The MHSAA state baseball and softball tournaments began this past week on the road to Lansing.
Michigan State University will once again be the host site of the finals in both baseball and softball in a few weeks.
Locally, we had a handful of teams win district championships. Their seasons will continue while others came to an end. This story will feature the area softball action.
Bronson, Colon and Mendon will all have their seasons continue in the regional rounds.
Division 3 at Bronson
The Bronson softball team qualified for regionals with a district championship on Saturday. The Vikings beat Union City 18-0 in the finals.
“Very proud of the way the girls came out and played today. It’s always fun to win a district,” Bronson coach Becky Gray said. “We will continue to do some fine-tuning this week and get ourselves ready for a tough regional.”
Madison Shaw was the winning pitcher for Bronson, she struck out five.
Lydia Wells led the offense with four singles and three RBIs, Roni Bir had two base hits and drove in a pair as well. Madison McKinley and Braelynn Gimenez both drove in two with a hit. Audrey Shiery, Kayleah Shoup and Delanee Carpenter each registered a run-scoring hit while Ashlynn Harris singled.
Bronson beat Centreville 8-0 in the first game Saturday. Harris was the winning pitcher with nine strikeouts. At the plate, she had three hits and drove in one.
Bir hit two singles and drove in two. Wells, Gimenez and Harper Ratkowski all had an RBI double. Hermosa Gonzalez and Carpenter each collected a hit and stole a base.
Quinnlynn Lutz and Teagan Tesman both had a hit in the game, Tesman belted a triple.
Lutz struck out six batters for Centreville in the game.
Centreville ends the year at 22-6.
Union City reached the finals by beating Constantine 10-3 on Saturday. The Falcons logged five hits in the game, Abigail Robinson had a base hit that scored two. Ashlynn Michalek hit a double. Kenadee Jacobs had a run-scoring hit while Cassidy Walker and Alyvia Solis both had a single.
Bronson will host the regional coming up on Saturday. The Vikings will play Buchanan.
Mendon wins another district
The Mendon softball team won its sixth consecutive district in Friday in Marcellus. The Hornets, who ended the regular season as the top-ranked team in Division 4 and are reigning state champions, beat Marcellus 11-1 in the finals.
Mendon scored five times in the fourth and four times in the seventh to help secure the win.
Rowan Allen pitched the Hornets to the win, striking out 10 and allowing one hit in seven innings.
Taya Bingaman and Cienna Nightingale each recorded three hits and three runs driven in, Sabrina Monroy had three hits and two runs knocked in. Jadyn Samson totaled four hits for Mendon, Allen secured two. LaShell Blair and Brynley Jungers each had a hit as well.
Marcellus got a double from Hannah Sharp.
Mendon beat White Pigeon 14-1 in the first game. Allen struck out 12 batters in the game, Samson struck out two.
Bingaman totaled three hits and drove in two, Samson registered two hits as well. Allen, Nightingale, Monroy and Jungers all had run-scoring hits. Blair drove in two with her base hit.
White Pigeon’s Mable Post struck out six hitters. At the plate, Emily Barton clubbed a pair of hits for the Chiefs and drove in one.
Colon heads off to regionals
The Colon softball team won a district title on Friday, winning a pair of games. The Magi beat Athens 16-1 in the finals.
Alyssa Hess pitched the Magi to the win with five punchouts. At the plate she recorded two hits and two runs driven in, Braelyn Thaxton also drove in two with a couple of hits. Piper Groff drove in one, she had two hits.
Jaci Borgert, Madison Kulpinski and Rylie Kyle all plated one with a hit. Raegan Thaxton was credited with two runs driven home.
Hess struck out 13 Tekonsha hitters in the first game, allowing just one hit.
Groff slugged three hits with two doubles and drove in two. Hess registered two hits and one run driven in, Braelyn Thaxton scored two doubles. Borgert and Peighton Stouder both had a double as well. Kulpinski and Raegan Thaxton drove home runs with a hit each.
Colon will now play Gobles in the regional held at Mendon at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Division 2
The Sturgis and Three Rivers softball seasons came to an end on Saturday in Niles.
Sturgis dropped a 15-0 decision to Dowagiac. The Chieftains scored nine runs in the opening inning and added three each in the third and fourth innings.
Sturgis’ Colette Harker had the lone hit for the Trojans in the game. Gracie Pagles struck out three Dowagiac hitters.
Sturgis ends the season at 4-26.
Three Rivers fell to Dowagiac 5-0 in the district finals. The Wildcats registered two hits in the game, getting a single each from London Hoffmaster and Autumn Schroeder.
Giavanna Newburry and Emersynn Quake each pitched for the Lady Cats, they struck out five.
To reach the finals, Three Rivers beat Edwardsburg 2-0. The Cats scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to grab the lead. Both Dani Glass and Elizabeth Oestrike knocked in runs in the inning.
Three Rivers finished with seven hits. Schroeder, Glass, Hoffmaster, Ashlynn Barnes, Mia Thomas, Quake and Madison Carr each singled. Oestrike collected two hits.
The Wildcats end the season at 27-11.
Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at bwatson@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BwatsonSJ.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Bronson, Colon and Mendon softball teams win district championships
Reporting by Brandon Watson, Sturgis Journal / Sturgis Journal
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