Reigning Champ Mendon, 1st-Time Finalist Brown City Set to Match Aces
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2026
EAST LANSING – A pitching duel broke out between Mendon’s Rowan Allen and Hillman’s Gretchen Weiland in Friday’s first Division 4 Semifinal.
Allen got the best of it, and her strikeout to end the game sent Mendon to the championship game and a chance to repeat.
The Hornets (31-3) survived to edge Hillman 2-1 at Secchia Stadium and will play Brown City in Saturday’s Division 4 Final at 5:30 p.m.
“As soon as I got it, and I knew we were going back-to-back (to the championship game), it was the best feeling,” said Allen, who scattered five hits over seven innings of work and struck out eight.
“As a senior it feels awesome to be able to play for another state title.”
Mendon entered the final inning up 2-0 after single runs in the first and fourth innings, but Hillman closed the gap.
Allen struck out two of the final three batters to secure the win.
“It was a big stressful situation, but I knew I just had to take some deep breaths and do my job because I knew my team was going to back me up,” Allen said.
The matchup pitted the top-two ranked teams in Division 4 and was a rematch of last year’s Semifinal, which Mendon won 4-2 en route to the championship.
Hillman senior pitcher Gretchen Weiland was dominant Friday and kept the Tigers in the game with 14 strikeouts.
She allowed only three hits and one earned run.
“If you ask me, you just watched the best two pitchers in Division 4,” Mendon co-coach Mike Smith said. “Gretchen is a stud, and she's done a fantastic job all four years. And Rowan's body of work speaks for itself. Just unbelievable.
“A lot of stress in that last inning, but these girls have battled all year and they had nerves of steel.”
The Hornets prevailed despite managing only three hits.
A first-inning RBI single from Cienna Nightingale put Mendon up 1-0. The Hornets tacked on another run in the fourth when Nightingale tripled and scored on a ground out.
“As a team we think ‘win the inning,’” Allen said. “We wanted to get on top early and then just win each inning. We did the best we could, and we wouldn’t give up.”
Hillman didn’t go away quietly in the final frame.
Madelyn Oswald smacked a one-out triple and then scored on an error to make it 2-1.
A two-out single from Payton Banks put two runners on base, but they were stranded after the final strikeout.
Hillman, which outhit Mendon 5-3, was making its third-straight trip to the Semifinals and finished 33-10.
“Mendon is a good team,” Tigers coach Jason Weiland said. “But I think we are a little more than just up-north good. These girls came hard, and we just fell short offensively. We came back at the end and tried to manufacture some runs, but I couldn’t be more proud of these girls and the team and the sisterhood we’ve created these years.
“The girls are going to remember this for a lifetime, and the bar is raised for these girls now that we’ve been here three years in a row.”
Mendon has the opportunity to join its football and volleyball programs among those that have won back-to-back championships for the school.
“To add softball would be very special,” Smith said.
Brown City 7, Fowler 1
Senior pitcher Maddie Hohne has been a standout player all season for the Brown City softball team.
However, in Friday’s second Division 4 Semifinal, she played like Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani with her two-way performance.
Hohne shined on the circle and at the plate in helping lead the Green Devils to a resounding win over Fowler.
“She’s played a lot of good games this year, but she played her best game of the year today,” Brown City coach Scott Parr said. “She was phenomenal, and I will say flawless. She hit her spots better than she has all year, and I’m proud of that kid for her pitching and what she did at the plate.”
Hohne allowed one run on two hits over seven innings while striking out 13 batters.
At the plate, she went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
“Honestly, I think it was my best game,” said Hohne, who didn’t issue a walk and threw 95 pitches. “It was a different feeling today. It was like, ‘You deserve to be here so show that you deserve to be here.’ I’ve been struggling at the plate, so it feels better to have the confidence back.”
The Green Devils will make their first appearance in a Final.
