By Mark Blentlinger
With the advancement from assistant softball coach last season to the head coach position this year, Rebecca Shemberger and assistants Katie Parker, Len Rothrock and Steve Peters are making a big statement. The young team has just four seniors: Sophie Ridge, Olivia Pavlak, Faith Westfall and Maddie Ingle. All the underclassmen are learning from the senior leadership daily.
And the team is sporting a record of 18-8.
After rain-canceled games on May 4, the Eagles took a double header from Bridgman, 9-0 in game one and 8-4 in game two. The next two double headers were postponed against Delton Kellogg and Gull Lake. They were able to take on Division 1 Portage Northern, dropping both games 2-3 and 2-7. They then went on an eight-game winning streak with wins over Constantine and Delton Kellogg. Over the May 14-15, the Eagles headed to the east side of the state to Canton. They played in the Michigan Challenge, and these Division 3 Eagles were able to post big wins against Division 1 schools like South Lyon East 6-1, Sterling Heights Stevenson 5-1, Novi 11-1 and Grand Blanc 5-0. In the championship game, the Eagles finished in second place, falling to Whiteford High 0-2.
The Eagles were to finish off their regular season against Kalamazoo Christian, Portage Central and Gull Lake before they begin the district tournament against the Blue Devils of Lawton on June 4.