EAST LANSING — No doubt.
Gaylord left little room to question if the best softball team in the state resides in northern Michigan.
The No. 1-ranked Blue Devils (38-4) completed back-to-back Division 2 state championships with a 3-2 extra-inning victory over No. 4 Vicksburg (37-8) at Secchia Stadium in East Lansing on Saturday.
The title-winning victory was Gaylord’s only close game of the postseason.
“It’s hard to do it for the first time, but it’s even harder to repeat,” Gaylord star senior Jayden Jones said. “We had to overcome a lot. But no matter what, my team was ready one through nine. We were ready. We’ve prepared like nobody else, and it showed up when we needed it most.”
Vicksburg scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to knot the game at 2-2 on an Emily Zemitans hit.
Gaylord bounced back with a run in the top of the eighth when Alexis Shepherd scored on a Jayden Jones single and Bulldogs throwing error. Aubrey Jones set down Vicksburg 1-2-3 in the eighth while needing only eight pitches.
“We were in a dogfight at the end,” Blue Devils coach Ron Moeggenberg said. “Vicksburg didn’t give up. They got that run in the bottom (of the seventh). Our heart rate was a little accelerated, but we didn’t want to show that to the girls because then they might get tensed up. We just told them, ‘Let’s go get it done.’ And that’s what they did.”
The rockstars of northern Michigan softball are set for another tour next year.
This year’s team wore “2024 to be continued” shirts all season. Moeggenberg said they already have shirts ordered for next year that say “#NoDoubtTour.”
“We’ll still be really solid next year,” Moeggenberg said. “Expectation doesn’t change. The plan is to be back here next year. The team that we’re going to have, we can do it.”
Gaylord coaches were confident while in East Lansing. That’s not denigrating the opposition, but it’s more credit to the Blue Devils.
“It’s so awesome to know that all of our hard work paid off,” left fielder Addison Wangler said. “We knew we would be coming here. We had to believe in ourselves and trust our preparation and just do what we came here to do. We did that, and it feels so awesome.”
Gaylord’s dynamic sister duo of Jayden and Aubrey Jones accounted for half of the Devils’ 10 hits.
Blue Devils senior outfielder Hali Lenartowicz drove in the team’s second run with a single up the left-field line to bring in Kennedy Wangler, who had doubled to the center field wall to lead off the second inning. Lenartowicz also caught the game’s final out.
Gaylord also beat Vicksburg, 8-3, in last year’s D2 final.
“It hurts, but I’m very proud of the girls; and they never give up,” Vicksburg coach Paul Gephart said. “They fought until the end. With two outs and two strikes, we still put it into that extra inning. They’ll get past the hurt and have a special memory, actually two special memories. They’re the first class in our school to go to back-to-back (state finals), so I’m very proud of them.
Jayden Jones drove in Shepherd with a first-inning single to right field. Vicksburg got on the board in the bottom of the second on a single by Central Michigan commit Ella Luegge.
“We had a feeling that in the postseason, we would have a tight game,” Lenartowicz said, “and to fight through it, and to compete for each other and celebrate in the end.”
The all-senior outfield of Lenartowicz, center fielder Braleigh Miller and left fielder Addison Wangler stayed busy, making 10 catches between them, including a running grab by Wangler to end the fifth inning with two runners on base.
Aside from its entire outfield, Gaylord graduates shortstop Jayden Jones, catcher Taylor Moeggenberg and second baseman Alexis Shepherd. All six seniors are playing college softball.
“This senior group has meant so much to the program, so much to the community,” Moeggenberg said. “It’s nice to see them go out on top.”
The Devils return Oklahoma State commit Aubrey Jones at pitcher, sophomore third baseman Nora Bethuy and Ferris State commit and junior first baseman Kennedy Wangler.
“It’s definitely a lot scarier,” Addison Wangler said of the second run at a state title. “But we all were so confident that we would get it done, and we believed in ourselves and got it done. To be able to do it with such awesome teammates that I’ve played with for so long, it’s bittersweet — but it’s so good to come out on top at the end.”
Aubrey Jones’ semifinal shot to center field tied Gaylord’s own state record set last year with 72 round-trippers in a season. Gaylord also eclipsed 400 RBI as a team in the quarterfinals.
“We definitely had a target on our back the entire season,” Shepherd said. “But the target made us bond closer together. It made it really special.”
The championship had many Blue Devils players in tears after the final out, none more than Jayden Jones, who missed last year’s postseason run with a broken wrist.
“Having overcome that last year and just being on the sidelines watching my team win it,” Jayden Jones said, holding back tears. “And then being back this year and being able to be a part of it. And it also being my last ever time taking the field with those girls, that was really hard. But I’m so proud of the way we fought, and I’m so proud of the way we finished.”
Aubrey Jones struck out five in eight innings, allowing eight hits and one walk. Bulldogs counterpart Delaney Monroe, a Lawrence Tech commit, kept the Blue Devils off balance with an array of off-speed pitches, giving up 10 hits and no walks while striking out six. Both hurlers were charged with only one earned run.
“That was awesome,” Shepherd said. “Everything we prepared for just came out in the end. Glory to God.”