Richmond, Ida Earn Saturday Return
June 15, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Even reigning champions get a little nervous returning to the diamond of their greatest accomplishment.
But it took Richmond only a couple innings to get comfortable again at Secchia Stadium while kicking off Thursday’s Division 2 Semifinals.
The Blue Devils, ranked No. 2 at the end of the regular season and expected to reach this point all season after emerging to win their first title a year ago, will get a chance to play for another thanks to a 4-2 win over No. 3 Escanaba – last year’s Semifinal opponent as well.
Richmond had won its last three games all in extra innings, but put up four runs during the third Thursday. Escanaba rallied for two runs in the fifth inning before sophomore pitcher Erin Shuboy – the star of last season’s championship run – finished locking down the Eskymos for the second year in a row.
“Making it here once is something special. And now to be here twice … I think the returners got rid of the jitters a little bit, (and) all of the other people are starting to settle in,” Richmond senior shortstop Carley Barjaktarovich said. “They score a couple of runs (and you tell yourself) relax, you’ve got a little bit of cushion. You’ve got another at bat. I wasn’t nervous at all. I know Erin; she’s going to bear down and she’s going to get it done. And we go back in and we have our bats.”
Richmond (33-4) will face Ida (36-7) in Saturday’s first championship game, at 10 a.m.
A year ago, the Blue Devils entered the tournament as honorable mentions in the final state rankings, but reached MSU and downed Escanaba 6-2 in a Semifinal.
The teams should have recognized a number of faces in the opposing dugout. Longtime Richmond coach Howard Stuart also caught up with Saginaw Swan Valley’s Tom Kennelly, whose top-ranked Vikings were downed by Escanaba in Tuesday’s Quarterfinal, and felt as prepared as possible heading into the rematch.
Richmond got to Eskymos senior starting pitcher Katie Ross only in the third inning, and freshman Gabbi Salo threw three scoreless to finish the game. But that one frame was enough. A walk, infield single by Barjaktarovich and error loaded the bases, and after a fielder’s choice knocked in the first run junior catcher Evelyn Swantek doubled in the next three.
Escanaba scored its two runs in the fifth inning and loaded the bases again with two outs. But Shuboy got a pop out to end that rally and allowed only one hit in each of the final two innings.
“I felt sorry for (Escanaba), because I thought that was a great team,” Stuart said. “We just had one good inning. We had one key hit, and that’s all it took.”
Barjaktarovich finished 2 for 3, and junior leftfielder Emma Caperton also had a double. Shuboy struck out seven and gave up four hits.
Sophomore rightfielder Lexi Chaillier and senior centerfielder Emily Bruntjens drove in runs for Escanaba (33-5). Junior Maddie Griffin walked twice and scored.
Ida 3, Stevensville Lakeshore 2
How did it feel for unranked Ida to down No. 6 Lakeshore in its first Semifinal since 2006, to make its first MHSAA Final in softball since that spring more than a decade ago?
“This is what you play for. This is what they started out wanting when they were kids. Look at their parents – they wanted the same thing, and here we are,” Ida coach Dawn Forter said, pointing out an enthusiastic bunch waiting to greet the team. “I’m numb. I’m proud of every one of those kids, all 15.”
The Bluestreaks came back after Lakeshore jumped in with a run in the first inning, scoring one in the fourth and two in the fifth, and then withstood a last-inning Lancers rally to close out the victory.
Lakeshore scored that run when junior leftfielder Karlee Lambert misplayed a single by senior Olivia Freehling. But Lambert certainly made up for the brief miscue with a pair of triples, the second setting up her score on junior Hannah Tuller’s triple. Tuller kept going and scored on a throwing error to take the advantage up to 3-1.
“That’s a hard-hit ball and the field plays fast, and it got to (Lambert) a little quicker than she thought it was going to. She stuck with it though – she knocked it down,” Forter said of Freehling’s hit. “That’s the way every kid wearing a Bluestreak shirt has been all year. If they make a mistake on one side, they pick it up on the other.”
Ida’s first run came when senior Mallorie Duvall drove in senior Brooklyn Woelmer in the fourth inning. Woelmer, Lambert and Duvall all were 2 for 3 at the plate, and junior Lauren Kreps gave up only one earned run throwing all seven innings.
Junior third baseman Cassidy Zavoral and freshman designated player Sierra Ciesielski were 1 for 3 and scored for the Lancers (33-7-1). Junior Taylor Simon struck out four allowing only two earned runs while tossing a complete game.
PHOTOS: (Top) Richmond pitcher Erin Shuboy prepares to fire during Thursday's Division 2 Semifinal win over Escanaba. (Middle) Ida's Karlee Lambert gets to third base ahead of a tag after hitting one of her two triples Thursday.
