spring sports #1

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Ludington Daily News Thursday, April 10, 2014

Spring

Sports1 Spring

Sports1

Your guide to MCE, and Pentwater’s upcoming sports

seasons, featuring stories, team

photos and schedules

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2 | LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/SPRING SPORTS | THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014

BY DAVID BOSSICKDAILY NEWS SPORTS EDITOR

Mason County Eastern’s softball team will have near-ly as much inexperience as last year.

But longtime coach Bill Cole said the Cardinals have a markedly different look this season.

“Last year’s team was a soccer team that played softball. Without the soc-cer team playing softball — eight of them played soc-cer out of the 12 — (there wouldn’t have been a team),” Cole said. “They were good athletes that played softball.

“This year we’re a soft-ball team that plays soccer. We’ve got some knowledge of the game. We’re ahead of last year with mostly fresh-men and sophomores.”

The Cardinals return just four players from last year’s team that saw its 16-year grip on the Western Michi-gan D League championship come to an end. However, the Cardinals won their 28th district title consecutively. And the leaders of this year’s team figure to be the four re-turnees: Emily Knizacky, Jor-dan Lake, Taylor Grimm and Lauren McCumber.

This will be Lake’s return to athletics since a car acci-dent last fall.

“From what happened to her in her life and her to be able to play softball, which she loves, it’s an amazing thing,” Cole said. “She went through a lot.”

Knizacky, though, is the only returning starter.

The team brings in sever-al new players and Cole said he’s still setting on who will be the player on the pitching rubber.

“Tammy Campbell is (probably) my No. 1 pitch-

er, but she’s never thrown a varsity game,” he said. “Meaghan McCormick and Emily Knizacky will be there as backups. . . Madison is a freshman. She does OK, and she’s working on speed and control. Emily worked all summer to be a pitcher and

she actually throws pretty good.”

Like all the other teams in the area, the confines of the gym have been the home of the spring teams. East-ern at times has gotten out into the parking lot, but be-yond that, not much else has

happened. Cole expects the team to find its way when the weather breaks and the Western Michigan D League race gets underway.

“We’ll make young team mistakes. The kids are smart enough,” he said. “They’ve been through a couple of pro-

grams that struggled with the win aspect and they want to win. And, I want to win.”

Cole continues to set his sights on league titles, too. He also knows it won’t be easy, either.

“(Manistee) Catholic last year was pretty good. If we

could have beat them twice, we wouldn’t have shared the title. Onekama did a nice job last year,” Cole said. “Bear Lake has girl who can throw hard. . . Brethren is a de-cent program, too. There’s a bunch of teams that we have to be ready to play.”

JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Mason County Eastern softball team are, from left, sitting, Madisyn McCormick, Jordan Lake, Emily Knizacky and Dejna Babcock; kneeling, Tammy Campbell, Ashlee Purple and Taylor Grimm; standing, coach Bill Cole, Ryann Oomen, Daly Narmore, Brooke Lee, Zwewssa Cregg and Ambriel Peters. Not pictured: Megan McCormick, Lauren McCumber and Sigrid Kjeldgaard.

Mason County Eastern softball

Young Cardinals seek titles


Mason County Eastern’s golf team will be young and inexperienced this season with just one returning play-er back from last year.

Ian Rutledge, a junior, is the sole returning player from last year’s team. The Cardinals will bring in two players who decided to re-join the team after a year’s hiatus — Sarah Hartley and Devon Harvey — and a pair of freshmen, Jonah Howell and Sanford Narmore.

Eastern coach Tod How-ell would love to have a few more join the team, but ex-actly when they’ll play is an entirely different matter al-together.

“We’ve been putting in the hallway. . . There’s not a whole to do if the courses aren’t open. I’ll be greatly surprised if the courses are open before May 1,” How-ell said. “I haven’t talked to anyone to verify it, but when I look outside and see snow on the ground, there’s not a whole lot you can do.”

The Cardinals may look into using the indoor video driving range above Sports-man’s in Ludington to help prepare for the season. And, where there are patches of grass starting to take hold, Eastern work on chipping and other short iron work.

“I told the kids to bring pitching wedges,” Howell said during the preseason. “We’ll find some spots, and do some short-game work. Otherwise, there’s not a whole lot to do now.”

The schedule was already

completely changed because of the long thaw from winter.

Rutledge and Harvey fig-ure to be the leaders of the team on the scoreboard. Rut-ledge played well last sea-son for the Cardinals. Tod Howell’s son, Jonah, can play well, too, but the elder Howell said the game is only

part of the interest his son shares.

“We’ll be OK. It’s a matter of getting out there and start playing,” Tod Howell said. “We’re going to be young and inexperienced. It’ll be a learning year for us.”

Because of the inexperi-ence that Eastern has, he

doesn’t expect the Cardinals to be challenging the likes of Pentwater, Manistee Catho-lic, Bear Lake or Onekama for the Western Michigan D League championship. Rath-er, progress toward the end

of the season and enjoying the game beyond this short spring season are Howell’s goals.

“We’ll do the best we can to improve as the season goes along,” Howell said.

“And I’d like to get at least some kids that can shoot in the 40s. Then I’ll be really happy. That’s the year-end goal. If three kids out of the five shoot in the 40s, I’ll be thrilled.”

