SN 6-3-2023

The Sun and News, Saturday, June 3, 2023/ Page 13

CHS girls score walk-off win over Wayland

Brett Bremer

Sports Editor

The Caledonia varsity

softball team closed out the

2023 regular season with an

8-7 walk-off win over visit-

ing Wayland Thursday after-

noon.

Grace Siekman scored on

a ground-ball of f the bat of

teammate Addy Lash with

two out in the bottom of the

seventh to snap a 7-7 tie

after the Wildcats had

scored a run in the top half

of the inning. Siekman

reached base with a line

drive double into left with

one out and went to third on

a ground out by teammate

Peyton Brenner.

The teams were back and

forth all afternoon. The

Scots scored five times in

the bottom of the third to

lead 5-0. The Wildcats

answered with six runs in

the top of the fourth inning.

Caledonia struck back

with two in the bottom of

the sixth to take a 7-5 lead.

Caledonia outhit the

Wildcats 14-6 in the ball-

game. Siekman was 2 for 4

with a pair of doubles. She

scored two runs. Avery

Hallo, Keira Sundstrom,

MacKenzie Parker, Malia

Burke and Kyla Bisterfeldt

all singled twice. Burke

and Hallo had two RBI’s

each and Siekman, Brenner

and Parker had one RBI

apiece.

Lieske also singled once

for the Scots. She started in

the circle and went 3 1/

innings, allowing five runs

on two hits and three walks.

She struck out three.

Jaz Dana came on in relief

and held the Wildcats to two

runs over the final 3 2/

innings. Only one of those

two runs was earned. She

gave up four hits and two

walks while striking out

three.

Hamilton took two from

the visiting Scots on

Tuesday, scoring 4-1 and

6-4 wins.

Caledonia is at

Wyoming High School

today, June 3, for its

MHSAA Division 1

District Tournament. The

Fighting Scots face the

Wolves in one of two dis-

trict semifinal match-ups.

East Kentwood faces off

against Byron Center in

the first game of the day at

9:30 a.m. The Scots and

Wolves are scheduled to

begin about 11:30 a.m.

tackle or stop their best

player, I always compli-

ment them for that. They’re

saving me. We all do our

jobs and we get results.”

The job of seniors Gracie

Gortmaker and Jocelyn

Herrema and freshman

Bailey DeVries is to put

the ball in the net, and the

trio made that happen early

on in the match with the

Falcons. Herrema pushed

up the left side with the

ball in the third minute of

play and slotted a pass to

the top of the box for

Gortmaker, who received it

with her back to the net.

Gortmaker found DeVries

streaking in from the right

side and fed a pass in front

of her in the box. DeVries

ran onto it and fired the

ball by Falcon’s starting

keeper.

The Fighting Scots made

it 2-0 in the fifth minute of

play. Sophomore Josie

Wilcox put a corner kick

into the Falcon box. The

ball deflected out up high

and Herrema was there to

head it back into the net.

“It was exactly our style

of play,” Stearns said,

“build out of the back,

quick counter attacks.

Getting the goal early was

always in the game plan. It

is a good result. We had the

same kind of thing last time

[against East Kentwood]

the first couple minutes.

“It is kind of like a shock

factor, using Jocelyn and

Gracie kind of opens the

game up. People are usual-

ly kind of slow to get into

the flow of the game and

you can take advantage of

that.”

The score stood at 2-

until Peterson buried a pen-

alty kick in the 77th minute

to seal the three-goal victo-

ry.

Peterson, Balczak and

the Fighting Scot defenders

have done their fair share of

starting the attack this sea-

son.

“I feel like my team is

really good at building up,”

Balczak said. “I have played

with a lot of these girls for

a really long time, so I feel

like being able to build up

through the middle to get it

to the forwards is a vital

part of what we do.”

Stearns said his girls

played really, really well in

the regular season meeting

with Byron Center, creating

a number of chances.

“We have a game plan,”

Stearns said.

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Wednesday, June 28th, 2023

At 6:00 PM

The property tax millage rate proposed to be

levied to support the proposed Budget will

be a subject of this hearing.

A copy of the proposed budget is available for public in-

spection at the Township Office on June 16, 2023 during

regular office hours.

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auxiliary aids and services, such as signers for the hearing

impaired and audio tapes of printed

Materials being considered at the meeting to individu-

als at the Meeting upon 5 days’ notice to the Township

Clerk, 284 N. Briggs Road, Middleville, MI 49333. Phone

269-795-9091/Fax 269-795-

Mike Cunningham

Yankee Springs Township Clerk

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SCOTS, continued from previous page

Caledonia junior Kendall Maynard goes after a bouncing ball in the midfield
during her team’s 3-0 win over East Kentwood in the MHSAA Division 1 District
Semifinals in Kentwood Wednesday. (Photo by Brett Bremer)

a stretch that included bird-
ies on the par-5 number one
and par-4 number 5. He
also birdied number 11
Tuesday.
Spicuzza won a playoff
with Mona Shores senior
Nicholas Taylor for the
final state qualifying spot,
meaning Taylor just missed
qualifying for the finals
both with his team and indi-
vidually.
Byanski did his best to
fight back from a dou-
ble-bogie on number 13
that put him at eight-over
for the day with two holes
to go. He sank a par putt on
number 14 and then birdied
the par-5, number 15 to
close out his round.
Behind those top two for
the Scots, senior Dylan
Meduna shot a 92 and
sophomore Parker Little a

97. Senior Noah
    Abdelkader was right
    behind with a 98.

Portage Central won the

regional champion with

Tiler and Thomas leading

the way, senior Charlie

Anderson shooting a 79 and

junior Jake Longman add-

ing an 81. The Mustangs

came into the regional

ranked eighth in the lower

peninsula in Division 1.

Behind Novak for

Mattawan, senior Will

Kuiper shot a 79, junior

Brian Graver an 81, and

junior Cameron Graver an d

senior Blake Welch both

scored an 84.

Byron Center earned its

state finals place with

senior CJ Bushey tallying

a score of 86 which was

four strokes better than

Mona Shores got from its

fifth-best player on the

day. Behind Leatherman

for the Bulldogs, Zach

Bush shot an 80, Evan

Kaiser 83 and junior Cade

Pratt an 85.

GOLF, continued from page 11

Caledonia senior senior Jacob Byanski hits his tee
shot on number 11 at Sunnybrook Country Club
Tuesday during the MHSAA Division 1 Regional
Tournament. Byanski finished 11th individually with a
score of 79. (Photo by Brett Bremer)

Scot baseball falls by a run at FHE

Brett Bremer

Sports Editor

Forest Hills Eastern

snapped a 4-4 tie with a run

in the bottom of the sixth and

went on to a 5-4 win over the

Caledonia varsity baseball

team in an non-conference

ballgame to close the regular

season in Ada Tuesday.

Alex Skibinski was 2 for 4

at the plate for the Scots. AJ

Szabo, Corbin Raffler, Nick

Slater, Tommy Cleary and

Mitchell Douglass had the

other Caledonia hits. Slater

and Douglass both doubled

once.

Caledonia worked out its

arms on the mound, with five

different pitchers throwing.

The Scots had a 3-1 lead

after two innings.

Skibinski got things stated

with a lead-off single and

then scored as Slater fol-

lowed with an RBI double

into center.

Szabo and Douglass also

had RBI’s for the Scots.

The Fighting Scots are at

Lowell High School today for

their MHSAA Division 1

District Tournament. They will

face East Kentwood in the first

of two district semifinal con-

tests. Game time is set for 9:

a.m.. Forest Hills Central and

Lowell meet in the tourna-

ment’s second semifinal match.