“Don’t look so sad. I know it’s over.” — As sung by Ray Price and written by Kris Kristofferson
The Wayland High School softball team’s continued run of remarkable successes came to an end 7-6 in the Division 2 regional finals Saturday at Hope College with a loss to Spring Lake.
Meanwhile, both the Hopkins baseball and softball teams had their seasons ended earlier in the day in the Division 3 regionals at Coloma. The Vikings were defeated by Buchanan in both games.
It was a day marked by revenge, as has the entire season. The Lady Wildcats earlier this spring defeated Spring Lake 9-4 in the finals of the Lakeshore Slam to avenge a defeat in the same tourney a year ago.
Wayland blanked Forest Hills Eastern in the regional opener 12-0 in yet another revenge contest. The Hawks upset coach Cheri Ritz’s group 5-4 last month. It was the first time the Lady Wildcats had lost an O-K Gold Conference matchup since 2012, when South Christian turned the trick and had the impertinence to share the league championship.
Forest Hills was no slouch, recording a 30-11 overall record for the campaign, with two of its losses coming at the hands of Wayland.
Wayland finished the season with a 25-8 overall record, its ninth straight district championship and its 13th consecutive league title. The Lady Wildcats won the regional crown on this same Hope College diamond a year ago.
Spring Lake now will take on coach Denny Dock and Stevensville Lakeshore Tuesday afternoon at Davenport University in the quarterfinals.
Hopkins’ baseball season was upended by a 10-3 loss to the Bucks. The Vikings wound up 20-5-1 overall and were O-K Silver Conference and district champions. The Lady Vikings finished their season with an overall record of 18-10, but six of the defeats came at the hands of larger Division 2 schools such as Wyoming, Kenowa Hills and Grand Haven.
PHOTO: It was the last high school game for Lady Wildcat seniors (from left) Hunter Fenton, Bethany Teunissen, Taylor Bell, Taryn Coughlin, Leigha Morse and Hannah Sikkema.
(Photo courtesy of Laura Hibbits Teunissen)