3

1200 E. Tinkham AveLudington, Michigan 49431

THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014 | LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/SPRING SPORTS | 3

One Longfellow PlaceLudington, MI 49431

800-253-0409

JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Mason County Eastern golf team are, from left, coach Tod Howell, Sarah Hartley, Sanford Narmore, Jonah Hawell, Ian Rutledge. Not pictured: Devon Harvey.

Mason County Eastern golf

Eastern shoots for best play in May

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Mason County Eastern’s girls soccer team will have an even blend of experi-ence and newcomers when it comes to the pitch this spring.

The Cardinals will roster 16 players for this season, with eight returning players.

“There’s six new freshmen and a couple of foreign ex-change students,” Eastern coach Dee McCumber said. “I’ve got one girl triple-sport-ing and six girls double-sporting. It’s going to be a crazy season.”

Because of Eastern’s small size, some of the stu-dent-athletes compete in not just one single season but a handful. The school offers softball and track as well as soccer for girls in the spring.

The team will return ath-letes such as Anna Bus-winka, Lauren McCumber, Elizabeth Bentley, Ryann Oomen, Marissa Kist and Emily Knizacky. Dani Schul-tz, who suffered an injury during the basketball sea-son, may be out for the en-tire spring.

“She wants to play really bad,” Dee McCumber said. “I know she’s got to have surgery. It depends on what happens afterwards.”

That leaves the newcom-ers with varying degrees of experience.

“I’ve probably got one or two that have never played before, but they’re learn-ing really fast,” McCumber said. “The other four that are coming in are AYSO kids. They’ve played since they were little.”

Last season, the Cardi-

nals went 6-4-4 overall. Eastern will welcome some tough competition, includ-ing playing Mason County Central for a traveling tro-phy again this spring. But the Cardinals will also wel-come in another soccer-playing school in the West-ern Michigan D League, the

co-op of Brethren and Bear Lake.

Brethren/Bear Lake, Pent-water and Eastern will head to Big Rapids Crossroads later this month for a one-day conference tourna-ment.

“I’m very excited. I love Crossroads’ field,” McCum-

ber said. “The more schools that we get to play soccer, the better. We’ll go any-where and play anybody. I don’t care if they have to co-op, we want more soc-cer teams, more chances to play. It’s hard to find the schools in our division that play.”

Eastern is playing the likes of Leland and Fruit-port Calvary Christian in nonconference games as well to help get the num-ber of scheduled games increased. Remember, though, that’s scheduled because the spring took some time to take hold.

McCumber believes her team will be strong this sea-son, and she likes its chanc-es.

“We’re a young building team, half and half on re-turning players,” she said. “The new ones that are com-ing up that are going to be good strong athletes.”

SUBMITTED PHOTOMembers of the 2004 Mason County Eastern girls soccer team are, from left, sitting, Lily Rolston-Heitz and Elizabeth Bentley; kneeling, Danielle VanHeck, Veronica Baldi, Ambriel Peters and Alysha Watkins; standing, standing, assistant Russell Bentley, Ryann Oomen, Daly Narmore, Birgitte Kasin, Breanna Kist, Kaitlyn Maciag, Taylor Grimm and Emily Knizacky. Not pictured: coach Dee McCumber, Lauren McCumber, Anna Buswinka and Marissa Kist.

Mason County Eastern girls soccer

MCE has good mix for 2014

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Defense will be the key for Mason County Eastern’s baseball team this spring.

The Cardinals go into the 2014 season with six return-ing players from last year’s team out of a roster of 18. And the players that suit up and play will be looking to back up the pitching in the field as best as they can.

“With us, we don’t have a per se dominant arm,” East-ern coach Dan Hanson said. “We have guys who will pitch to contact. They’re hittable. How well we field the ball behind them will determine

where we’ll go.”Jimmy Appledorn, Michael

Matzen, Justice Gilchrist and Travis McCormick are all returning players from last year who will be called upon to pitch. Gilchrist was tabbed as the No. 1 pitcher by Hanson with McCormick possibly being the No. 2.

Appledorn will also play at first base and McCormick will catch. Gilchrist will also play in the middle infield, either at shortstop or second base.

Conor Porter also is a re-turning player and will be looking to fill a position ei-ther at second or third base as well was in one of the cor-ner outfield spots.

The means the balance of the roster, 12 players, are newcomers.

Eastern’s roster:

SENIORS: Michael Matzen, Jus-tice Gilchrist, Jimmy Appledorn and Calbert Lundquist.JUNIORS: Jonathan Stewart,

Cain Stone and Travis McCor-mick.SOPHOMORES: Josh Pomorski,

Conor Porter and Greg Bender.FRESHMEN: Joey Mickevich,

Daniel Busch, Mason Saya, Sanford Narmore, Alex Oomen, Ben Cossette, Fischer Spencer and Abe Shoup.

The key to the 2014 sea-son is the number of fresh-

men that are out for the sport, eight.

“That’s something we’ve needed and what we haven’t had in a while,” Hanson said. “Three or four of them will play and play a lot.”

Hanson said the team has four different players as pro-spective third basemen and the outfield was a question mark as the spring break was coming to a close. The team had 11 practices lead-ing up to the break, but all of those were indoors.

The team worked on the fundamentals of the game during its practices, some-thing that most need as their baseline knowledge and play

in the game is fairly limited for the most part.

“l only have two boys that played summer ball,” Han-son said. “A lot of imes, we’re starting from the ground back up. It’s just a return to the basic funda-mentals. Hopefully that will transfer to the field when we get there.”

