by Ben Murphy
Sports Writer
Paw Paw baseball plays to split at Three Rivers
The Paw Paw baseball team played a Saturday doubleheader at Three Rivers. The Red Wolves dropped the opener 8-5 but bounced back with a nice 10-6 win in game two.
In game one, Ethan VanderSlik took the loss, as he went four innings and gave up four earned runs and struck out four.
VanderSlik helped out his own cause at the late by going three-for-three, including a double and three RBI.
Jacob Major had two base hits, Bryson Marinich had a single and two RBI and Joe Miller, Cullen Sylvester and Jake Hindenach had one hit apiece.
In game two, Remi Hahn pitched the team to the win. He went six innings and gave up zero earned runs on three hits and 10 strikeouts.
Hahn did damage on offense as well, getting two doubles, one single and two RBI. Sylvester had four hits and three RBI, Miller added two hits and two RBI, Matthew Hartman had two hits, Jacob Major bombed a two run home run, Hindenach had a double and VanderSlik also had a single.
Lawrence softball comes up short in New Buffalo
The Lawrence softball team was unable to tame host New Buffalo on Monday, dropping both games of the two’s doubleheader, 9-7 and 14-4.
In game one, Hailey Camp started the game pitching and struck out three batters.
The offense saw Kali Reed, Auggie Henderson and Alyssa Coombs get one hit and one RBI each with McKenzie Leighton, Ashley Reed, Morgan Coombs and Savannah Peek getting one hit apiece.
Game two saw A. Coombs take the circle, and she fanned four batters.
Peek was able to blast a triple, a single and an RBI and K. Reed, M. Coombs, A. Coombs, Emily Leach and Lily Marsh-Peek had one hit apiece.
Gobles baseball tops Lawton behind Drew Thorpe’s shutout
Lawton had no answer for Gobles’ starting pitcher Drew Thorpe on Thursday. Thorpe blanked visiting Blue Devils 5-0.
Thorpe tossed a complete seven inning game and gave up just three hits and struck out eight.
He also had a home run, a single and three RBI to help his own cause at the plate. Tony Lisowski had two hits and Caleb O’Conner had one hit and one RBI.
Lawton’s Henry First took the loss, as he went five innings and gave up five runs, three earned on five hits and eight strikeouts.
The Blue Devils’ three hits came from Luke Leighton, Matt Hall and First.
Gobles also played Fennville on April 29. Gobles won the opener 8-7 but came up short in game two, 6-4.
Josh Hitchcock had the win in game one, going four innings and giving up three hits and striking out six.
Thorpe went four-for-four and had two RBI and O’Connor and Tyler Mulligan had one hit and one RBI apiece.
“This was quite the game,” head coach Seth Johnson said. “This game was resumed from originally being postponed after the 3rd inning earlier in the year. The game began in the fourth inning and we were down 5-4. Fennville went on to score two runs in the fifth inning to take a 7-4 lead. Gobles scored a run in the sixth inning to cut the lead to 7-5. In the seventh inning, we rallied to score three runs to win on a walk-off single by Tyler Mulligan.”
In game two, Tony Lisowski had a hit and scored two runs, Carter Bell had a hit and two RBI, with Mulligan and Thorpe also getting hits.
“The offense couldn’t put anything together consistently, too many walks, and three errors, unfortunately, buried us too deep and we were not able to recover and get back into the game,” Johnson said.
Lawton girls soccer gets blanked by Coloma, Parchment
Goals have been hard to come by in recent games for the Lawton girls soccer team. On Monday, May 9 Lawton lost at Coloma 1-0. This, coming off Saturday’s 2-0 road loss at Parchment.
On Thursday, playing at Marcellus Lawton was able to get some offensive output and picked up a 4-0 victory.
Freshman Amanda Aumaugher had two goals and senior Addie Aumaugher booted in the other two goals.
Hannah Modderman was in net to get credit for the shutout.
Gobles edges Lawton in softball thriller
The Gobles softball team hosted Lawton on Thursday, in a scheduled doubleheader that turned into one game due to weather. In turned into a fun one for Gobles, as they won 9-8 on a walk-off base hit by Kennadi Killeen in the bottom of the eighth inning.
After falling behind 8-7 after Lawton scored a run in the top of the eighth, Gobles answered in the bottom of the half with some clutch hitting. Morgan Witt had tied the game with an RBI triple, scoring McKenzie Lisowski. Killeen followed by drilling the first pitch she saw into left field to send Witt home for the winning run.
Madi Brady got the win pitching and Emily Baxter also had key hits earlier in the contest. In a key sixth inning rally, Brady, Ellianna VanHorn, Lisowski (double), Baxter (double) and Morgan Kohlert had hits as well.
“It was a fun game to be a part of,” head coach Pam Westcott said. “Each girl really stepped up when the pressure was on and came through on either the defensive side or the offensive side of the ball to help and be a part of this win. It’s always great to win a conference game, but these kinds of games are special. This will be a game that this team will remember for a long time. I loved watching the girls have fun, play a solid game, and bring the fundamentals we’ve been working on in practice into the game. I’m very happy for this team.”
