Page 16 — Thursday, May 27, 2021 — The Hastings Banner
Vikings playing for Hall of Fame Classic, GLAC, titles
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The Eagles have been successful in their
role as spoiler so far this week.
The Olivet varsity softball team swept its
Greater Lansing Activities Conference dou-
bleheader at Lakewood High School Monday,
scoring 4-0 and 6-2 wins over the Vikings
who are still chasing a GLAC Championship.
The two teams meet one more time in
Olivet Thursday. Lakewood earns a share of
the 2021 GLAC Championship, with Leslie,
with a win on the Eagles’ diamond. An Olivet
win Thursday means the Leslie ladies are the
outright conference champions.
Audrey Hillard plated the only two
Lakewood runs Monday, belting a two-out,
two-run home run over the left field fence in
the bottom of the third inning of game two.
Olivet senior pitcher Shyann Truax out-du-
eled the Vikings’ Morgan Stahl in the circle in
the two ballgames to earn the two wins.
Lakewood took a key conference win over
the Blackhawks from Leslie in Olivet last
Wednesday, 1-0.
Leslie had just pulled out an extra-inning
win over the host Eagles. The three teams met
in one spot as a way to take advantage of
available evenings and umpires.
“Four of the six teams in our league have
won games against each other,” Lakewood
head coach Brent Hilley said. “There have
been numerous 1- and 2-run score differences
between Stockbridge, Lakewood, Leslie and
Olivet.”
The Vikings and Blackhawks were tied 0-
going into the bottom of the sixth when Lily
Federau belted a double to the left-field fence
to lead off the inning. Liv Woodman put down
a sacrifice bunt to get her to third and a hard-
hit ball by Hillard scored Federau.
Stahl gave up just one hit and one walk in
getting the win in the circle. She struck out
14.
“Our defense played really well,” Hilley
said. “Leslie has multiple left-handed slappers
with speed. Freshman Audrey Hillard made
her first start at third base, moving from left
field, and made multiple plays against the
slappers. Audrey had one practice at third
base to learn our shift infield defense. She did
a great job.
“Senior shortstop Hannah Slater came up
huge in the top of the sixth with an over-the-
shoulder catch into left field on Leslie’s num-ber one hitter. That play saved us from Leslie
having their fastest slapper on base. Those are
game changing plays.”
Lakewood added a pair of wins over Perry
in the GLAC last Friday was well, besting the
visiting Ramblers 10-0 and 15-0 in a pair of
GLAC ballgames.
Lakewood is now 24-6 overall this season
and 9-3 in the GLAC.
The Vikings opened the 2021 Lansing Hall
of Fame Classic with a 3-0 win at Ithaca
Tuesday evening. Stahl struck out 13 and was
named the player of the game. The Lakewood
ladies earned a Wednesday (May 26) match-
up with Holt at Ranney Park in Lansing with
the win.Sweet sweep of doubleheader for Vikings
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Brady Gawne raced out of the dugout with
the big orange water jug and gave fellow
senior Brent Sweet the first ice bath of his
tenure as a three-sport varsity athlete for the
Vikings Monday.
Any number of their teammates could have
been doused for a play they made against
Olivet, but Sweet just happened to make the
last one - an RBI single past the Eagle third
baseman that gave the Lakewood varsity
baseball team a 6-5 walk-off win in the bot-
tom of the ninth inning of game two of a
Greater Lansing Activities Conference dou-
bleheader at Lakewood High School.
The win moves the Vikings to 13-1 in the
GLAC this spring and clinches a share of the
conference championship. Lakewood swept
the doubleheader with the Eagles Monday,
winning game one 4-0 with Gawne tossing
the complete game shutout.
Olivet is now 15-2 in the GLAC this spring.
The two teams will meet again at Olivet
Wednesday. A Lakewood win gives the
Vikings the outright conference champion-
ship. An Olivet win and the two teams share
the 2021 GLAC Championship. The Vikings
did not get to play their three-game series
with the Maple Valley Lions this season.
“We got to take it all on Wednesday, which
is absolutely what our plan is. We’re not shar-
ing anything with Olivet,” Lakewood head
coach Brad Tacey said after the emotional
win.
It was as wild final few innings Monday,
with Olivet tying game two at 4-4 in the top
of the fifth and taking a one-run lead in the top
of the sixth, and then the Vikings tying the
game in the bottom of the seventh and win-
ning it in the bottom of the ninth.
“Honestly, we just wake up every day and
we do the same thing every day and we do it
perfect. We do everything to absolute perfec-
tion. That is why we are the best team there
is,” Sweet said after the win.
“We consistently hit the ball well. The
defense played well. We made double plays
when we needed them. The pitching was con-
sistent.”
Nathan Willette led off the bottom of the
seventh for the Vikings with a double and
scored on an RBI single from Gavin Willette
to tie the game at 5-5 and push it into extra
innings. Nathan again led off in the bottom of
the ninth and walked. He stole second, went
to third on a wild pitch and then came home
on Sweet’s game-winning single.
Sweet said he wouldn’t complain about the
ice bath. “It as a hot day,” he said.
“I just knew he didn’t have a curve ball and
he was going to throw me some cheese, and I
sent it right where I wanted hit,” he said of his
game-winning hit.
Gawne returned to the mound in the top of
the sixth inning of game two after throwing
game one. The Eagles had runners on second
and third with one out and the score knotted at
4-4 when he took over for Nathaniel Graham.