Hanson pegged the schools to the north — Brethren, Bear Lake and Manistee Catholic — as the ones to beat in the Western Michigan D League this sea-son. Onekama will be tough, too.

“If I had to guess and pick us, I’d say we’d be some-

where in the middle,” he said. “Hopefully better.”

What is good for the Car-dinals is the team’s overall attitude. They want to wipe away a tough season from a year ago and compete better. And they want to be in the hunt for a district title if not for a league title.

“A lot of those boys are back and worked harder. They don’t want to see a re-peat of how we played last year,” Hanson said. “I do be-lieve, like a lot of years, we’ll start out a little slower. By the end of the year, we’ll be playing much better. A lot of times, that’s the one that matters.”

Mason County Eastern baseballDefense behind pitching will be critical for Eastern 9

JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the Mason County Eastern baseball are, from left, kneeling, Sanford Narmore, Joe Mickevich, Conor Porter, manager Kyle Lee, Fischer Spencer, Josh Pomorski, Daniel Busch and Cal Lundquist; standing, Mason Saya, Alex Oomen, Abe Shoup, Ben Cossette, Justice Gilchrist, Jimmy Appledorn, Travis McCormick, Michael Matzen, Johnathan Stewart and coach Dan Hanson. Not pictured: Gregory Bender and Cain Stone.

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Mason County Eastern’s track teams are small in numbers again this spring, both for the boys and the girls, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t several athletes who will be knocking on the door of the MHSAA state meet next month.

The boys track team has nine kids out, including four who are returning from last season. The girls team has three returning members from last season for the team that has seven on the roster.

For the boys team, Jim-my Appledorn, Hunter Hof-mann, Cody Smith and Brent Swain all return from last year’s team. Appledorn will compete again in the throw-ing field events and run some long distance relays for the Cardinals. Hofmann excelled in the pole vault last season, including qualifying for the Meijer Meet of Cham-pions in Muskegon. Smith ran middle and long dis-tance last season and Swain will be relied upon to com-pete in the hurdles events and some relays.

The Cardinals add a hand-ful of new runners to the team this spring. Preston Kelley will run sprints, mid-dle distance and some re-lays, a contrast from his fall where he qualified for the MHSAA state cross country meet.

Abe Shoup will try the pole vault as well as run middle and long distance. Dustin Pickard will run long dis-tance, too. The team adds two foreign exchange stu-dents, too: Fedderico Ferri and Arttu Pierinen. Ferri will run long distance and Pierin-en is being groomed for the sprints and some relays.

The relays will be the key for the boys team, accord-ing to Mason County Eastern

coach Ben Knizacky.“I don’t know how com-

petitve we will be in the sprints, but we should be able to throw a pretty decent sprint relay,” he said. “We should develop into a pretty decent sprint relay. Individu-ally, I’m not sure how they will do.”

Knizacky believes Ap-pledorn and Hofmann can find their way to the state meet the final day of May.

“Obviously, I have expecta-tions of Hunter winning the pole vault (at the conference

meet) and expectations of him qualifying for state,” he said. “He just missed out last year. Likewise for Jimmy, he missed out on both (the shot put and discus). He was close in both of those events.”

The girls team will re-turn three athletes from last season: Ryan Oomen, Lily Rolston-Heitz and Lau-ren McCumber. Oomen will again compete in the pole vault and she’s looking for-ward to running the 100-me-ter hurdles. Rolston-Heitz also pole vaulted last spring

and will do that as well as run some relays. McCumber, who hurdled last spring, will be limited to relays for the most part this spring.

Eastern’s roster is bal-anced out by a trio of fresh-men — Kailtyn Maciag, Jor-dan Goodman and Meagan McCormick — and foreign exchange student Veronica Baldi.

Maciag is slated to run hurdles and relays for the Cardinals, something she excelled in during her time as an eighth grader. Good-

man also will run in the 300-meter hurdles and some sprints. She may also run some middle distance. Mc-Cormick will run middle and long distance and likely a leg of the 3,200-meter relay. Bal-di will run some middle dis-tance and relays.

“We’ve got some girls who could do well,” Knizacky said. “Both Ryann and Lily tied one spot out from going to state last year in the pole vault. Meagan McCormick is quite capable of qualifying in the longer distance runs. She’s ex-

tremely competitive.”Both of Eastern’s teams

are heading to a different re-gional, though. This year, in-stead of competing against schools from the northeast lower peninsula, which in-cluded the likes of confer-ence foe Bear Lake and Tra-verse City St. Francis, the Cardinals are headed to Sau-gatuck.

“It’ll be nice to be away from Bear Lake and St. Fran-cis,” Knizacky said. “I know there will be some competi-tive teams down there.”

Mason County Eastern trackCardinals look for individual successes on track

JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Mason County Eastern coed track teams are, from left, sitting, Veronica Baldi, Kaitlyn Maciag, Ryann Oomen, Jordan Goodman and Lily Rolston-Heitz; standing, Dustin Pickard, Hunter Hofmann, Arttu Pierinen, Abe Shoup, Jimmy Appledorn, Fedderico Ferri, Brent Swain and Preston Kelley. Not pictured: Cody Smith, Megan McCormick and Lauren McCumber.

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BOYS GOLFThurs., April 10, Manistee,

McBain NMC, 4:30 p.m.Tues., April 15, WMD jam-

boree at Brethren/Bear Lake, 4 p.m.

