MLive readers have picked Grass Lake as the state’s top softball team as the regular season winds down.
In the poll, 29.85% of voters were impressed with the 27-5 Warriors. Woodhaven was second with Holton third.
Grass Lake capped off an unbeaten run through the Cascades Conference, allowing a total of 10 runs in 14 conference games this year. Keeping opposing hitters in check has been a solid pitching staff of seniors Laney Brown and Katelyn Postuma, and freshman Morgan Conrad.
But it’s at the plate where Grass Lake is showing its power. The Warriors have put 10 or more points on the board 22 times this year, reaching 20 runs in wins over East Jackson and Addison.
Supplying a lot of that offensive firepower is the duo of Olivia Turner and Bree Salts, hitting No. 3 and No. 4 in the lineup. Turner is a junior who has verbally committed to play college softball at Bradley. Salts is a sophomore who even last year as a freshman was showing power at the plate, and has continued that this spring.
Even when Grass Lake has lost this year, it has been in close games to good teams. The Warriors have just finished up a string which saw them take on Allen Park, Gladstone and Whiteford in quick succession, losing by two, five and six runs. The 9-3 loss to Whiteford on Monday saw the Warriors down by a run until the Bobcats batted around in the top of the seventh.
Games can be streamed on NFHS Network