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.)
Softball Finals: Champs are Here
June 13, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Three of last season's MHSAA softball champions will return to Battle Creek's Bailey Park on Friday looking to make it two -- or in Petersburg-Summerfield's case, three -- in a row.
Mattawan, Clinton and the Bulldogs won the titles last season in Divisions 1, 3 and 4, respectively. And it's fair to call them all favorites to repeat -- although Division 1 in particular also includes the champions from 2008-2010.
Division 2 surely will have a new champion -- but Saginaw Swan Valley and Livonia Ladywood also made the Semifinals last season and plenty familiar with all that goes into succeeding over the season's final two days.
Below is this weekend's schedule, followed by a look at each of the 16 teams that will be playing.
Semifinals - Friday
Division 1
White Lake Lakeland vs. Mattawan - 3:30 p.m. Diamond 1
Hudsonville vs. Garden City - 4 p.m. Diamond 3
Division 2
Coloma vs. Saginaw Swan Valley - 1 p.m. Diamond 1
Livonia Ladywood vs. Wayland Union - 1:30 p.m. Diamond 3
Division 3
Unionville-Sebewaing vs. Clinton - 10:30 a.m. Diamond 1
Gladstone vs. Springport - 11 a.m. Diamond 3
Division 4
Dansville vs. Rapid River - 6 p.m. Diamond 1
Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart vs. Petersburg-Summerfield - 6:30 p.m. Diamond 3
Finals - Saturday
Division 3 - 10 a.m.
Division 2 - 12:30 p.m.
Division 1 - 3:00 p.m.
Division 4 - 5:30 p.m.
Tickets cost $7 per round or $15 for an all-tournament ticket that includes admission to baseball games. All Finals also will be streamed live online at MHSAA.tv and FoxSportsDetroit.com.
Statistics below are through teams' Regional tournaments, except for Dansville's, which are through the Aggies' District games. (Click for links to brackets and scores.)
Division 1
GARDEN CITY
Record/rank: 29-4, honorable mention
Coach: Barry Patterson, 26th season (614-237)
League finish: First in Western Wayne Athletic Conference Red
Championship history: Division 1 champion 2008, Class A runner-up 1991.
Players to watch: P sr. Kelsey Susalla (.617, 7 HR, 36 RBI, 15-3, 0.90 ERA, 109 K in 101 IP), CF sr. Sam Bellovary (.558, 40 RBI), 3B sr. Hillarie Werda (.507, 10 2B, 34 RBI, 8-1, 0.70 ERA).
Outlook: This will be Garden City’s third trip to Battle Creek over the last seven seasons, following the team’s fifth Regional title over that same span of time. The Cougars are led by 11 seniors, including seven who start. Susalla was an all-state selection last season and has signed with the University of Michigan, and senior shortstop Ashley Lynn (.441) has signed with Northwood University.
HUDSONVILLE
Record/rank: 37-3, No. 4
Coach: Tom Vruggink, 31st season (843-226)
League finish: First in Ottawa-Kent Red
Championship history: Division 1 champion 2010 and 2009.
Players to watch: C sr. Bethaney Murphey (.500, 4 HR, 44 RBI); SS jr. Danielle Freeman (.538, 11 HR, 64 RBI), P fr. Lexi Agers (16-1, 0.67 ERA).
Outlook: Hudsonville won its fourth straight Regional title and sixth in seven seasons, and returning all-stater Murphey also started on the MHSAA championship team in 2010. She’s signed to play next season at Kalamazoo Valley Community College and serves as the target for a dynamic duo of underclassmen pitchers – Agers and sophomore Alli Kortman (13-2, 1.22 ERA).
MATTAWAN
Record/rank: 32-10, No. 3
Coach: Alicia Smith, 12th season (316-144-1)
League finish: Third in Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference West
Championship history: Division 1 champion 2011.
Players to watch: DP sr. Loren Nagy (.439); P sr. Stacy Thompson (.402, 31 RBI, 16-4, 1.94 ERA); 1B jr. Abby Stoner (.426, 10 HR, 36 RBI).
Outlook: Mattawan is back in Battle Creek despite graduating three all-staters from last season’s championship team and after losing a combined six games to top-ranked powers Portage Central (Division 1) and Stevensville Lakeshore (Division 2). Nagy and junior third baseman Sarah Johnson (.370) are returning all-staters, while sophomore second baseman Kyla Nickrent (.455, 9 SB) and junior shortstop Allie Havers (.436, 28 RBI) provide punch up the middle.
WHITE LAKE LAKELAND
Record/rank: 36-6, No. 6
Coach: Joe Alsup, 11th season (342-55)
League finish: First in Kensington Lakes Activities Association North
Championship history: Division 1/Class A runner-up five times (most recently 2010).
Players to watch: 3B jr. Kelly Merkle (.524); DP soph. Karissa Gawronski (.489); CF soph. Madison Burgess (.459).