“This is surreal, and this is an unbelievable feeling right now,” Parr said. “My girls were just pumped and they never get down. I can’t say enough about these kids, and their energy is contagious. The way these girls are playing right now … there’s not a doubt in my mind we can win.”
Junior Sydney Maybee homered in the top of third inning to put Brown City on the board, but Fowler rebounded with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning on a two-out RBI single from senior Selena Stump.
From there it was all Brown City, as it scored four runs on five hits in the fourth inning.
The Green Devils, who banged out 14 hits, added two more in the fifth on a throwing error.
“I knew as soon as we hit the home run that this was our day,” Parr said. “They just kept hitting the ball, and we knew they were going to hit well. They wanted to be here. They wanted to win Regionals, they wanted to win Quarterfinals and so why not win a Semifinal game. That’s where we are at.”
Hohne, who returned this season from a torn ACL, appreciated the run support from her teammates.
“Pitching without a cushion is just hard and you’re more stressed, so when these girls started getting on base I knew we had this,” she said. “I love them so much, and I was so excited to come back this year after my injury and be with these girls.”
The Eagles returned to the Semifinals for the first time since 2014 and also were looking to play in the program’s first Final.
Stump had both of Fowler’s hits.
“As soon as they (Brown City) won I jumped right into my coaching duties and scouted them,” Eagles coach Brian Miller said. “I watched three different games and in all three games they were solid, so I knew when we came in here they were going to be a tough team.
“They have a great pitcher, and we just had an off day at the plate and had a couple errors in the outfield. But it’s a huge accomplishment to come back here, and they can be proud of that.”
PHOTOS (Top) Mendon’s Rowan Allen makes her move toward the plate during her team’s Division 4 Semifinal win over Hillman on Friday. (Middle) Brown City pitcher Maddie Hohne winds up to throw a pitch.
Hitters Become Heroes for Division 2 Finalists
June 13, 2019
By Jason Schmitt
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Sometimes all it takes is a slow roller, or maybe taking one for the team.
Finding a way to get to a dominant pitcher is never an easy task. But Thursday morning, Stevensville Lakeshore pretty much did a little bit of everything to find a way past No. 3 Eaton Rapids and star pitcher Grace Lehto, 8-1, in a Division 2 Semifinal matchup at Secchia Stadium.
The Lancers broke open a tight game with six runs in the fourth inning, using a hit by pitch, a pair of singles, an error, a gap-shot triple, another hard-hit double and a softly-hit fielder’s choice to get the job done.
Junior Meghan Younger opened things up by being hit by a pitch. After freshman Gianna Kerschbaum reached based on an error and a groundout by sophomore Shelby Grau moved a pair of runners into scoring position, Lakeshore used back-to-back ground balls by freshman Anna Chellman and senior Nadia Amicarelli to plate a pair of runs and take a 3-0 lead. One out later, junior Sierra Ciesielski found the gap in right-center, scoring both Chellman and Amicarelli. Ciesielski would then score on a single by junior Isabella Najera.
The Lancers capped off their scoring on an RBI double by junior Laney Mead, scoring pinch runner Grace Connelly.
“Coach (Steve) Spenner has just done a fabulous job with our hitters. We knew we couldn’t just go up there and swing wild,” Lakeshore head coach Denny Dock said. “We said, ‘Every pitch is hit with two strikes,’ and we really disciplined ourselves to do that. We told them to not go up there with the idea that you’re just going to outswing this girl. Because history says that’s not going to happen. (Lehto) is a good pitcher. We tried to just cut back a little bit and then once we got momentum going, holy cow, did we see it.”
Lehto, an all-state pitcher who led her team back to the Semifinals for the second straight season, entered the game with a 30-1 record and a miniscule 0.34 earned run average. But on Thursday, she just didn’t have her best stuff.
“It was surprising, how they hit the ball (off Lehto),” Eaton Rapids head coach Scott Warriner said. “But again, you’ve got to give them credit. They were well-prepared, and they drove the ball well on us.
