what you want out of a leader.”
Chip Mundy served as sports editor at the Brooklyn Exponent and Albion Recorder from 1980-86, and then as a reporter and later copy editor at the Jackson Citizen-Patriot from 1986-2011. He also co-authored Michigan Sports Trivia. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Meghan Beaubien launches a pitch; she has a combined 851 strikeouts over her first three high school seasons. (Middle) Beaubien also is a strong hitter and had a home run in last season's Division 3 championship game. (Photos courtesy of the Beaubien family.)
Preview: Familiar Contenders, New Home
June 11, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This weekend, for the first time, the MHSAA Softball Semifinals and Finals will be played at Michigan State University’s Secchia Stadium.
But although the tournament’s new stage might be unfamiliar to most, many of the 16 finalists should feel at home playing in championship-deciding games.
Reigning Division 4 winner Kalamazoo Christian is back for more, as are 2013 Division 1 runner-up Bay City Western and Division 3 runner-up Unionville-Sebewaing. Clinton, Gladstone and Livonia Ladywood all played in MHSAA championship games in 2012.
For the first time as well, Semifinal play will begin Thursday and continue Friday with all four Finals on Saturday. Below is this weekend's schedule, followed by a look at each contender.
Semifinals – Thursday
Division 1
Portage Central (41-3) vs. Utica Ford (30-8) - 10 a.m.
Romeo (31-7) vs. Bay City Western (39-3) - Noon
Division 2
Wayland (42-1) vs. Livonia Ladywood (28-13) - 3 p.m.
Croswell-Lexington (30-1) vs. Stevensville Lakeshore (33-9) - 5 p.m.
Semifinals – Friday
Division 3
Gladstone (28-2) vs. Coloma (34-9) - 10 a.m.
Unionville-Sebewaing (39-0) vs. Clinton (34-4) - Noon
Division 4
Vestaburg (27-8) vs. Kalamazoo Christian (27-16) - 3 p.m.
Fowler (26-6) vs. Rogers City (32-6) - 5 p.m.
Finals – Saturday
Division 1 - 11:30 a.m.
Division 2 - 9 a.m.
Division 3 - 5 p.m.
Division 4 - 2:30 p.m.
Tickets cost $7 per round or $15 for an all-tournament ticket that includes admission to baseball games. Radio broadcasts of all games can be heard online at MHSAAnetwork.com. All games will be streamed live online at MHSAA.TV and viewable on subscription basis.
All statistics below are through at least the regular season, with most through teams' Regionals or Quarterfinals. (Click for links to brackets and scores.)
Division 1
BAY CITY WESTERN
Record/rank: 39-3, No. 4
Coach: Rick Garlinghouse, 10th season (324-77-3)
League finish: First in Saginaw Valley Association North
Championship history: Division 1 runner-up 2013.
Players to watch: Hannah Leppek, jr. P (32-1, 0.70 ERA, 290 K, .507 16 2B, 13 HR, 58 RBI); Meredith Rousse, jr. SS (.549, 61 R, 12 2B, 46 RBI), Kaylynn Carpenter, jr. CF (.508, 51 R, 10 2B, 49 RBI), Blair Miller, jr. LF (.441, 41 R, 25 RBI).
Outlook: Bay City Western is back in the Semifinals for the third time in four seasons and after its first championship game appearance a year ago – it fell just shy of the MHSAA title, losing 2-1 to Mattawan after leading through five innings. The Warriors graduated only three players after 2013, with Leppek a returning all-stater and Rousse and Carpenter honorable mentions last season. Western has won 20 of its last 21 games, with its only losses this season to honorable mention Clarkston, Division 2 No. 6 Bullock Creek and Division 3 No. 7 Sanford Meridian.
PORTAGE CENTRAL
Record/rank: 41-3, No. 3
Coach: Tom Hamilton, first season of second tenure (75-7)
League finish: First in Southwest Michigan Athletic Conference East
Championship history: Class A champion 1977, runner-up 1975.
Players to watch: Lea Foerster, sr. OF; Gina Verduczo, sr. P (Stats not submitted.).
Outlook: Portage Central eliminated reigning Division 1 champ Mattawan (9-2) during the District tournament and is in the Semifinals for the first time since 2009. Its only losses were early to Mattawan, then to Division 2 No. 1 Wayland and Division 2 No. 4 Stevensville Lakeshore – although Central beat Lakeshore in the other five games the teams played against each other this spring. Foerster and Verduczo were all-staters last season. Hamilton formerly coached the team in 2010 and also coached Portage Northern to championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
ROMEO
Record/rank: 31-7, No. 2
Coach: Dave McIntyre, fifth season (138-37)
League finish: First in Macomb Area Conference Red
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Players to watch: Taylor Weaver, sr. P (24-1, 0.60 ERA, 261 K, .469); Danielle Szajna jr. 1B (.440, 23 R, 23 RBI); Kayla Noch, jr. C (.430, 14 2B, 27 RBI); Morgan Gardner, soph. SS (.463, 32 R, 32 RBI, 16 2B).