Outlook: Lakeland is hoping to finally get over the top after coming close a number of times of late – three of those runner-up finishes came over the last six seasons, and the Eagles have won their Regional seven of the last eight. And the team is built to continue making a run. There are only three seniors, but five sophomores, in the starting lineup. Juniors Selena Hicks and Annika Wiesinger handle the pitching duties. Alsup is 956-203 overall during a coaching career spanning nearly four decades.
Division 2
COLOMA
Record/rank: 40-2-1, honorable mention
Coach: Wendy Goodline, 13th season (327-166-1)
League finish: First in Lakeland Conference
Championship history: Has never appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Players to watch: SS fr. Jenna Faultersack (.424, 14 2B, 5 3B, 41 RBI); P soph. Emily Najacht (37-2, 0.77 ERA, 270 K in 233 IP, 368, 36 RBI).
Outlook: After being shut out 5-0 by Stevensville Lakeshore earlier this season, Coloma stunned the top-ranked team in Division 2 by beating the Lancers 1-0 in the Regional final. This is the Comets’ first trip to the Semifinals and caps a run that’s included two straight league titles. It could also be the start, as only one player – left fielder Amanda Swihart – is a senior.
LIVONIA LADYWOOD
Record/rank: 37-3, No. 2
Coach: Scott Combs, fifth season (168-31)
League finish: First in Detroit Catholic High School League Central
Championship history: Division 2 runner-up 2009.
Players to watch: P sr. Briana Combs, 1B jr. Andria Gietl, 3B jr. Celeste Fidge, 2B sr. Carli SanMillan. (Statistics not submitted.)
Outlook: Ladywood has won at least 35 games each of the last four seasons, Combs, Gietl, Fidge and SanMillan all made the all-state team last season and are among eight total who also started during the 2011 Semifinal run. Combs has signed with Cleveland State University and SanMillan with Davenport University.
SAGINAW SWAN VALLEY
Record/rank: 36-3, No. 3
Coach: Tom Kennelly, 33rd season (961-245)
League finish: First in Tri-Valley Conference Central
Championship history: Class B champion 1996, two runner-up finishes.
Players to watch: 3B sr. Mary Berden (.415, 59 SB); P sr. Mackenzie Boehler (21-1, 0.33 ERA, 276 K in 145 IP, .386, 38 RBI); OF sr. Heather Pollick (.411, 6 HR, 35 RBI).
Outlook: Kennelly is one of four coaches in MHSAA softball history with at least 900 wins, and a strong group of seniors will try to get him back into a championship game for the first time since 2002. The Vikings emerged from a league that also included No. 9 Bullock Creek and outscored District opponents Alma and honorable mention Mount Pleasant by a combined 18-0. Berden, Boehler and Pollick are all returning all-staters.
WAYLAND UNION
Record/rank: 38-2-1, No. 5
Coach: Cheri Ritz, 18th season (709-197-1)
League finish: First in Ottawa-Kent Gold
Championship history: Division 2 champion 2006
Players to watch: C sr. Kayla Merice (.523, 10 3B, 39 RBI); SS soph. Sierra Mutschler (.512, 6 HR, 60 RBI), RF soph. Brittany McLain (.496, 50 RBI), P fr. Mallory Teunissen (29-2, 0.78 ERA, 215 K in 179 IP).
Outlook: Wayland has its most wins this season since going to the Semifinals in 2007 and won its league for the eighth straight season despite a relatively young squad. The team has only three seniors, and two start – centerfielder Autumn Anderson and Merice batting in the top two spots. But the Wildcats have five batters hitting at least .450, and Anderson, with 26 stolen bases, leads a team that has stolen 105 total in 122 attempts.
Division 3
CLINTON
Record/rank: 41-1, No. 1
Coach: Al Roberts, 19th season (583-125)
League finish: First in Tri-County Conference
Championship history: Division 3 champion 2011, Class C runner-up 1997.
Players to watch: P sr. Tierney Nelson (29-1, 1.01 ERA, 318 K in 200.3 IP), C sr. Abi Clark (.461, 15 2B, 48 RBI, 15 SB), SS sr. Haley Mercy (.492, 47 SB).
Outlook: Although the team has only three seniors, six starters are back from last season’s title-winner. And those seniors all are returning all-staters who play positions of particular importance. All three seniors also started on the Clinton teams that made the Division 3 Semifinals in 2009 and 2010.
GLADSTONE
Record/rank: 29-5-1, No. 7
Coach: Gerald A. Smith, ninth season (257-65-1)
League finish: Gladstone does not play in a league.
Championship history: Division 3 champion 2009 and 2004.
Players to watch: OF sr. Katie Becker (.521, 28 RBI), C jr. Jordan Kowalski (.357, 21 RBI), P soph. Christine Sharon (22-4, 1.94 ERA).
Outlook: Gladstone capped its 10th-straight District championship with its fifth-straight trip to Battle Creek for the Semifinals. Becker and Kowalski were all-state honorable mentions last season, and Becker is one of seven senior starters making a run at a second championship for the team in four seasons.
