MOUNT PLEASANT - The Alma baseball team defeated the Indians of Chesaning 12-0 in the first round of the Michigan High School Athletic Association playoffs on Wednesday. The Panthers (17-9) scored five runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to clinch a victory. Junior Zach Hanson (6-2) got the start on the mound and went four innings allowing just two hits and striking out six while walking just two. Sophomores Justin Doyle and Trent Fish, and freshman Konner Vedrode had the only hits for Alma. Vedrode also walked twice and Hanson walked three times while senior Toph Roethlisberger had two RBI. The Panthers will continue their post-season run on Saturday morning when they take on Freeland for a 10:00 a.m. first pitch in Mt. Pleasant.
MOUNT PLEASANT - The Alma Softball team earned an 8-6 victory in Wednesday's pre-district game against Chesaning. Alma struck first in the top of one when a single by junior Kendall Vedrode plated junior Karli Hyatt. Chesaning would tie the game in the second, and then take a 4-1 lead in the top of the fourth. In the bottom half of the frame the Panther bats came alive, starting with a leadoff triple by sophomore Emma Ceja, the Panthers would score four to take a 5-4 lead. The Panthers would add one more in the bottom of the fifth, and get two in the bottom of the sixth to take an 8-4 lead into the last inning. The first three Indian batters would reach in the top of the seventh, and a double down the left field line would plate two and cut the Panther lead to 8-6. That would be as close as the Indians would get. The next batter lined out tofreshman pitcher Emmy Vanblaricum, and a throw over to third would make it two outs on the pitch. The final batter of the game would ground out to Vanblaricum who threw over to first to seal the deal. Vedrode, Hyatt and fellow junior Justin Moreno all went 3/4 on the day. Alma will continue their district run on Saturday, when they take on Freeland for a 12:30 p.m. start.
Senior 2-miler Dom Garcia, junior hurdler Chase Austin, and the 4x800 team of Garcia, senior Jake Morey, junior Damian Castillo and sophomore Brevan Bender all qualified for and competed at the Lansing State Journal meet at Lansing Waverly on Tuesday. The 4x800 relay took fifth and Garcia took 6th in the 2-mile.
A bevy of Panther athletes also competed in the Morning Sun meet Tuesday in Mount Pleasant. On the boys side, seniors Clayton Carr and Curtis Doyle each placed in both the shot put and discus competitions. Carr took second in the shot put and third in the discus, while Doyle took fourth and sixth in the two events. Sophomores Brenden Howard and James Gilson each took fifth in the 400 and 2-mile respectively. The girls were led by senior Lexi Morton who won the discus. Sophomore Cassie Nelson took fourth in the shot put and sophomore Alyx Wesley took sixth in the 800. Freshman Tayla Guerrero took sixth in the 100. The 4x100 and 4x200 teams took third and fifth respectively. The Alma girls soccer team concluded their season on Tuesday with their 4-0 district loss to Saginaw Swan Valley. The Vikings who cruised to a second place finish in the TVC Central this season, beat the Panthers 9-1 earlier this season. Tuesday would be the final game in a P for seniors Danielle Francis, Sydney McCarthy, Elise Bennett, Emma Bever, Jacey Fetzner, Martha Ropp, Amber Swisher, JasmineRae Gilson, and Natalie Walsh.
ELSIE - A perfect game by junior Zach Hanson (5-2) and a complete game, two-hitter by sophomore Justin Doyle (5-1) paced the Panthers to a pair of victories at Ovid-Elsie on Thursday. In game one, Hanson went all five innings without allowing a base runner and striking out seven as the Panthers won 18-0. Junior Aidan Kunkel led the way offensively as he racked up three hits and three runs scored. Freshman Konner Vedrode had two hits and two RBI, while sophomore Antonio Rosalezhad a hit and three RBI. In game two, Doyle got the win, going seven innings and striking out ten while allowing just two unearned runs. Hanson and Doyle each helped their own cause, having three hits a piece on the day. Alma improved to 15-7 on the season and finish 8-6 in the TVC Central, locking up third place. The Panthers will continue their campaign on Friday when they host the fourth ranked team in Division 4, New Lothrop, for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch.
At the conference meet in Hemlock Wednesday night, the Alma boys track and field team took second in the Tri-Valley Conference Central Division. The Panthers took home championships in the 3,200 meter run with senior Dom Garcia'sperformance, along with a 4x400 championship from the team of seniors Jake Morey and Malcolm Davis, junior Damian Castillo, and sophomore Brevan Bender. On the girls side, 4x800 team of junior Seraphina Provenzano, sophomore Alyx Wesley and freshmen Alli Munger and Mariah Castillo paced the girls to a fifth place finish as they won their relay.
The Panthers dropped a 6-0 decision to conference foe Ovid-Elsie on Wednesday. The JV team fell 8-1. The class of 2014 played their last home regular season games of their careers during the losses. "The senior class has contributed a lot to the soccer program. We have four 4-year starters graduating that have logged a ton of minutes for our team. We also have 1 2nd-year and 4-first year players that have helped make it possible to start our jv soccer program. To top it off this group helped lead the way to another academic all state award for the program," said Head Coach Nick O'Neill of the group. The team will play on next Tuesday against Swan Valley for the first game of the district tournament.
Baseball
The Alma baseball team dropped two games Friday to US-127 Rival Shepherd by scores of 4-3 in eight innings, and 3-1. In game one the Panthers got off to a slow start, allowing three unearned runs in the first. The Panthers (13-6, 5-5 TVC Central) were able to claw back and get two of their own in the bottom of the first. The game turned into a pitcher's duel after that between juniors Zach Hanson and Gage Gall. Over the next six innings the visitors managed just three hits. With one out in the bottom of the seventh, senior Toph Roethlisberger singled into center field to score the game-tying run. Shepherd would win the game in the top of the eighth inning after Brandon Stressman scored after his leadoff double. Hanson (4-2)took the loss, going eight innings, allowing just one earned run and striking out six. The Panthers fell in game two by a score of 3-1. The Panthers failed to get a run on the board until the seventh inning. Senior Matt Young (0-2) took the loss, going six innings and allowing three runs on five hits and four walks. Young had two hits on the day for the Panthers whileHanson and junior Aidan Kunkle added a double and single respectively. Alma will next play Monday when they travel to Hemlock for a make-up of the game scheduled for earlier this season. Softball The Panther softball team fell twice to 8th ranked Shepherd on Friday. The Panthers struggled to get anything going against Shepherd standout pitcher Haley Buckley, and fell 9-0 and 9-1 on the day. Alma will continue their season when they play at Hemlock on Monday. Golf The Alma golf squad won their third consecutive TVC Championship (fourth in five years) along with their third consecutive Big Rapids Invite crown over the weekend. On Friday the Panthers took their 15th TVC Jamboree in a row, with the win in Hemlock. Senior Jay Green took home medalist honors, while sophomore Cody Yates was second and senior Luke Mallorywas fifth. At the Big Rapids Invite on Saturday, Green was again medalist and Yates took second again. Mallory finished eighth on Saturday. The next competition for the golf team will be districts. |