The Vikings got the runner from third trying
to score on a ground ball back to Gawne for
the second out, but a balk call that the Vikingsdidn’t agree with brought home the go-ahead
run before Gawne could strike out the final
Eagle batter of the inning.
The balk call wasn’t clear to everyone ini-
tially. The Olivet runner at third broke for
home and then knocked down Lakewood
catcher Jayce Hansen as they were tangled in
the dirt around home plate. The Eagle runner
from second eventually wandered his way to
home amid the chaos, but was eventually
called out of the dugout by the umpires and
sent to third where he was stranded in the end.
“To have an absolutely horrendous call to
get down in the game and then to fight back
like that. They could have given up,” Tacey
said. “We scored in the bottom of the seventh
inning to tie it up and then kept fighting into
the ninth and winning the game. It is not
always going to go our way, obviously, it is
not always going to go our way, but we have
to find ways to fight over the top and we did
that today. I am very proud of the way that
they played, of the way that they reacted to
what was going on in the game.”
Lakewood went down 1-2-3 in the bottom
of the sixth, and then Olivet went down fairly
quietly in the top of the seventh. The final
Eagle Gawne faced, Easton Rankin, reached
on an infield single with one out, but Gavin
Willette took over the mound to get a fly-out
and catcher Jayce Hansen took care of the rest
throwing out Rankin as he attempted to steal
second.
Gavin had to get out of a couple jams in the
final innings, and his defense did well backing
him up. Olivet got its first two guys on in thetop of the eight, but Gavin made a nice play
himself to cut down a runner at second on a
sacrifice bunt and then got a couple of pop
outs.
In the top of the ninth, Jacob Waffle his a
ground ball back at Gavin to lead off the
inning. Gavin scooped it up but fired high
over Gawne at first. Second baseman Sawyer
Stoepker made an out standing play backing
up Gawne to grab the high throw out of the air
and keep Waffle at first. It was a pivotal play.
The next Eagle batter hit a line drive to short
that Blake Price snagged and then threw to
first to double off Waffle. Rankin followed
with a double to left centerfield for the Eagles,
so the defense clearing the bases saved a run.
Left fielder Nathan Willette saved a run too
racing deep into the left centerfield gap to
grab a fly-ball by Tyler Latunski to end the
inning.
“That is what these guys do,” Tacey said.
“Our defense has been our staple this entire
year, hands down. This is the best defensive
squad that I have had since I have been here
and they just find ways to make plays. They
don’t get rattled when somebody makes a bad
play or a bad throw.
“G. threw the one over [Gawne’s] head, butSawyer picks him up. That is how they have
played all year. I couldn’t be any more proud
of the way they played and the way they
fought back in that game.”
On top of all that, the teams verbally dis-
agreed about the number of pitches thrown by
the Eagles’ starting pitcher Ramsey Bousseau
in the ballgame, a disagreement that started in
the bottom of the seventh and lasted until
Bousseau was replaced to start the bottom of
the eighth. The two sides disagreed about
where to start the ninth inning as well. The
Vikings wanted another chance to clinch the
share of the conference title on their home
field as the sunset, and the Eagle coaching
staff was ready to call it a night and finish off
game two of the set in Olivet Wednesday
before game three.
“Honestly, it just makes the game more fun
when everyone gets talking and there is a little
bit of aggression in there. I just makes you
want it more than ever,” Sweet said.
Not only were the Vikings and Eagles meet
again Wednesday, Lakewood took on Eaton
Rapids Tuesday in the opening round of the
Dean Shippey Capital Diamond Classic, fall-
ing 4-0 to the Greyhounds.Lakewood senior Brent Sweet hits the game-winning single down the third baseline during the bottom of the ninth inning of game
two against visiting Olivet Monday. The Vikings followed a 4-0 game one win with a 6-5 walk-off victory in game two. (Photo by
Brett Bremer)
Lakewood’s Nathan Willette rounds third and heads for home to score the tying run
in the bottom of the seventh inning of game two against Olivet Monday. He would score
again in the bottom of the ninth as the Vikings took a 6-5 walk-off win to sweep the
doubleheader with the Eagles. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Lakewood senior Hannah Slater drives the ball to the left side during game two of
her team’s GLAC doubleheader against visiting Olivet Monday. (Photo by Brett
Bremer)Lakewood first baseman Cora Giffin stretches to reach a pick-off throw as an Olivet
baserunner dives back to the bag during game two Monday at Lakewood High School.
(Photo by Brett Bremer)Delton Kellogg girls
face Springport soccer
in district opener today
The Delton Kellogg varsity girls’ soccer
team starts the state postseason this afternoon.
The Panthers will host Springport for a
Division 3 District opener at Delton Kellogg
High School starting at 5:15 p.m. (May 27).
The DK girls closed out the regular season
with a 3-7-1 record, besting Calhoun Christian
3-1 in the final ballgame of the regular season
on the road Monday.
Carlie Ritchie, Avery Barker and CaitlinO’Meara scored the three DK goals. Ritchie
got the scoring started with an assist from
O’Meara. Stoetzel assisted on Barker’s goal.
Sam O’Meara provided the assist on sister
Caitlin’s score.
Taylor Carter had ten saves in goal for the
DK girls.
Kalamazoo Christian bested the DK girls in
their final Southwestern Athletic Conference
match of the season last Thursday, 8-0.Call 269-945-
for Hastings
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