GAYLORD ― Even for the best teams, high school sports seasons usually come with their fair share of adversity, with ups and downs coming throughout the long stretch of games.
Gaylord’s softball team hasn’t exactly experienced much adversity this season, however.
The Blue Devils entered Friday, May 13 as the top-ranked team in Michigan for Division 2, sporting a 17-1 record while outscoring their opponents 228-6 in eighteen games. And, despite hosting two competent teams in Richmond and Gladstone on Friday evening, everything pointed to GHS continuing their dominance and extending their winning streak with relative ease.
The night turned into a test of their resilience to adversity instead.
After starting the night with a 7-0 victory, Gaylord was pushed to the brink against Gladstone, trailing 2-0 well into the final innings of the game. However, the Lady Blue Devils finally responded with a bang, putting up a five-run, two-homer rally with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead and an eventual 5-2 win over the Braves, extending their winning streak to nine-straight games.
PHOTOS: Gaylord softball hosts Richmond, Gladstone
Gaylord was dominant as usual in the game one win over the Richmond Blue Devils, scoring seven runs on ten hits while shutting out their 16th opponent of the season.
Jayden Jones got another win in the circle, allowing two hits in six innings of work while striking out five batters. Alexis Kozlowski led the way at the plate, tallying three hits with a double, two stolen bases and a run scored.
Aubrey Jones (2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 R) and Braleigh Miller (2-for-4, double, 2 RBI, 1 R) had multi-hit games as well.
Game two was a completely different story as the Gaylord bats went cold early on, while a third-inning line drive off the bat of Gladstone’s Lauren Sundquist cleared the centerfield fence for a two-run home run, giving Gladstone a 2-0 lead.
Gaylord found base runners throughout the next three innings, but timely plays by the Braves’ defense left the Blue Devils scoreless deep into the game. A leadoff error to start the bottom of the sixth inning seemingly gave the Blue Devils life, but two quick outs followed, leaving them looking towards the seventh.
However, Aubrey Jones wasn’t waiting another inning.
The sophomore made the most of her two-out at-bat, drilling a 3-1 pitch over the left field fence to tie the game at two runs apiece. That sparked the Blue Devils offense out of its funk, with a double from Alexis Kozlowski, an RBI single from Avery Parker and another two-run home from Taylor Moeggenberg flipping the deficit into a 5-2 lead and eventual victory.
Jones’s homer was her fourth of the week after a three-home-run performance against Traverse City West on Tuesday, capping one of the more impressive four-game stretches of her high school career with 10 hits, 12 RBI, eight runs scored, four home runs and two doubles.
Gaylord is now 19-1 overall with their final stretch of games coming up. They will take on TC Central on Tuesday, May 16 for their next matchup.
St. Mary’s sweeps Forest Area
GAYLORD ― The Gaylord St. Mary’s Snowbirds wrapped up a busy week of games on Friday, May 12, hosting Forest Area for a makeup of a postponed Ski Valley Conference matchup.
A busy week was ultimately a successful one for the Snowbirds as well, wrapping up six consecutive victories over SVC opponents with their third doubleheader sweep of the week, this time in two victories over the visiting Warriors.
GSM put game one away early, following a two-run first inning with a 14-run second inning for a 16-1, mercy-rule-shortened win. Daniel Jacobson and Joseph O’Connell led the way with two hits apiece, while Donovan Blust got credit for the win after pitching two scoreless innings.
Game two had a bit of a different storyline but ultimately the same result as GSM put up multiple runs throughout four innings, wrapping up a 20-5 victory in those four innings in game two.
Blust led the way with three hits including a triple, two RBI and three runs scored, while Gavin Bebble, Brody Jeffers, Dillon Croff and Brett Koscielniak all had two hits apiece.
Now 15-1-1 overall, GSM looks to wrap up another SVC conference title with games against Onaway, Inland Lakes and Central Lake next week.
JoBurg baseball/softball end week on winning streak
BELLAIRE ― Both the Johannesburg-Lewiston baseball and softball teams were busy this week as well, wrapping up six-game weeks with doubleheaders against Bellaire on Friday evening.
Both were relatively successful at week’s end, with the baseball team bouncing back from a sweep at GSM for four straight wins over Harbor Springs and Bellaire while the softball team continued its winning ways for their eighth consecutive victory.
Jayden Marlatt led the way in the sweep of Harbor Springs on Wednesday, with her three-run home run setting the tone for the 20-0 game-one victory and her four-hit, two-RBI performance leading the way to a 19-0 Cardinals victory in game two.
Marlatt led the way in an 11-0 victory against Bellaire on Friday, striking out 13 batters in the circle while tallying three hits and another home run, but it took a complete effort in game two to finish off a 12-10 victory and their sixth win of the week. Gloria House had four hits in four at-bats, while Regan Sides tallied two hits and five RBI.
Meanwhile, the JoBurg boys tallied 8-4 and 5-3 wins over Harbor Springs on Wednesday before finishing the week with 10-0 and 17-2 victories over Bellaire. Riley McVannel and Colin Basinski led the way during the four-game stretch, tallying seven hits apiece while combining for 14 RBI and 12 runs scored.
JoBurg softball is now 16-2 overall this season while the Cardinals’ baseball team is 11-7.