NORTON SHORES - What a tough way to end a really good season, more than a week too early.
The Reeths-Puffer softball team had the bad luck of drawing a Division 1 pre-district tournament game against rival Mona Shores, more than a week before the June 3 district tournament.
To make it to District Saturday, the Rockets had to beat the Sailors on Thursday, and for a while it looked like they might.
R-P led 2-0 through four innings, but a very bad fifth inning, when Mona Shores plated six runs, led to a 6-2 defeat and the end to the Rockets’ season.
Reeths-Puffer, which started the season with 11 straight wins, finished with a 22-13 record.
R-P's Mady Snyder delivers a pitch. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“This also happened two years ago, when we played Grand Haven and couldn’t make it to Tournament Saturday,” said Reeths-Puffer Coach Sarah Bayle. “It just kind of sucks to not be able to make it to the tournament. I think the way it’s set up is kind of frustrating, the way they draw out of a hat instead of seeding teams.”
The game started out very promising for the Rockets, who took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Natalie Kunnen singled and eventually scored on a pair of Sailor errors.
R-P made it 2-0 in the top of the fourth when Kaylee Jones walked, stole second, advanced to third, then scored on an RBI squeeze bunt by Brook Buchan.
Starting pitcher Mady Snyder cruised through four scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and getting good support from her defense.
The lead got away in the fifth inning, however, when Mona Shores scored four runs on three singles and three R-P errors, then Grace Michelli launched a massive two-run homer to straightaway center field to make the score 6-2.
R-P's Kaylee Jones slides across home plate. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The Rockets loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the seventh but were unable to score.
“I think we felt like a lot of things were going our way,” Coach Bayle said. “Maybe we got too comfortable.”
The good news is that the Rockets will return all but one player from this year’s team, so next year’s squad should be very good indeed.
“We only have one senior and she’s the manager,” Bayle said. “She tore her ACL. We had no playing seniors this year.
“Like we were talking about after the game, if we want the result to be different next year, we can’t just be okay with where we’re at. We have to build on it and work hard in the offseason. If we do that we could be unstoppable next year.”
