You’d see more excitement from someone with a 10-cents-off-per-gallon coupon at the gas pump than No. 7 Walled Lake Northern showed after beating Farmington, 10-1, to win the Michigan high school softball Division 1 regional championship Saturday, June 6, at Milford High School.
There were no loud screams. No one hoisted the trophy as if they had won the Super Bowl. It was business as usual for the Knights (36-3), who know the next game is the one that matters most.
Twice in the past five seasons, Northern has lost in the MHSAA quarterfinals. Last year’s defeat stung the hardest.
After beating Lakes Valley Conference rival South Lyon during the regular season, the Knights were upset 6-1 by the Lions in a quarterfinal at Northville High School. Then they had to watch South Lyon finish as the state runner-up.
No, the real celebration will come if Northern beats Livonia Stevenson on Tuesday at Novi High School (2 p.m.).
“We’ve worked hard for this one, so we were prepared for it,” said Toledo commit Lyla Turmell, who struck out 10 and hit a solo home run against the Falcons (28-8). “I’m not going to say it was expected, but we were all on the side of we were playing for each other, and we all don’t show emotion that well.”
Ain’t that the truth?
There was hardly a smile until the Knights lined up for a team photo with the trophy. Then two assistants snuck into the dugout, grabbed the Gatorade bucket and doused the team at home plate, coating the trophy in mud and finally drawing some laughs.
Hello, you’re one of eight teams alive in the playoffs. Live a little.
“[Tuesday] will be the big one because we’ve been stuck in the quarterfinals for a few years,” coach Kristen Woodard said. “We didn’t play our best that game [against South Lyon in 2025], so hopefully that’s something we can change and keep it rolling. We ended our season playing not our game, so they want to do a better job than that.”
If Northern plays as well against Stevenson as it did against Farmington, it should have plenty to celebrate afterward.
Saturday’s victory was never in doubt.
Turmell, arguably the best pitcher in Oakland County, allowed one walk, six hits and one earned run while dominating in the circle.
At the plate, the Knights had little trouble against Farmington’s Sophia Porterfield and Emerson Wilkin.
With an early 1-0 lead in the second inning, Turmell launched a home run to center field. Moments later, Shaela Byrnes hit a solo shot to nearly the same spot. Madi White’s sacrifice fly scored Doyle to make it 5-0.
An inning later, Makenna Kresbaugh homered to score Aubrey Kresbaugh and Bailey Price and put the game away.
Brynes doubled home Makenna Kresbaugh in the sixth. Olivia Frellick later scored on an error to make it 10-0.
Northern flirted with a mercy-rule win until Farmington shortstop Kaiya Jones tripled to right field and drove in a run for the Oakland Activities Association-White champions.
“I just wanted us to score early and get them to relax a little bit,” Woodard said. “Probably every ballplayer is better when they’re relaxed, so I thought that was real important.”
The Knights put in work against the pitching machine since last year’s quarterfinal loss to South Lyon.
“It’s hard [changing pitchers], and that’s the name of the game,” Woodard added. “Even going from team to team, you’re seeing different speeds. You see someone throwing high 60s [mph] and 55, and it is what it is. You’ve got to work at getting better at it and making adjustments quicker. That was our hope and goal by doing that and working with the machine.”
Expect the Knights to spend plenty of time on the machine before the Stevenson game. Spartans pitcher Allie Cramer is one of Michigan’s top sophomores. Her velocity and fearlessness against top teams make her dangerous.
The Knights haven’t stopped talking about last year’s loss to South Lyon. They don’t want another season ending with a “what if.”
“Oh my gosh, [we talk about that loss] a ton,” Turmell said. “It has come up so much. It’s all past us now. … And it was hard last year. We put all the work in, and, obviously, the outcome didn’t go the way we wanted it to. But in the offseason, we worked really hard, hitting, pitching, hitting our spots. We’ve worked together as a team and have each others’ backs. We should be prepared for this.”
Aside from Turmell holstering a water blaster during postgame interviews, the Knights weren’t prepared for much of a celebration. Though she zapped a few people hanging out in the infield.
A win over Stevenson should bring out plenty of emotions, with a trip to Michigan State for the state semifinals going to the winner.
Livonia Stevenson wins 1st regional in program history
Stevenson blanked Detroit Cass Tech, 3-0, to win its first regional championship behind the pitching of Cramer, timely hits from older sister Katie Cramer and the speed of Avery Cipa.
Allie Cramer struck out 11, allowing three hits and three walks as the Spartans (27-10) advanced to Tuesday’s quarterfinal against Northern.
Katie went 3-for-4 and scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the second inning. She also lined a single to center field in the fifth that gave Cipa enough time to score. Cipa added an inside-the-park home run for an insurance run in the seventh.
Kaylin Evans led the Technicians (20-4) with 11 strikeouts, allowing six hits, five walks and three earned runs.
Northville finally gets out of regionals
Perhaps no team was hungrier to win a regional title than No. 3 Northville, which knocked off top-ranked Farmington Hills Mercy and Alabama commit Kaitlyn Pallozzi in last year’s regional semifinal before falling to South Lyon in the championship game.
That sour ending fueled the Mustangs (34-4-1) in a 2-1 victory over defending state champion Saline (33-7-1) in this year’s regional final.
After Saline’s Zosia Mazur singled home Lucy Winters in the first inning, Northville answered with two runs in the third. Mary Gugala bunted home Kendall Kohler to tie it, and Carol Rys scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch moments later.
Gugala also threw a complete game, striking out nine, walking none and allowing five hits to send the Mustangs to Tuesday’s quarterfinal against Howell at Ypsilanti Lincoln (6 p.m.).
Farmington Hills Mercy returns to quarters after late response
For the first time since Pallozzi’s freshman season five years ago, Mercy is headed back to the quarterfinal after beating Riverview, 4-3, in its regional final.
Few expected the rebuilding Marlins (19-17) to make it this far after graduating Pallozzi, the 2025 Michigan Gatorade Softball Player of the Year.
Mercy carried a 3-1 lead into the sixth before Riverview (31-9-1) scored twice to tie it at 3. But Avery Wright’s ground ball to shortstop gave Vanessa Husband enough time to score the winning run later in the inning.
Anna McGavin led the unranked Marlins with nine strikeouts. She pitched a complete game, allowed four hits and two walks and gave up three earned runs. At the plate, she homered and tripled, finishing 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Brandon Folsom covers high school sports in metro Detroit for Hometown Life and the Detroit Free Press. Follow him on X at @folsomwrites.
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: Key to Walled Lake Northern softball regional title is a machine
Reporting by Brandon Folsom, Hometownlife.com / Hometownlife.com
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By Brandon Folsom, Hometownlife.com | USA TODAY Network