For Lawton, Ella Richter had a home run, two doubles and four RBI and Sarah DeKonning had a double, a single and one RBI.
DeKonning took the loss in the circle, as she pitched seven innings and gave up eight runs, seven earned on 15 hits, six strikeouts and two walks.
Paw Paw track competes at Kalamazoo Central
The Paw Paw track and field team battled it out at a 12 team event at Kalamazoo Central on Friday. The boys team was able to come in eighth place while the girls’ team came away in fifth place.
The boys had Ethan Long come in 10th in the 100 meter dash, Aaron West was 10th in the 200 and Logan Leonard was 20th in the 400. Aiden Webber was 13th in the 800, Austin Williford added an eighth place finish in the 1600 and was 10th in the 3200 and Will Vanderbor was fifth in the 3200. West was also third in the 300 hurdles.
Dennis Strey had a fifth place finish in the shot put and was sixth in the discus and Shawn Jergensen was 17th in the long jump.
The Lady Red Wolves had Jenna Quinones come in 12th in the 100, Molly Good was dashed to an 11th place finish in the 200 and she was 12th in the 400.
Madison Johnson was 10th in both the 800 and 1600 meter runs and in the 3200, Taylor Meier had a ninth place finish. Lillian Holloway was third in the 100 hurdles and fifth in the 300 hurdles.
Their top relay team was the 4×400 squad of Carey Towne, Madison Johnson, Grace Mitchell and Goodwin, who came in third.
Savanna Rickli was fourth in the discus and fifth in the shot put, and Meier had a fifth place throw in the discus.
Sammi Jurgensen won the high jump at 4-08.00 and Rickli and Jenna Quinones had third and fifth place finishes in the long jump.
Mattawan track hosts double dual
The Mattawan track and field team hosted a double dual on Wednesday, May 4, against Stevensville Lakeshore and Portage Northern. The boys lost to both teams while the girls lost to Portage Northern and defeated Lakeshore.
On the boys’ side, Landon Craig and Kai Kiefer were fifth and sixth in the 100 meter dash, Kiefer was third in the 200, Trey Bennett won the 400, Luke Fitzpatrick was second in the 400, Will Beeson was fourth in the 800, Gibson Hunt was second in the 110 hurdles and Miguel Miller was second in the 300 hurdles.
The 4×100 relay was second, the 4×200 relay team took first place points and the 4×400 was a winner as well.
In the shot put, James Campbell was third, he was also fifth in the discus, Craig was third in the high jump and Sam Jacob was fourth in the long jump.
On the girls’ side, Marley Elsmore and Delaney Elsmore were third and fifth in the 100, M. Elsmore was second in the 200, Amanda Harnishfeger was second in the 400, Hope Webber won the 800, the 1600 and the 3200 and Emily Reeves was second in both the 1600 and 3200.
M. Elsmore was second in the 100 hurdles, the 4×200 relay took first place and the 4×400 relay came in second.
Yasmin Pirbhai won the shot put and she was second in the discus and Kyleigh Colvin was third in both throwing events. The high jump had Pirbhai come in second and Aline Hussein came in fourth in the long jump.
Lawton track and field takes part in six team meet
The Lawton and Gobles track and field team competed at Coloma on Wednesday, May 4. Team scores were not posted, but both schools had several fine performances, as usual.
For the Lawton boys’ Jake Rueff was second in the 100 meter dash and Jason Crall was fifth in the 200. They had winning 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams as well.
Chase Mitchell won the shot put, where Carter and Mason Bayne tied for second. Mitchell was also fourth in the discus. Aiden Obrien was fourth in the high jump, Ben Wokeck was third in the pole vault and Rueff won the long jump at 20-03.50.
On the girls’ side, Camille Barber won the 100 meter dash at 14.45, Heidi Newhouse won the 200 and 400 meter sprints at 27.87 and 1:00.83 and Kendra Koster won the 800, 1600 and 3200 on times of 2:27.02, 5:17.41 and 11:58.65.
Alexis Girolami won the 100 hurdles at 18.38, Reese Olson was second in the 300 hurdles. The 4×100 and 4×200 relays were both second and the 4×400 and 4×800 squads both picked up first place.
Arrianna Moneta was fourth in the shot put, Newhouse won the high jump at 5-04, Rylee Oxley won the pole vault at 8-09 and Aumaugher was third in the long jump.
For the Gobles boys Alex Lee was fourth in the 100, Simone Giardili was third in the 800 and ninth in the 400, Nile Devers was third in the 1600 and 3200.
Nolan VanHorn was fifth in the shot put and 11th in the discus, Lee won the high jump at 5-09, Chris Ruiz was third in the pole vault and Mason Mansfield was eighth in the long jump.
For the Gobles’ girls, Kaya Huzenga was second in the 100, Morgan Modert was third in the 200, Zoie Wood was sixth in the 800, Deanna Wood was fifth in the 100 hurdles and Helena Carretero was sixth in the 300 hurdles. They also had winning relays in the 4×100 and 4×200.
Elli Stender won the shot put at 30-11 and she was second in the discus, Huizenga was second in the high jump and Elizabeth Woodard was fourth in the long jump.