Thurs., April 17, at OnekamaTues., April 22, WMD jambo-

ree, 4 p.m.Tues., April 29, WMD jambo-

ree at Manistee Catholic, 4 p.m.Wed., May 7, WMD jamboree

at Brethren/Bear Lake, 4 p.m.Thurs., May 8, WMD scramble

at Brethren/Bear Lake, 4 p.m.Tues., May 13, WMD jambo-

ree, 4 p.m.Wed., May 14, WMD tourna-

ment at Pentwater, 1 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCERSat., April 12, at Benzie Cen-

tral, 10 a.m.Thurs., April 17, at Leland, 5

p.m.Wed., April 23, at Pentwater,

4:30 p.m.Fri., April 25, at Hart, 4:30 p.m.Sat., April 26, WMD tourna-

ment at Big Rapids CrossroadsTues., April 29, McBain NMC,

4:30 p.m.Fri., May 2, at Brethren/Bear

Lake, 5 p.m.Tues., May 6, Brethren/Bear

Lake, 5 p.m.Tues., May 13, Pentwater, 5

p.m.Fri., May 16, MCC, 4:30 p.m.Tues., May 20, at Manistee,

5 p.m.Sat., May 24, at Fruitport Cal-

vary Christian

COED TRACKFri., April 11, at Onekama in-

vite, 2 p.m.Tues., April 15, at McBain in-

vite, 4 p.m.Wed., April 16, WMD jambo-

ree at Onekama, 4 p.m.Thurs., Apirl 17, at Mesick in-

vite, 4 p.m.Wed., April 23, WMD jambo-

ree at Brethren, 4 p.m.Wed., April 30, WMD jambo-

ree at Onekama, 4 p.m.Sat., May 3, at Brethren inviteWed., May 7, WMD champi-

onship meet, 4 p.m.Fri., May 9, at Manton Invita-

tional, 3 p.m.

BASEBALLFri., April 11, at Ludington,

4 p.m.Mon., April 14, at Manistee

Catholic, 4 p.m.Tues., April 15, McBain NMC,

4:30 p.m.Thurs., April 17, at MCC, 4 p.m.Mon., April 21, Pentwater, 4

p.m.Thurs., April 24, Baldwin, 4 p.m.Mon., April 28, Walkerville,

4 p.m.Thurs., May 1, at Onekama,

4 p.m.Sat., May 3, at Briggs True Val-

ue Invitational at Mason County Central, 9 a.m.

Mon., May 5, at Manistee Catholic, 4:30 p.m.

Wed., May 7, at White Cloud, 4 p.m.

Thurs., May 8, Manistee, 4:30 p.m.

Mon., May 12, at BRCCCA, 4:30 p.m.

Thurs., May 15, Brethren, 4:30 p.m.

SOFTBALLFri., April 11, at Ludington,

4 p.m.Mon., April 14, at Manistee

Catholic, 4 p.m.Tues., April 15, Marion, 4:30

p.m.Thurs., April 17, at MCC, 4 p.m.Sat., April 19, at Frankfort Invi-

tational, 10 a.m.Thurs., April 24, Baldwin, 4 p.m.Mon., April 28, Bear Lake, 4

p.m.Thurs., May 1, at Onekama,

4:30 p.m.Sat., May 3, at Briggs True Val-

ue Invitational at Mason County Central, 9 a.m.

Mon., May 5, at Manistee Catholic, 4 p.m.

Wed., May 7, at White Cloud, 4 p.m.

Thurs., May 8, Manistee, 4:30 p.m.

Mon., May 12, at BRCCA, 4:30 p.m.

Thurs., May 15, Brethren, 4:30 p.m.

Sat., May 17, at North Muske-gon Invitational, 10 a.m.

COED TRACKWed., April 9, at Mason

County Eastern Relays, 4 p.m.Wed., April 23, WMD jambo-

ree at Brethren, 4 p.m.Wed., April 30, WMD jambo-

ree at MCE, 4 p.m.Wed., May 7, WMD meet at

Onekama, 4 p.m.Wed., May 21, WMD meet at

Onekama, 4 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCERWed., April 9, Mason County

Eastern, 4:30 p.m.Fri., April 11, at Manistee, 5

p.m.Tues., April 15, Bear Lake/

Brethren, 5 p.m.Wed., April 16, Mason Coun-

ty Central, 4:30 p.m.Fri., April 18, at Holland Cal-

vary Christian, 5 p.m.Tues., April 22, at Bear Lake/

Brethren, 5 p.m.Wed., April 23, Mason Coun-

ty Eastern, 4:30 p.m.Sat., April 26, WMD tourna-

ment at Big Rapids CrossroadsTues., April 29, Big Rapids

Crossroads, 5 p.m.Fri., May 2, at Hart, 4:30 p.m.Wed., May 7, at Montague,

4:30 p.m.Thurs., May 8, McBain North-

ern Michigan Christian, 4:30 p.m.

Tues., May 13, at Mason County Eastern, 5 p.m.

Mon., May 19, Manistee, 5 p.m.

Wed., May 21, at Newaygo, 4:30 p.m.

BASEBALLThurs., April 10, McBain

Northern Michigan Christian, 4 p.m.

Thurs., April 17, at Manistee, 4 p.m.

Thurs., April 24, at Onekama, 4 p.m.

Fri., April 25, Holland Calvary Christian, 4 p.m.

Mon., April 28, Manistee Catholic, 4 p.m.

Thurs., May 1, Baldwin, 4:30 p.m.

