GAYLORD ― Five Big North Conference championships. Five MHSAA Division 2 district championships. Three regional titles. Two state titles. Eight former players are currently on college softball rosters, including three up in Division 1 and three with Division 2 Ferris State.
The last five seasons for Gaylord softball have been among the most successful for any program in Michigan. Senior Nora Bethuy has lived through most of it.
Bethuy was just a freshman when the GHS Blue Devils won their first state title in 2023, leaving part of her tooth behind during GHS’s championship clinching 8-3 over Vicksburg. Now, she’s one of the last players remaining from those back-to-back state title-winning teams, a program that graduated seven seniors last year, including perhaps the program’s best player ever, Aubrey Jones.
For the 2026 Blue Devils to reach their goals, Bethuy has had to become a leader on the field and in the dugout, a role she’s embraced as the team deals with evolving expectations.
“It’s still the same mentality we’ve had before, but I feel I’ve become a way bigger leader than I’ve been in years past,” said Bethuy. “Last year, I was a leader, but this year I’ve really had to step it up and help these girls out to get on the same mentality that we’ve had the past few years.”
A new No. 1 in the circle
Bethuy has seen her role change throughout her time as a Blue Devil, now playing for her third head coach in her fourth and final season.
Mostly a pinch runner and substitute during her freshman season in 2023, Bethuy was thrust into a starting role as a sophomore for a team with hopes of winning back-to-back titles after an untimely injury to Avery Parker. She thrived in that role, earning herself a spot on the All-Gaylord Herald Times first team as Gaylord’s starting third basemen and the third starting pitcher behind Jayden and Aubrey Jones.
With many starters gone after another state title win in 2024, Bethuy’s role increased again in 2025, becoming the No. 2 starter and an everyday shortstop behind the younger Jones sister. She finished with a 12-3 overall record, 2.76 ERA and 71 strikeouts and was one of the Blue Devils’ most consistent bats, tallying 39 hits, 36 runs, 17 RBIs and 3 home runs as a junior.
Now it’s 2026, and Bethuy and Makayla Kozlowski are the only players left from those state championship rosters. Bethuy is the No. 1 starter in the circle, a role she’s been prepared for over the last three seasons.
“I’m very confident in myself and my pitching,” said Bethuy. “I feel like you have to have a certain mentality as a pitcher, you have to drown out everything else and focus on the team, the batter, the pitch and the next pitch. I just feel like I am pretty good at doing that, so I feel like I can really help these girls when I’m in the circle.”
Outside expectations are changing, but mentality is not
For at least the past four seasons, the Gaylord softball team has started the season somewhere in the preseason top ten state rankings, the past two seasons debuting in the No. 1 spot. This year, the Blue Devils were nowhere to be found, even in the honorable mentions.
It’s a reflection of the talent that has left the program and gone on to the college level in the past three seasons, but it’s something that isn’t affecting the team or GHS interim head coach Bill Bethuy.
“We’re not lowering the bar for them,” coach Bill Bethuy said. “The expectations are still here, and we’re going to have to work hard to get there.”
So far, things are going well. GHS has started the season 5-1 overall and Nora is off to a great start, going 3-0 in three starts in the circle with a 2.21 earned run average and 22 strikeouts. She is also hitting well, currently with a .400 batting average with 7 RBIs and 4 runs scored.
It’s early, but Bethuy knows what it will take to continue this success and has been sharing that with her teammates.
“I tell the girls that even though we’re the Gaylord softball program, we’re not the teams that have been here before,” said Bethuy. “We’re going to have to work hard for every single thing we get.”
Bethuy will join that lengthy list of college softball players out of the GHS program, an Indiana Wesleyan commit for the Class of 2026.
“I’m so excited for the culture,” said Bethuy. “I’ve been to a couple of games and they bond so well together. They’re all hyped, they’re all fun. It’s just a great program.”
For now, she will be leaned on in yet another role in her final season as a Blue Devil, one she’s embraced.
Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Nora Bethuy embracing leadership role in last season with GHS softball
Reporting by Dylan Jespersen, The Petoskey News-Review / The Petoskey News-Review
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