“We had a couple chances to make a few plays that we didn’t quite make. She hadn’t been hit like that this year. The most runs she had given up this year was two runs in a game.”
Ciesielski, Najera and Amicarelli all had two hits and two RBI each for the Lancers. Mead also collected a pair of hits.
“This was kind of a schedule win,” said Dock, who credited a tough slate against some of the state’s top pitchers for his team’s success against Lehto. “We’ve seen the (pitcher) from Gull Lake. We’ve seen the girl from Penn (Ind.). We’ve played Caledonia three games. It’s not like we don’t see (this kind of pitching). Don’t get me wrong, she’s good. But our schedule, we build it to see kids like this. You hope you get a chance to play at this level and see if it all works. Today it worked.”
Kerschbaum picked up the win in the circle for Lakeshore, which will face Escanaba in Saturday’s Division 2 championship game. She pitched 3? innings of scoreless softball. Najera and Connelly finished the game up to help their team advance.
“We’ve got a pitching staff, and we’re not afraid to put them in there,” Dock said. “All three of them did a great job in their time. What a team. We used our roster.”
Lehto finished with three hits at the plate to lead the Greyhounds (39-4). Junior Kendi Richardson drove in her team’s lone run with her groundout scoring pinch runner Mallory Orr in the fifth inning.
Escanaba 2, North Branch 1
The celebration started when the ball left the yard off the bat of Escanaba sophomore Nicole Kamin. It continued when junior pitcher Gabi Salo struck out the last North Branch batter of the game. And it was certain to continue well into the afternoon Thursday, as the Eskymos were set to make a trip to the MSU Dairy Store to celebrate yet another appearance in the Division 2 championship game.
Kamin hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Salo pitched a one-hit gem to help lead their team over North Branch as they continued to pursue a repeat title.
“We battled, we battled, we battled,” said Escanaba head coach Gary Salo. “Nicole’s a basketball kid, just an athletic kid who finds her way to the top of the order with a swing that drops her hands, drops her shoulders. She caught the middle of that ball.”
With her team trailing 1-0 and with two outs in the sixth, Kamin drilled a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left-center, sending the Eskymos’ bench – and the entire crowd – into a frenzy.
“The nerves were kicking in for sure,” said Kamin, who admitted not thinking too much when walking up to the plate. “I just went up there and swung it. It’s just amazing, honestly. Such a big game like this, to bring us to a championship game. It’s awesome.”
Through five innings Thursday, Salo wasn’t sure his team would get a chance to play for another title Saturday. North Branch scored an unearned run in the top of the fourth inning, thanks to an Escanaba error and RBI double by senior Reese Ruhlman, scoring senior Autumn Deshetsky.
“Our defense let us down just a little bit today, not bad,” Salo said. “I kept peeking at the board thinking, ‘You can’t go home giving up one hit.’
“I told (Gabi), ‘We’re gonna get ya two. I don’t know when it’s gonna happen, but we’re gonna get ya two.’ ”
North Branch head coach Alyssa Welling was proud of her team for battling back after a dominating start by Gabi Salo, who struck out 14 batters.
“We worked on hitting yesterday,” Welling said. “This is the best pitcher we've seen all season. We knew what we were getting into coming into this game. They've never said no. They said, 'OK, I've got this next at-bat.' They never stopped.”
Salo credited his team’s recent deep playoff runs with helping it rally for the win over the Broncos.
“I told these ladies when we got off the bus – as a coach you even try to make up stuff at times – that we’re the only team that this is the fourth year in a row (in East Lansing). I didn’t check my facts, but the kids bought into it. I told them, ‘Let’s play our best game,’” the coach said. “We have not played our best game yet, and that’s a scary thought. To get to a state championship game without playing your best game just puts a smile on our face. We’re going to go out and have a ball.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Escanaba’s Nicole Kamin circles third base into a celebration after her go-ahead home run Thursday. (Middle) Lakeshore’s Gianna Kerschbaum unloads a pitch against Eaton Rapids.