Mon., May 5, Walkerville, 4 p.m.

Thurs., May 8, at Mason County Eastern, 4 p.m.

Mon., May 12, at Brethren, 4:30 p.m.

Thurs., May 15, at Big Rapids Crossroads, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS GOLFWed., April 23, WMD jambo-

ree, 4 p.m.Tues., April 29, WMD jambo-

ree at Manistee Catholic, 4 p.m.Wed., April 30, Oceana Coun-

ty Tournament at The Colonial, 3:30 p.m.

Tues., May 6, WMD jamboree at Onekama, 4 p.m.

Tues., May 13, WMD jambo-ree at Mason County Eastern, 4 p.m.

Wed., May 14, WMD tourna-ment, 1 p.m.

BASEBALLThursday, April 10, at Lake

Leelanau St. Mary, 4 p.m.Wednesday, April 16,

Onekama, 4 p.m.Thursday, April 24, Brethren,

4 p.m.Monday, April 28, at Pent-

water, 4 p.m.Thursday, May 1, Big Rapids

Crossroads, 4 p.m.Monday, May 5, Mason

County Eastern, 4:30 p.m.Saturday, May 10, at Mount

Pleasant Sacred Heart, 1 p.m.Monday, May 12, at Oneka-

ma, 4:30 p.m.Thursday, May 22, at Buck-

ley, 4:30 p.m.

SOFTBALLThursday, April 10, at Lake

Leelanau St. Mary, 4 p.m.Wednesday, April 16,

Onekama, 4 p.m.Thursday, April 24, Brethren,

4 p.m.Thursday, May 1, Big Rapids

Crossroads, 4:30 p.m.Monday, May 5, Mason

County Eastern, 4 p.m.Monday, May 12, at Oneka-

ma, 4:30 p.m.Thursday, May 22, at Buck-

ley, 4:30 p.m.

COED TRACKWednesday, April 23, WMD

jamboree at Brethren, 4 p.m.Wednesday, April 30, WMD

jamboree at Mason County Eastern, 4 p.m.

Wednesday, May 7, WMD meet at Onekama, 4 p.m.

Wednesday, May 14, WMD meet at Onekama, 4 p.m.

BOYS GOLFTuesday, April 29, WMD

jamboree at Manistee Catho-lic, 4 p.m.

Tuesay, May 6, WMD jambo-ree at Onekama, 4 p.m.

Wednesday, May 7, WMD jamboree at Brethren/Bear Lake, 4 p.m.

Tuesday, May 13, WMD jam-boree at Mason County East-ern, 4 p.m.

Wednesday, May 14, WMD tournament at Pentwater, 1 p.m.

Monday, May 19, at Oneka-ma with Manton, Mesick, 4 p.m.

Mason County Eastern schedules

Pentwaterschedules

Manistee Catholic schedules

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BY GREG GIELCZYKDAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

MANISTEE — There’s a wealth of experience return-ing for Manistee Catholic’s softball team on the dia-mond.

In the dugout, though, it’s a slightly different story. Ev-erett McLinden, who grad-uated from the school in 1993, takes over for Dave Li-jewski this spring.

And he’ll be taking over a

team that split the Western Michigan D League title with Onekama.

McLinden played baseball in high school and contin-ued to play slowpitch soft-ball. His coaching experi-ence comes from the junior varsity volleyball team last fall.

But he’s raring to go.“It was an opening for a

sport that I really, truly like,” McLinden said of the soft-ball position. “It’s a good set

of girls that I coached over the volleyball season. These girls are hard workers, and I figured step up and partici-pate in part of this.

McLinden’s task is made a little easier with four of the five seniors returning start-ers, leaving him with only a few positions to fill. Every-one on the roster has some experience, including the freshmen.

SEE SOFTBALL, 12


MANISTEE — Kevin Skip-ski said being able to coach any sport at Manistee Catho-lic Central is a “dream come true,” and he’s excited to be taking over the Sabers’ girls and boys track and field program.

Although training indoors

has presented unique chal-lenges, and a lack of work in the field events, the Sabers have been working on hand-offs in the relays. The Sabers have been doing a lot of run-ning.

From what he’s seen watching the athletes train-ing prior to spring break, Skipski has hopes of many of them qualifying for the

state meet, particularly in the running events, where the Sabers are the strongest.

Senior veterans Alysha Heck and Alexis Miller are the Sabers’ best hopes in the sprints and sprint relays, while sophomores Kayltin Heck and Paige Picardat pro-vide depth in all of the run-ning events.

SEE SABERS, 12

GREG GIELCZYK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Manistee Catholic softball team are, from left, front row, Alexis Miller, Aly-sha Heck and Amber Robke; back row, Jodi Janowiak, Kaytlin Heck, Paige Picardat, Shelby Papes, Elizabeth Nelson and Johnna Hansen. Not pictured: Selena Loredo, Molly McLinden, Jenna Kempf, Maegan Sorenson, Courtney Sorenson, Hannah Janicki, Elizabeth Silvka, Devon Edmondson and Autumn Carter.