Armada Upsets No. 1 Lakeshore, Mercy Extends Stunning Playoff Push
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 11, 2026
EAST LANSING — For Armada freshman pitcher Megan Cox, there were two big moments during a Division 2 Semifinal against Stevensville Lakeshore on Thursday that required her to compose herself.
The first came with two outs in the sixth inning, when Cox officially lost a no-hitter. While a small letdown, it wasn’t a huge deal, given she and Armada were still holding on to a 4-0 lead at the time.
But composure was really needed in the top of the seventh.
After a dropped fly ball in the outfield with two outs plated a run, Lakeshore scored another to make it 4-2 and had runners on first and second with two outs.
“I was getting a little nervous,” Cox admitted. “I was just trying to hit my spot.”
She did, ending the game on a strikeout to give Armada a 4-2 win over the top-ranked Lancers and a trip to Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. championship game at Secchia Stadium.
Cox certainly didn’t pitch like a freshman, striking out 14 batters for the Tigers (36-8).
Armada head coach Rob Girvin said his staff and Cox didn’t have anything special gameplan-wise for Lakeshore’s lineup.
“A lot of people talk matchups,” Girvin said. “I’ve always been the school of thought that if they can’t stop it, you keep doing it. I just going to (call) what she throws well and if they hit it, they hit it. We’ll go best on best and if you’re better than us, we’ll tip our cap.”
Armada’s offense set the tone early, taking a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on RBI singles by sophomore Lilyana Piconke and Cox.
The Tigers made it 3-0 in the third on an RBI single by senior Taylor Capozzo and went up 4-0 in the fourth on an RBI single by junior Addy VanHoeck.
From there, Cox held off Lakeshore to put Armada (36-8) in its first Final since finishing Class C runner-up in 1979.
“We thought we’d throw together a schedule that might make us .500, but really test us,” Girvin said of the regular season. “Make us go through some adversity in games so we would get down in games and have to battle back. They learned throughout the year. Yeah, we blew a couple early in the season where we had to learn, but they’ve really bought into team-first ball.”
Lakeshore, which was pursuing its ninth Finals title, finished 34-5.
“She threw great,” Lancers head coach Denny Dock said of Cox. “Hat’s off to her. She met the challenge. We didn’t play very good offensively and worse, we didn’t play very good defense. When you’re facing the good pitchers, you have to match zeroes. You have to make zeroes, and we didn’t do that.”
Farmington Hills Mercy 7, Ogemaw Heights 1
If you told high school softball pundits before the 2025 season that Farmington Hills Mercy was soon going to reach a state championship game, nine of 10 undoubtably would have assumed it would have been last year.
With a senior-laden team and the eventual Miss Softball Award winner in Kaitlyn Pallozzi, Mercy spent most of last spring ranked No. 1 in Division 1, but got upset in a Regional Semifinal against Northville.
Decimated by graduation losses and with just 13 players showing up for tryouts in March, Mercy — which moved to Division 2 this year — hardly had expectations after finishing below .500 during the regular season and seeing its streak of five straight Catholic High School League titles come to an end.
But lo and behold, Mercy has caught fire at the right time and is in a championship game for the first time since winning the Division 1 title in 2016.
“If anyone was around us for the last six, seven weeks, we were incredible at practice and everything,” Mercy co-coach Alec Lesko said. “They went from being scared to make a play, to wanting every ball hit at them. It was a huge difference. Every single one of those kids in the lineup wants to be in the batter’s box when the game is on the line. It flipped like a switch. It was great to see.
Mercy jumped on Ogemaw Heights early, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning on an RBI triple by junior Taylor Selimi, an RBI double by sophomore Vanessa Husband and an RBI single by freshman Audrey McGavin.
Senior Sophia Chaput then homered in the second inning, and McGavin hit an RBI sacrifice fly in the third to make it 5-0 Mercy.
From there, senior pitcher Anna McGavin held Ogemaw Heights at bay by brilliantly pitching out of jams.
In the fourth inning, Ogemaw Heights put runners on second and third with nobody out, but McGavin struck out three straight. In the fifth, the Falcons had runners on first and second with no outs, but a double play and a strikeout got McGavin and Mercy back in the dugout.
Ogemaw Heights also put its first two runners on in the sixth inning, but a lineout, popup and strikeout by McGavin ended the threat.
She allowed one run on eight hits, striking out 11 and walking two.
“We just couldn’t get them across,” Ogemaw Heights head coach Ryan Nicholson said. “They’re a good team. (McGavin) had a good rise ball going on us. She’s a good pitcher. … We just couldn’t push them across, so I give them all the credit.”
PHOTOS (Top) Armada’s Megan Cox fires a pitch toward the plate during her team’s Semifinal win over Stevensville Lakeshore on Thursday. (Middle) Mercy’s Sophia Chaput (28) yells toward her team’s dugout after reaching second base, while Ogemaw Heights’ Aubrey Evans throws the ball back to the pitcher.