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Mendon’s Ally Butler (27) high-fives her coach during Saturday’s Division 3 championship win over Unionville-Sebewaing.

Mendon Ends USA's Title Streak, Starts Own with Commanding 1st Finals Triumph

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

June 14, 2025

EAST LANSING — Mendon wasn’t going to be denied this time – and in the process, the Hornets denied Michigan’s most record-setting softball program from adding another detail to its dominance over the last half-decade.

Seeking its record sixth-straight Finals championship, Unionville-Sebewaing was dethroned by a talented, motivated and determined Mendon team, which won its first championship with an 11-1 victory in the Division 4 Final at Secchia Stadium. 

The game ended with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning after Mendon’s 11th run scored on a throwing error by USA. 

In short, Mendon (35-2) did to USA what USA (20-16) has been able to do so often during its stretch of dominance. 

The Hornets also avenged one-run defeats to USA in the championship game (5-4) two years ago (5-4) and Semifinals (6-5) last year. 

“You just keep working and keep working and you see the kids go through (the losses),” Mendon head coach Steve Butler said. “You come up short one year and then another year. We keep telling them, ‘You got this. You know you have it.’ To see them come through and pull it off and beat a team like that the way we did, it was awesome.”

Mendon started its onslaught by scoring four runs with two outs in the bottom of the first inning. 

With the bases loaded, an infield popup by senior Ally Butler eluded two USA infielders and fell to the ground, allowing two runs to score. 

The Hornets’ Gracie Schultz extends to snag a line drive in left field.Junior Cienna Nightingale then hit a 2-run double to give the Hornets a 4-0 lead. 

Mendon got four more runs in the third, first when Nightengale hit another 2-run double just beyond the glove of the left fielder. 

“All I was doing was swinging and swinging for my team,” Nightengale said. “I had girls in scoring position, and that’s what I did.”

Seniors Elise Allen and Abby Butler each followed with RBI doubles to put Mendon ahead 8-0. 

USA scored its only run on an RBI single by junior Macy Prime in the fifth inning, but Mendon got that run back in the bottom of the inning on an error. 

Mendon put runners on second and third base with one out in the sixth inning, finishing the game off on an RBI sacrifice fly by junior Taya Bingaman and throwing error by USA. 

Steve Butler said it was a moment his team had counted down toward since leaving East Lansing last year. 

“This group, they are motivated,” Butler said. “They know what they want. They’re goal-oriented, and they’ve had their eyes on this since we started.”

For USA, it will try and regroup and start another streak next year. Only four seniors will graduate. 

“I think it’s possible the girls started to feel some pressure from the streak we had going,” USA head coach Marc Reinhardt said. “All good streaks, they have to end sometime. I thought Mendon played a heck of a game. We left a few plays out there that we didn’t make that cost us a few runs. We’ve been dealing with that on and off during the season.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Mendon’s Ally Butler (27) high-fives her coach during Saturday’s Division 3 championship win over Unionville-Sebewaing. (Middle) The Hornets’ Gracie Schultz extends to snag a line drive in left field.

Tony Coggins serves as PA announcer during a 2022 Division 3 volleyball match at Kellogg Arena.

In Memoriam: Tony Coggins (1971-2023)

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

October 24, 2023

The MHSAA and Holly school communities are grieving this week after the sudden loss of Tony Coggins, a shining light in his educational community and an enthusiastic supporter of school sports as a public address announcer for several of our largest championship events.

But while that cheerful tone has been quieted, it surely will not be forgotten by the many fortunate to enjoy an event in the presence of that voice and the joyfulness he brought into every arena, press box and classroom.

Coggins, 51, died Saturday. He is survived by his wife Kristy and children Emma and Bradlee, among several family and friends from his local and greater sports communities.

Tony CogginsHis career as a PA announcer began during his freshman year of high school in 1985, when his father Dale Coggins – Flushing’s athletic director at the time – couldn’t find anyone else to announce middle school football games. That was 39 years ago, and this fall Tony Coggins was in his 24th announcing at Holly, where he taught and served as an administrator in addition to his role as “Voice of the Holly Bronchos” for football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, competitive cheer and swimming & diving over the years.

Coggins has been a mainstay among MHSAA Finals PA announcers over the last decade in football, basketball, softball and most recently volleyball. He lent his voice to college sports at University of Michigan as well. “Tony was a huge part of our Finals events. It’s hard to imagine it being the same without him,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said.

As part of the run-up to the MHSAA public address announcers clinic in 2018, Coggins said this about what drew him to the microphone:

“I have zero athletic ability whatsoever, which is interesting because my father was an all-state running back. But I enjoy being involved, and I've always been the one for history and statistics and knowing what's going on,” Coggins said. “This is a way for me to be involved. It's a way for me to use a talent I've been given; public speaking has always come pretty naturally for me.

“So I worked at my craft to get better. I got better from watching the people around me, from studying the people I like, and the people – if I saw someone I didn’t care for – I'd make a note and say to myself, ‘Don't do that.’ I take feedback from people very personally, and I mean that in a good way. If somebody takes the time to come up and say, ‘You did this well; I think you should change this,’ that means they care about the program also. We all have the same goal in mind, and that's to make the experience good for the high school student and the parents, the fans, that come there.”

Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at St. John Vianney, 2415 Bagley Street in Flint. There will be visitation from 2-8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, at the Swartz Funeral Home, 1225 West Hill Road, and at the church from 10 a.m. Saturday until the time of the Mass.