Ravenna Ends Grass Lake's Reign to Become Finals Champion for 1st Time
By
Tim Robinson
Special for MHSAA.com
June 13, 2026
EAST LANSING – Ravenna softball coach Dave Sherman didn’t worry after his team fell behind 1-0 in the first inning of the Division 3 championship game Saturday at Secchia Stadium.
“If you look at the outs we made, we scalded a couple of them, so I had a pretty good idea we would score enough runs,” he said.
His faith was rewarded in the third inning when the Bulldogs, sparked by two-run singles by Reese Herremans and Sydney Morrissey, scored four times en route to a 4-2 victory over 2025 champion Grass Lake.
It was the first softball title for Ravenna, which also has won the Division 4 girls bowling title the past two seasons.
“It’s awesome to see these girls have success in these sports,” Sherman said.
Ravenna’s softball title came in part due to the left arm of junior Natalie Rosel, who walked two, struck out 11 and allowed only four hits Saturday.
“My changeup felt good in warmups,” she said.
It deserted her temporarily in the seventh inning, when Grass Lake scored and had runners on second and third base with two outs.
But Rosel got a strikeout to end the threat and seal the win.
"It's amazing. It’s what we’ve been working for this entire year," she said. "Since January, our mindset was getting the state championship. It’s beyond golden. It's really nice to finish."
The Bulldogs (40-1) had 10 hits off two Grass Lake pitchers, with Rosel totaling three hits from the leadoff spot.
“We ran out of magic,” Grass Lake coach Roger Cook said. “We gave up 10 hits to our four, and you’re not going to win many games like that.
"I’m proud of the girls," Cook added. "We may have lost the game, but they left their mark on Grass Lake."
Grass Lake (36-6) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI double by starting pitcher Morgan Conrad. Catcher Chloe Hollifield had an RBI single in the seventh.
While Saturday’s championship game was Ravenna’s first, the Bulldogs were finishing a second-straight trip the championship weekend and third over the last four seasons.
Their only loss this spring came during a split with Morley Stanwood – which Ravenna avenged in the Regional Final.
PHOTOS Ravenna catcher Emily Postema and her teammates plant their school down on the bracket after clinching the Division 3 title Saturday at Secchia Stadium. (Middle) Taylor Nutt (9) drives a pitch for the Bulldogs.
Moment: Ewing Swings Dundee Title Hopes
May 11, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Unionville-Sebewaing was one out away from another chance to score just one run and end the 2013 Division 3 Softball Final.
Over the next many minutes, and in multiple ways, Vanessa Ewing took that opportunity away.
In the top of the ninth inning June 15, 2013, the Dundee senior came to bat with two on and two out – and after teammate Haleigh Kimble had been “semi-intentionally” walked in front of her – and sent a 3-run homer over the left-field fence to break up the scoreless game with the Patriots.
Ewing then returned to the pitching circle and finished her four-hit, 15-strikeout complete game as the Vikings clinched their first MHSAA Finals championship on the softball diamond with a 3-0 win.
“I was just thinking about how they walked Haleigh and how mad that makes me,” Ewing said that day. “That’s really disrespectful. If they’re scared of Haleigh and don’t think I can hit, I have to prove them wrong.”
Ewing went on to play at Northwood.
Click for coverage from Second Half and watch Ewing’s home run below from the NFHS Network.