SPRINGPORT
Record/rank: 39-2-1, honorable mention
Coach: Jo Dee Johnston, 14th season (336-131-1)
League finish: First in Big 8 Conference
Championship history: Division 4 runner-up 2002
Player to watch: P soph. Sam Bates. (Statistics not submitted.)
Outlook: Springport hasn’t lost since April 26, and has given up only two runs during the postseason. Bates emerged as an all-stater last year in her first as a high schooler, and she threw a no-hitter Tuesday against Buchanan to advance the Spartans to Battle Creek.
UNIONVILLE-SEBEWAING
Record/rank: 40-4, No. 5
Coach: Steve Bohn, first season (40-4)
League finish: Second in Greater Thumb Conference West
Championship history: Three championships (most recently 2009 in Division 4), one runner-up finish.
Players to watch: 1B Jessica Gremel (.451, 16 2B, 41 RBI), C jr. Ashlyn VanHoost (.408, 16 2B, 45 RBI), 2B soph. Stephanie Neuman (.518, 15 2B, 45 RBI).
Outlook: USA has championships in three of the last six seasons (including two in Division 3) and lost in extra innings of last season’s Division 4 Final. Gremel, VanHoost and senior leftfielder Taylor Anker (.398) all were all-state last season, and the team has two more starters – catcher Calie Valentine and designated player Tessa Dinsmoore – hitting at least .460.
Division 4
DANSVILLE
Record/rank: 30-5, No. 9
Coach: Mick Ream, 31st season (record N/A)
League finish: First in Central Michigan Athletic Conference
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Players to watch: 1B jr. Evy Lobdell (.500, 16 2B, 47 RBI); C/P sr. Rebekah Guy (.424, 15 SB, 27 RBI, 8-1, 1.38 ERA); P soph. Meagan Kelly (18-4, 1.54 ERA, 183 K in 145 IP).
Outlook: The Aggies are back in the Semifinals for the second time in three seasons and led by a four-year starter in Guy, who despite not being an all-stater last season was a first-team pick as a catcher in 2010. Lobdell is the team’s top run producer and also has spent time as Dansville’s top pitcher during her high school career. Seniors Addie Price and Alison Schlicker and junior Paige Galbreath also started on the 2010 team.
MOUNT PLEASANT SACRED HEART
Record/rank: 31-7, honorable mention
Coach: Amy Gaudard, second season (55-20)
League finish: Second in Mid-State Activities Conference
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Players to watch: SS soph. Sara Hansen (.640, 33 SB, 39 RBI), 3B soph. Lauren Sabuda (.407, 31 RBI), C jr. Elizabeth Albaugh (.450, 21 2B, 9 HR, 55 RBI).
Outlook: The Irish are back in the Semifinals for the second time and first since 1994. Sacred Heart got here in part by surviving a 14-inning District semifinal against No. 4 Breckenridge and by beating No. 10 Mason County Eastern in the Regional final. The starting lineup includes just two seniors, although one, Kelsey Poag (19-4, 1.56 ERA) splits pitching duties with another senior, Courtney Fracassi (11-3, 1.68).
PETERSBURG-SUMMERFIELD
Record/rank: 33-3, No. 1
Coach: Robert Taylor, 20th season (495-148)
League finish: Second in Tri-County Conference
Championship history: Three MHSAA championships (most recently 2011), one runner-up finish.
Players to watch: P sr. Emily Puterbaugh (32-3, 0.81 ERA, 312 K in 207 IP), C sr. Taylor Goodin (.513, 16 2B, 45 RBI), SS jr. Olivia Ostrosky (.413, 25 RBI, 11 SB).
Outlook: Petersburg-Summerfield has won the last two Division 4 championships, and is a favorite to help give the Tri-County Conference two again this season with two of those losses to reigning Division 3 champ and league mate Clinton. Puterbaugh and Goodin are returning all-staters, and Ostrosky earned honorable mention last season. And Clinton isn’t the only strong team the Bulldogs have faced; they also saw and beat a number of larger schools including Canton and Detroit Renaissance.
RAPID RIVER
Record/rank: 35-5, No. 3
Coach: George Kanyuh, second season (64-13)
League finish: Rapid River does not play in a league.
Championship history: Has not played in an MHSAA Final.
Players to watch: P sr. Heather Sanderson (.509, 18-3), SS sr. Ashleigh Monticello (.440), 1B soph. Savannah Stenlund (.453).
Outlook: Despite playing for its first championship game berth, this is Rapid River’s third appearance in the Semifinals in four seasons. Three of its losses this spring were to Division 3 Semifinalist Gladstone, and Rapid River beat No. 8 Rogers City on the way to Battle Creek. Seven starters from last season’s team are back.
PHOTO: Swan Valley Heather Pollick charges to catch a line drive during her team's 2011 Semifinal against Milan at Battle Creek's Bailey Park. Pollick and the Vikings are back at Bailey this weekend.