The Hastings Banner — Thursday, May 6, 2021 — Page 15Cougars win big at Trojans’ golf jamboree
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The leaders pulled away Thursday.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central put together
another outstanding day on the OK Gold
boys’ golf greens Thursday at Yankee Springs
Golf Course, winning the conference jambo-
ree hosted by the Thornapple Kellogg varsity
with a score of 146. The Cougars were 22
strokes better than the runner-up Hawks from
Forest Hills Eastern.
The Thornapple Kellogg boys were in the
sixth spot where they’ve settled in the confer-
ence for most of the season.
Forest Hills Eastern took the second-place
spot with a score of 168, ahead of Wayland
170, South Christian 173, Kenowa Hills 176,
Thornapple Kellogg 184 and Cedar Springs
198.
CJ Crabtree led the TK boys with a score of
- He managed pars on the par-3 seventh
hole and par-4 eighth to finish out his round
well. He was on the front of the green in two
on the 377-yard number eight, but had his first
putt for birdie just miss its mark.
Austin Pitsch had a string of pars on five,
six and seven on the gold nine at Yankee
Springs and Connor Newland had pars on
two, three, six and eight. Both sophomores
closed the day with scores of 46.
The Trojan team also got a 47 from Drew
Nathan who had a par on seven as well.
TK head coach Bob Kaminski was pleased
with the way his guys finished once they
adjusted to the cool, wet conditions. The early
Thursday rain didn’t slow the greens down
any.
“I think a number of our kids finished well.
We kind of got off to a rough start. Watching
the first couple holes, they kind of just strug-
gled,” Kaminski said. “I thought they finished
well.”
It was the first time this season that the
teams were mixed up out on the course. To
prevent the spread of Covid from school to
school, and decrease worries about contact
tracing, threesomes at the first conference
jamborees were made up of three players
from a single squad. The Trojans played with
Kenowa Hills and Cedar Springs guys for the
most part Thursday.
“As coaches we talked about that. Catholic
played really well playing with other schools.
There is that competitiveness. They wanted to
compete,” Kaminski said. “Sometimes when
you play with your teammate it is just a fun
round. Maybe it was that change, playing with
somebody else there are nerves, and they got
better by the end.”
Freshman Will Preston led the Catholic
Central team with a one-under-par 35.
Catholic Central also got a 36 from senior
Andrew Armock and a 36 from junior LukePreston. The other three Cougars all shot 39s.
Alex Emerine led Forest Hills Eastern with
a 39. Wayland got 38s from Christian Look
and Tyler Omness.
The conference was together again at
Railside Golf Club Monday and the Trojans
had their best finish of the conference season
so far placing fourth.
Armock and Preston led the Cougars to the
win with a pair of 38s and the Cougars fin-
ished the day at 160 as a team. Forest HillsEastern was second with a 166, ahead of
South Christian 178, TK 180, Kenowa Hills
184, Wayland 186 and Cedar Springs 236.
Crabtree and Newland each scored a 44 for
the Trojans. Pitsch scored a 45 and Trevor
Hummer a 47. Emerine led all scorers with a
36.South, west neighbors tough on TK softball
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The Trojans scored in five of the seven
innings, but it still wasn’t quite enough to
keep pace with the Gull Lake girls in the final
ballgame of the Thornapple Kellogg varsity
softball team’s invitational in Middleville
Saturday.
The TK team was 0-2 for the day, falling
10-6 to Gull Lake to end the day after a 14-
loss to Hopkins in its first ballgame.
Gull Lake scored three times in the top of
the seventh to pull away from the TK ladies,
bumping a 7-6 lead to 10-6.
Paige VanStee had a double and two RBI in
the loss to the Blue Devils. Mo Sprague and
Carley Snyder each singled and tripled in the
loss. They both had a run scored and an RBI.
Ebbie Appel also drove in a run for the
Trojans. Snyder was on base four times, walk-
ing twice as well.
TK had girls on the bases throughout the
ballgame. Elaina O’riley singled and walked
twice out of the lead-off spot. She came
around to score three runs. Ellie Rogers and
Ella Palazzolo also singled for TK. Natalie
O’Riley worked two walks as well.
Shelby Robinett went the distance in the
girls for TK, striking out two and walking
four. The Blue Devils managed ten hits, scor-
ing three runs in the first inning, four in the
fifth and three in the seventh.
TK fought back from the early 3-0 hole by
scoring two in the home half of the first and
adding single runs in the third, fourth, fifth
and sixth innings.
Sprague homered and tripled in the loss to
Hopkins to start the day. Sophie Haveman had
a single, a double and an RBI. Emily Offinga
also had a double and an RBI. Appel was
2-for-4 with an RBI and Snyder had two hits
too.
TK was back in action Tuesday afternoon,
suffering its first defeats of the OK Gold
Conference season, against visiting Wayland,
to fall to 4-2 in conference play. The Wildcats
took 15-4 win in the opener before taking
game two 4-1.
TK pitcher Maleah Bailey held the Wildcats
to one earned run in her six innings in the
circle in game two, but two Trojan errors
helped the Wayland girls score three unearned
runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Bailey allowed six hits while striking out
four. She didn’t walk a batter.
TK got its run in game two in the top of thefifth as Natalie O’Riley singled, stole second,
took third on a wild pitch and eventually came
home when the Wildcats threw down to first
to get a Trojan batter out after a dropped third
strike.
The Wildcats had 13 hits in the opener,
facing TK pitchers VanStee and Peyton Stahl,and also worked ten walks to keep the base
paths busy.
Sprague tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom
of the third, following a VanStee triple with a
two-run home run to center field. Elaina
O’Riley and VanStee had two hits each in that
game one loss. Snyder and Bailey each sin-gled once, with Snyder driving in two runs in
the top of the first.
Snyder’s two-run single put TK up 2-1 at
the time, but the Wildcats evened things up
with a run in the top of the second then moved
in front 4-2 with two runs in the top of the
third. After Sprague’s home run tied the ball-game, the Wildcats took the lead back with
four runs in the top of the fourth and added
three in the fifth and four more in the sixth.Elaina O’Riley gets a jump off second during her team’s contest with Gull Lake at
Saturday’s TK Invitational in Middleville. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Thornapple Kellogg third baseman Natalie O’Riley scoops up a Gull Lake bunt in
front of the pitcher’s circle during the final game of the TK Invitational Saturday in
Middleville. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Thornapple Kellogg’s Cole Shoobridge watches his tee shot fly on the par-3, number
six on the gold nine at Yankee Springs Golf Course Thursday during the OK Gold
Conference jamboree hosted by the Trojans. (Photo by Brett Bremer)
TK’s Austin Pitsch sends a shot flying from the fairway towards the green on gold
number eight at Yankee Springs Golf Course Thursday afternoon. (Photo by Brett
Bremer)TK’s Trevor Hummer watches a putt roll
towards the cup on gold number seven at
Yankee Springs Golf Course Thursday
during the OK Gold Conference jamboree
hosted by the Trojans. (Photo by Brett
Bremer)