GREG GIELCZYK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Manistee Catholic track team are, from left, front row, Alysa Heck, Alexis Miller, Michaela Peterson, Jenny Pieczynski and Megan Gunia; back row, assistant Heather Skip-ski, Jeremy Bigalke, Mason Calleson, Alex Carter and coach Kevin Skipski. Not pictured: Jason Kaminski, Molly McLinden, Selena Loredo and Jenna Kempf.Manistee Catholic softball

McLinden in charge of Sabers Manistee Catholic trackSkipski coaching thinclads

9



MANISTEE — Mark Dun-phy faces a couple of chal-lenges replacing Pete Sol-wold as the Manistee Catholic Central golf coach, and both of them are daunt-ing. For one, Solwold was a legend in leading the Sabers to the state finals on numer-ous occasions.

For another, his first team is a small and young one that hasn’t been tested in varsity competition that may not even be able to practice be-fore playing its first match because of the lingering win-ter keeping them penned up indoors.

But he prepares to tackle the job with a positive and en-thusiastic approach, as well as the moral support of Jake Charete, whom he prefers to consider a co-coach rath-er than an assistant with the same authority although the two will discuss strategy be-fore talking with the players.

“Pete’s been wonderful at giving us an idea of what he’s done, and what he’s been suc-cessful with,” Dunphy said. “Obviously, he’s not over-shadowing, but he’s certain-ly there for any questions we have. Once Mother Nature co-operates with us, we’re look-ing forward to getting out there, playing some golf and seeing where the kids are, and where they line up.”

Dunphy’s previous coach-ing experience consists of helping out in youth hockey. He’s never been a head coach, nor has he coached a high school golf team before.

But he’s excited for the opportunity to maintain the high level of excellence the Sabers have established even in the years when they’ve had small numbers as they do this year with two juniors, two freshmen and two eighth graders.

Joe Nelson and Renee Sey-

mour are the juniors, Nick Bialik and Jacob McComb are the freshmen while the eighth graders are Barry Sey-mour and Nick Hansen. Al-though at least two or three of them were in some match-es last year, none have a lot of varsity experience.

Although the students were on spring break the first week of April, Dunphy hoped that his players get in some rounds of golf since most of them went south where the weather is more conducive — at least, most of the time — to getting out on a golf course and swing-ing the clubs.

Unfortunately, the coach-es didn’t have an opportuni-ty to get together with their whole team because a third of the players were in Washing-ton the week prior to spring break. In fairness, all of the spring coaches were missing players for the same reason.

Then, everybody took a week off with so few athletes and their families staying in town over break.

Once they return, Dun-phy and Charete have talk-ed about getting some Nerf golf balls, getting the players in the gym and having them swinging clubs so they can start becoming comfortable with their body motion until they get outside.

Dunphy said the players are excited about the season, and understand that they can’t control the weather, which is unpredictable and all too frequently unpleas-ant during the spring. The long range forecast calls for a particularly cold one, too, so the coaches have encour-aged the players to make sure they have enough warm clothing to wear out on the course.

“We’re looking forward to gettting started, feeling our way, see where our strengths are and what we have to work on,” Dunphy said.

Dunphy takes over Sabers golf


MANISTEE — “We can’t tell too much (because) we haven’t been outside yet, but what I have seen so far is actually better than I thought,” Manistee Catholic Central boys baseball coach Dave Ranville said. “We have some guys that can hit, and we have some more speed this year than we had last year.”

Ranville will be able to tell better once the Sabers final-ly get outside, and he’s hop-ing they can do that before they have to play their first game. “If not, we’ll be the best whiffle ball team in the state,” he joked. “But, I think we’re going to be okay.”

Two key people coming back are seniors Ben Felic-zak and Mason Clark, both of whom were Western Michigan D League all-con-ference selections a year ago. Ranville expects them to be team leaders again.

Pitching should be a strength with the return of senior Robert Sewell and junior Nathan Fortier, and Ranville has been pleasantly surprised with some of the younger guys who came out for the team this year that have shown great promise during indoor drills.

“Some of them are run-ning track and some of them are doing other things, but I don’t think we’re in bad shape,” Ranville added. “We have a few more people than we had last year, to-tal wise, and that’s a good sign.”

At this point, Clark has been penciled in for the No. 1 pitching spot with Sewell scheduled to start second and then Feliczak third in the rotation. Beyond that, Ranville will probably use a committee out of the bull-pen.

The Sabers lost their lead-off man from a year ago, Justin Feliczak, who blew out his knee playing foot-

ball last fall. Feliczak did ex-tremely well hitting the ball as a freshman and the team will miss his presence at the top of the batting order.

Feliczak was also the team’s starting third base-man, where his excellent glove work at the hot corner solidified the infield. The Sabers also lost a big bat when starting first baseman Andrew Perry graduated.

“Yes, there are a few po-sitions where we’ll have to do some floating around on, but that happens every year,” Ranville said. “That’s the name of the game, so that’s what we’ll do. Every-one deals with it.”

Manistee Catholic’s ros-ter:

SENIORS: Mason Clark, Robert Sewell, Ben Feliczak, James Bi-alik, Ryan Hansen, Alex Carter and Jason Kaminski;JUNIORS: Nathan Fortier; SOPHOMORES: Michael

Diesing, Blake Robke, Jordan Kuenzer, Zach Wood, Chad

Robke;FRESHMEN: Nick Bialik.

Ranville has liked what he’s seen from some of the freshmen.

“Nick Bialik is a freshman, but he’s got real good me-chanics,” Ranville said. “I like what he’s doing. Jordan Kuenzer and (senior) Alex Carter are new guys that actually have shown some promise.

Ranville predicts another balanced competition in the Western Michigan D League this season, with Brethren probably one of the teams to beat along with an im-proved Pentwater squad and Walkerville. Mason County Eastern and Oneka-ma could pull off some up-sets.