Outlook: After falling by just a run to eventual champion Mattawan in last season’s Semifinal, Romeo has stormed back to Finals weekend with wins over No. 1 Canton, No. 6 Lake Orion and No. 9 Fenton during the tournament. Weaver and Szajna were all-staters last season and Gardner was an honorable mention, and total the top six hitters from that Semifinal lineup are the same as what should take the field this weekend – including centerfielder Geordin Craun at the top and third baseman Erin Barg in the six spot.
UTICA FORD
Record/rank: 30-8, honorable mention
Coach: Matthew Joseph, fourth season (86-42)
League finish: Third in MAC Red
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Players to watch: Gabby Schefka, sr. C; Alex Sorgi, jr. CF/P; Nikki Sorgi, fr. P/IF (Stats not submitted.).
Outlook: Utica Ford is making its first Semifinal appearance after making its first Quarterfinal just a season ago. Schefka and Alex Sorgi earned all-state and honorable mention, respectively, in 2013 and have keyed the team’s taking the next step – they and Nikki Sorgi also fill the top three spots in the lineup. Ford has increased its win total every season since Joseph took over the program.
Division 2
CROSWELL-LEXINGTON
Record/rank: 30-1, No. 9
Coach: Bob Young, eighth season (196-70)
League finish: First in Blue Water Area Conference
Championship history: Has never appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Players to watch: Megan Guitar, jr. P (21-1, 1.77 ERA, 179 K, .392, 4 HR, 41 RBI); Kylee Barrett, sr. SS (.446, 8 HR, 37 RBI); Rebecca Oden, fr. OF (.392).
Outlook: Croswell-Lexington’s lone loss was late to Utica, and it stormed back by outscoring two District opponents by a combined 31-6 and then edging Frankenmuth and No. 8 Saginaw Swan Valley to win its first Regional championship. The Pioneers have been on the verge, however, with this their fifth straight season with at least 30 wins and fourth in five seasons winning their District. All nine starting hitters are batting at least .330.
LIVONIA LADYWOOD
Record/rank: 28-13, No. 7
Coach: Scott Combs, seventh season (236-53)
League finish: Second in Detroit Catholic High School League Central
Championship history: Division 2 champion 2012, runner-up 2009.
Players to watch: Haley Lawrence, sr. SS (.420, 46 R, 18 2B, 39 RBI); Erika Selakowski, soph. 2B (.410, 41 R, 21 2B, 57 RBI); Hallea Garcia, sr. 1B (.415, 40 R, 22 2B, 8 HR, 58 RBI); Christina Meyer, jr. OF (.402, 55 R, 31 RBI, 10 3B, 48 SB); Rozlyn Price, soph. P (240-8, 2.60 ERA, 235 K).
Outlook: Ladywood is making this a regular trip, heading to the Semifinals for the fourth straight season and fifth in six years. Lawrence is a returning all-stater and Selakowski earned an honorable mention last season, and they are big bats in a lineup that earned valuable experience during last season’s run. So did Price, who also earned all-state honorable mention after pitching the Blazers into the Semifinals as only a freshman.
STEVENSVILLE LAKESHORE
Record/rank: 33-9, No. 4
Coach: Denny Dock, 25th season (834-168-1)
League finish: Second in Southwest Michigan Athletic Conference West
Championship history: Six MHSAA titles (most recent 2011), one runner-up finish.
Players to watch: Haley Thibeault, sr. P/IF (26-6, 1.09 ERA, 210 K, .471, 14 2B, 10 HR, 57 RBI); Julia Carpenter, soph. CF (.413, 22 SB);. Alex Forsythe, sr. SS (.375, 52 RBI).
Outlook: Lakeshore has won five Regional titles in six seasons and is back in the Semifinals for the first time since winning back-to-back Division 2 titles in 2010 and 2011. The Lancers returned by avenging last season’s Quarterfinal loss to Tecumseh, the eventual champion last spring. Thibeault was an all-state second baseman a year ago but has taken over the majority of pitching duties in addition to leading the team in hitting.
WAYLAND
Record/rank: 42-1, No. 1
Coach: Cheri Ritz, 19th season (636-129)
League finish: First in O-K Gold
Championship history: Division 2 champion 2006.
Players to watch: Sam Merren, sr. OF (.500, 12 2B, 37 SB, 48 RBI); Mallory Teunissen, jr. P (34-1, 1.09 ERA, 252 K, .313); Sierra Mutschler, sr. SS (.523, 16 2B, 11 HR, 83 RBI); Britt McLain, sr. C (.432, 22 SB, 36 RBI).
Outlook: Wayland is back in the Semifinals for the second time in three seasons with an all-state pitcher in Teunissen – but also a talented lineup averaging 12 runs per game. Merren, Mutschler and McLain all also were all-staters a year ago, and they are only three of seven regulars hitting .400 or higher. Mutschler’s RBI qualify as fourth-most for one season in MHSAA history. The Wildcats have won 39 straight games since falling to Hudsonville Unity Christian in their only loss, and have given up only five runs during the tournament including a 7-0 shutout of Unity Christian in the Quarterfinal.
Division 3
CLINTON
Record/rank: 34-4, honorable mention
Coach: Kim Phillip, second season (65-10)
League finish: First in Tri-County Conference
Championship history: Two MHSAA titles (2011 and 2012), one runner-up finish.
Players to watch: Ashleigh Donahey, soph. DH/DP (.500, 55 R, 18 SB, 35 RBI); Kristin Forest, sr. 3B (.477, 52 R, 12 HR, 16 2B, 67 RBI); Elizabeth Barkel, sr. 1B (.454, 36 R, 33 RBI, 12 SB); Megan Burton, soph. P (21-3, 1.34 ERA, 120 K).
Outlook: After missing the Semifinals last season, Clinton is back for the fifth time in six seasons and first time under Philip, who formerly coached Saline and was the assistant at Clinton before taking over the program a year ago. The Redskins are especially strong on the base paths, with 94 stolen bases in 102 attempts entering the week. Only an honorable mention in the final coaches poll, Clinton earned an 8-0 win over No. 10 Napoleon in the Regional Final to highlight this run.
COLOMA
Record/rank: 34-9, honorable mention
Coach: Wendy Goodline, 15th season (389-158-1)
League finish: First in Wolverine Conference West
Championship history: Has never appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Players to watch: Makenzie Moody, sr. C (.381, 6 HR, 40 RBI); Jenna Faultersack, jr. SS (.418, 56 R, 10 2B, 22 SB); Emily Najacht, sr. P (25-7, 0.97 ERA, 266 K, .378, 39 RBI).
Outlook: Coloma is making its second Semifinal appearance in three seasons after winning its third straight District title and playing in Division 2 last season; the Comets beat No. 8 Springport 6-2 in Tuesday’s Quarterfinal to return. Coloma prepared by facing many of the best from the Kalamazoo area during the regular season, earning a win over Division 4 Semifinalist Kalamazoo Christian and falling to Portage Central, Stevensville Lakeshore and out-of-area Lake Orion among larger ranked opponents. Faultersack was a Division 2 all-stater last season, and Najacht earned an honorable mention.
GLADSTONE
Record/rank: 28-2, No. 3
Coach: Ashley Hughes, first season (28-2)
League finish: Does not play in a league.
Championship history: Two MHSAA titles (most recent 2009), one runner-up finish.
Players to watch: Jess Beaudry, sr. 1B (.353, 20 RBI); Tinner Sharon, sr. P/3B (.458, 12 SB, 18-1 pitching, 0.92 ERA, 160 K); Lexi Hongisto, jr. SS (.532, 31 RBI, 13 SB).
Outlook: Gladstone has played in the MHSAA Final three of the last 10 years, also finishing runner-up in 2012 and champion in 2004, and won its 12th straight Regional last week. First-year coach Hughes was part of a Quarterfinals team as a player in 2003 and took over this spring after three seasons as an assistant. The Braves have given up only three runs during the tournament, and not more than one in any game. Beaudry was an all-state selection last season.
UNIONVILLE-SEBEWAING
Record/rank: 39-0, No. 1
Coach: Steve Bohn, third season (116-9)
League finish: First in Greater Thumb Conference West
Championship history: Three championships (most recent 2009 in Division 4), two runner-up finishes.
Players to watch: Stephanie Neuman, sr. 2B (.513, 14 2B, 6 HR, 39 RBI); Breanna Dinsmoore, jr. C (.404, 35 RBI); Erica Treiber, jr. P/1B (.514, 14 2B, 7 HR, 49 RBI, 17-0, 0.07 ERA, 173 K); Allison Hoppe, sr. CF (.417, 22 RBI, 11 2B).