Being competitive in the conference is clearly the Sa-bers’ top priority, but get-ting ready for the district tournament ranks right up there. Frankfort has domi-nated in recent years.

GREG GIELCZYK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Manistee Catholic Central baseball team are, from left, first row, Thomas Korolenko, Nathan Fortier, Michael Diesing, Blake Robke, Jordan Kuenzer, Mason Clark, Robert Sewell and Zach Wood; back row, coach Dave Ranville, Ben Feliczak, Chad Robke, James Bialik, Ryan Hansen and Alex Carter. Not pictured : Jason Kaminski, Nick Bialik and assistant Jeff Janowiak.

Manistee Catholic baseballSabers have speed, good hitting

10


BY THE DAILY NEWS

Pentwater’s baseball team will have some experience for the 2014 season, which is great considering it picked up a district trophy last sea-son.

But, there’s a catch.“We have experienced

players, but several will be playing different posi-tions,” Pentwater coach Rick Magrath said. “Nick (Ans-combe) is our most expe-rienced pitcher, and then we’re looking at several oth-ers: Alex (Wagner), who has some experience and Chance (Helms), Joey (Thrailkill), Sam (Wagner).

“We are replacing much of the infield positions, shift-ing the outfield a bit, and all this with no field. I hope we can hold our own. They are all good athletes, and I think we’ll adjust, we just need to get on a field to see.”

The Falcons lost several key players from last year’s district titlists, including pitcher/shortstop Cody Anscombe, second base-man Hunter Ruggles, pitch-er/shortstop Drew Sherston and first baseman Erik Wall-strom.

“We have to replace (guys) right up the middle and (at) first base,” Magrath said. “That will involve moving some guys to new positions. . . That’s difficult to do from the gym.”

Snow and ice have held up some of the solutions Magrath has in store for his problems, just like all the other teams in the area. But, he’s encouraged by the returning players who are ready to take the field, espe-cially the seniors.

Alex Wagner will fill in at shortstop when he’s not

pitching and Helms will work over at first base. Thrailkill will help to direct the staff from behind the plate and he can play some infield, too. Anscombe will

split time at catcher with Thrailkill. Sam Wagner will be in centerfield when he’s not on the mound.

Also back are third base-man Nathan Nowsch and

catcher/right fielder Jacob Whitford.

Magrath said the number of players out this season is lower, but he’s glad to get to coach the team. It’s just a

matter of when as the snow and ice slowly melts away for spring.

“I suspect we’ll just be playing conference by the time the season gets go-

ing,” he said. “Brethren is always tough. Onekama, Mason County Eastern and Manistee Catholic are al-ways solid.”

JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the Pentwater baseball team are, kneeling, from left, Jacob Whitford, Caleb Glover, Billy Sproul, Sam Wagner and Nicholas Ascombe; standing, assistant Jack Stinebaugh, Joey Thrailkill, Jared Visger, Chance Helms, Alex Wagner and coach Rick MacGrath.

Pentwater baseball

New spots in store for Falcons

11



PENTWATER — After a few years of guiding the boys soccer program, Victor Gowell is add-ing the girls team to his coaching duties this spring at Pentwater.

“I’m ready to learn a lot from it. We’ll see what it holds,” he said.

Gowell takes over for Dan Nu-gent, who will step into an assis-tant’s role after being the team’s head coach last spring.

Before spring break, the Fal-cons had 11 players on their ros-ter, enough to field a team. Gow-ell would like to see the team add a few more girls to the ros-ter so a rotation on and off the field for rest can be done.

The Falcons return a handful of girls from the team from last year. Back from last year are Ja-

clyn Vareld, Zoe Lewandowski, Liliana Rodriguez, Chelsie Tha-ler and Anna Hofmann.

But overall, the team again this year is extremely young.

“We have one senior return-ing and one junior as well. They both possess good leadership qualities which you need for younger players to be around,” Gowell said. “At the same time, I’ve got a bunch of eighth and ninth graders who want to run, run, run and want to work all of the time. They’re willing to learn.

“The numbers aren’t where we’d like them, but the bodies we do have are willing to work hard. They haven’t complained too much.”

The team has used both of the school’s gyms, a smaller one and the one used for varsity events

SEE SOCCER, 12

JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Pentwater coed track teams are, from left, kneeling, Jacob Quinn, Sophia Nyberg, Verily McClellan, Gabe McClellan and Jeremiah McClellan; standing, coach Erika Fatura, Dayton Gibson, Dylan Rafter, Blake Johnson, Jared Visgar, Michael Naughton and coach Jill Soper. Not pictured: Damon Martz, Jan Loyen.

JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Pentwater girls soccer team are, from left, sitting, Kylee Patterson-Skuse, Haley Smith and Desirae Conronaede; kneeling, Jaclyn Vareld, Raven Bretschneider, Zoe Lewandowski and Taylor Wilkinson; back row, coach Vic-tor Gowell, manager Jordan Lucas, Chelsie Thaler, Gia Burn, Liliana Rodriguez, Anna Hofman and assistant Dan Nugent.

BY THE DAILY NEWS

The Pentwater track and field teams are again with low numbers, but most know what to do this season along with co-coaching vets Jill Soper and Erika Fatura.

Soper and Fatura are re-turning to coaching after each started a family.