Outlook: USA is making its ninth straight trip to the MHSAA Semfinals after finishing runner-up a year ago. That ERA for Treiber is not a typo – she’d given up only one earned run in 98 innings entering the week, and again teams with sophomore Nicole Bauer (19-0, 0.50 ERA) for an impressive 1-2 pitching punch. Adding in the 10-1 win over No. 9 Reese in the Quarterfinal, USA has beaten its tournament opponents by a combined score of 53-2. Neuman, Dinsmoore and Treiber all are returning all-staters.
Division 4
FOWLER
Record/rank: 26-6, unranked
Coach: Kat Schmitt, fourth season (career record N/A)
League finish: Second in Central Michigan Athletic Conference
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Players to watch: Tori Wirth, jr. SS; Sydney Feldpausch, jr. P (Stats not submitted.).
Outlook: Fowler is making its first trip to the Semifinals since 1997 after winning its first Regional title since 2002. The Eagles took on their share of larger schools in preparation for the tournament, with wins over Lansing Everett and Eastern, Lake Odessa Lakewood, Owosso and Haslett among others – and the playoff run included a 5-1 Quarterfinal win over No. 7 Westland Huron Valley Lutheran. Wirth earned an all-state honorable mention as a sophomore.
KALAMAZOO CHRISTIAN
Record/rank: 27-16, No. 8
Coach: Terry Reynolds, first season (27-16)
League finish: First in Kalamazoo Valley Association
Championship history: Seven championships (most recent 2013), two runner-up finishes.
Players to watch: Tori Sides, sr. CF (.521, 54 R, 24 SB); Rebekah VanDam, sr. P (18-10, 2.94 ERA, 183 K, .366, 34 RBI); Morgan Locker, sr. SS (.368, 11 2B, 47 R, 34 RBI); Kara Gjeltema, soph. C (.523, 13 2B, 10 HR, 62 RBI).
Outlook: Kalamazoo Christian’s record might seem a little off for a reigning champion returning to the Semifinals, but it also took regular-season cuts against a number of larger opponents including Division 1 or 2 ranked Portage Central, Stevensville Lakeshore and Portland and honorable mention Parchment. Former Schoolcraft and Kalamazoo Hackett coach Reynolds took over the program this spring and inherited a number of standouts from last season’s run including returning all-stater Sides.
ROGERS CITY
Record/rank: 32-6, No. 4
Coach: Karl Grambau, 12th season (303-128)
League finish: Second in North Star League
Championship history: Two runner-up finishes (most recent 2004).
Players to watch: Sarah Meredith, soph. C (.536, 14 HR, 62 RBI); Logan Fleming, jr. 3B (.545, 15 2B, 8 HR, 45 RBI); Morgan Hall, sr. 1B (.529, 11 2B, 34 RBI); Courtney Streich, sr. SS (.441, 10 2B, 36 RBI).
Outlook: Rogers City is making its second straight trip to the Semifinals with an experienced lineup that makes it hard to pick who should stand out most. In addition to those mentioned above, junior second baseman Alexa Quaine is hitting .515 with 14 doubles and 39 RBI and also is 14-2 pitching with a 1.88 ERA. Centerfielder Cassie Brege (.362, 25 RBI) joined Meredith and Fleming among all-staters last season, when Streich received an honorable mention. Senior Nikki Radke (16-4) returns as the team’s leading winner in the circle. Rogers City beat No. 3 Posen and No. 10 Rapid River during this run and reigning champion Kalamazoo Christian during the regular season.
VESTABURG
Record/rank: 30-8, No. 6
Coach: Dan Rons, 10th season (258-97)
League finish: First in Mid-State Activities Conference.
Championship history: Class D runner-up 1980.
Player to watch: Jannelle Rons, sr. P (20-2, 1.46 ERA, 143 K, .557, 62 R, 16 2B, 14 3B, 11 HR, 85 RBI); Shana Fisk, sr. 2B (.379, 52 R, 28 SB); Karigan Gates, sr. C (.487, 37 R, 46 RBI, 13 2B).
Outlook: Vestaburg made its first Quarterfinal appearance Tuesday since 2007 and is back in the Semifinals for the first time since 1986. The Wolverines defeated an impressive field to return, including No. 9 Coleman, No. 5 North Muskegon and then No. 2 Ubly on Tuesday. Jannelle Rons was an all-state pitcher last season and is one of seven seniors.
PHOTO: Kalamazoo Christian’s Rebekah VanDam connects with a pitch during last season’s Finals weekend in Battle Creek. Her team is the reigning Division 4 champion.