“We are both impressed with the dedication of our team so far this year and look forward to a great sea-son,” Fatura said.

Back for this season are several kids: Dayton Gibson,

Blake Johnson, Jared Visger, Sophia Nyberg, Jeremiah Mc-Clellan, Gabe McClellan, Mi-chael Naughton and Verily McClellan.

Both Nyberg and Verily Mc-Clellan will be looked to lead the team, especially from the distance events, considering a major loss from last year’s team.

“Losing Valory McClellan as a distance runner will be one of our biggest holes to fill,” Fatura said. “She was not only a good runner, but

SEE TRACK, 12

Pentwater trackFalcons few in numbers again

Pentwater girls soccerGowell takes over

Falcons soccer

12


FROM PAGE 11

a great leader for the team. Her sister, Verily, along with Sophia will be our fe-male distance runners this year.”

The team will add just a handful of athletes: Dylan Rafter, Jan Loyen, Jake Quinn and Damon Martz.

With such small numbers,

the focus for the Falcons won’t necessarily be on how the team fares in meets and invitationals.

“We are really going to fo-cus on personal records and making improvements with-in our team,” Fatura said. “We are also going to set our sights on breaking a school record this season.”

FROM PAGE 11

in the fall and winter, to practice. Gowell was anx-ious to get outside before the break, and he believes the switch to outside once the fields are playable will be good for his girls.

“Once we do get outside to an open space, it’ll seem a little slow to them,” he said. “That’ll work in to our ad-vantage because we’ve been practicing in a small gym and you have to make quick decisions.

Like last spring, and in Gowell’s case, in the fall with the boys, the schedule has a few tougher opponents including some Division 3 schools like Mason County Central, Montague and Ne-waygo. Having those non-conference schools against bigger schools will help Pentwater in the long run.

“It always helps, even if you don’t win them all,” he said. “It gets you ready for a higher level of competition. .

. We started to do that with the boys the last couple of years.”

Last year, there were just three schools from the West-ern Michigan D League that sponsored girls soccer. Bear Lake and Brethren will form a co-op to play soccer this spring, pushing the total of schools to four. That also includes Big Rapids Cross-roads and a co-op between Mason County Eastern and Manistee Catholic.

The four schools will head to Crossroads in late April to play in a one-day conference tournament.

“That’s really cool. I was excited when I heard that because it’s new faces and a new program,” Gowell said. “It’s people we haven’t played against before. It’s exciting because it gets us out more.”

A handful of Pentwater’s first few games were can-celled because of the snow and ice melt.

BY THE DAILY NEWS

Pentwater’s boys golf team looks nearly as strong as ever after last season’s MHSAA Division 4 regional championship and a sixth place finish in the state tournament.

Four of Pentwater’s top five golfers return from last year’s team and that leads to lofty expectations.

“This year, I have three seniors that I know what to improve on last year’s

place,” Pentwater coach Mi-chael DeRuiter said.

Alex Wagner, Chance Helms and Derek Malburg are those seniors and the fourth key returnee is Sam Wagner. The Falcons will need to replace Erik Wall-strom, who was a major component to last year’s run in the state tournament.

Competing for the fifth spot will be Linnea Mc-Donough, Asher Knoble, Nick Anscombe and Jacob Whitford.

“I have a fantastic group and blend of players both upper classmen and under classmen,” DeRuiter said. “As a coach, this is awesome to see, as you know Pentwa-ter is here to stay in golf.”

That’s exactly where the expectations are for Pent-water’s team: high. It’s not only the case with all of the returning golfers from last season, but the program has built itself into one of the better ones in the area in Division 4.

“They are eager to im-prove, they listen, and they try hard. That is key to keep Pentwater on the map for golf,” he said. “I have had players indicate to me they want to get back to the state finals and improve on their sixth place finish last year. Maybe even get lucky and pull a title.

“(It) should be a fun run for us this year. They got a taste for a state (tournament) and now they have something to work hard for.”

JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the Pentwater golf team are, from left, coach Mike LaHaye, Jacob Whitford, Nicholas Anscombe, Sam Wagner, Alex Wagner, Chance Helms, Linnea McDonough and coach Michael DeRuiter. Not pictured: Derek Malburg and Asher Knoble.

Pentwater golf

Falcons loaded for ’14

SOCCER: Gowell in charge

TRACK: Numbers few

SOFTBALLFROM PAGE 8

The top three seniors coming back are Alysha Heck, Alexis Miller and Am-ber Robke.

Alysha Heck, Robke and

Shelby Papes all pitched last year and McLinden wants to work a couple of others into the rotation this year in preparation for when Robke and Heck graduate. Papes will probably take the lead role next year, but McLinden needs to find a second and third pitcher.

Like any coach, he is keep-ing an eye on next year while not losing sight of this sea-son’s goals.

“When you’re going to lose five good, solid seniors you have to be prepared,” McLinden said.

But he’s not ignoring this season.

SABERSFROM PAGE 8

“We’re going to definitely make a run at some of these events,” Skipski said. “We have some really fast kids that are definitely going to

be contenders. Getting the program rejuvenated, and getting people interested in track again is going to be a chore.

“So far, the kids have been great about it. Hopefully, we set a standard that will be followed in the years ahead and they continue to have

track. As long as the inter-est is there, and kids want to compete we’ll have some-thing.”

A few athletes have ex-pressed interest in running the hurdles, but Skipski hasn’t been able to see what they can do because of long spring thaw.

spring sports #1

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