The Wayland Hi
gh School varsity softball team earned its 24th O-K Gold Conference championship Wednesday with a 28-3, three-inning victory over East Grand Rapids.
They were supposed to play a doubleheader, but game two was rained out.
The Lady Wildcats, who also have won or shared the last 13 league titles in a row, finished the regular season with a 21-5 overall record and they were 10-1 in conference play. All that’s left for them is a pre-district game next Tuesday against Hastings and then districts, and then as far as they can go.
Coach Cheri Ritz’s group was rated No. 7 in the final state-wide Division 2 rankings. Ironically, the Wildcats defeated No. 5-ranked Spring Lake 9-4 in the finals of the Grand Slam Challenge last month, but stumbled 17-0 against Gull Lake and even lost one league game this season, to Forest Hills Eastern.
Wayland scored 19 runs in the second inning to shorten the contest before the rains came late Wednesday afternoon.
Leading the Wildcats were Abby Merice – 3-for-3 with a triple and six runs batted in; Bethany Teunissen, 1-1 with an RBI; Lauren McCulligh, 1-1 with two RBIs; Taylor Bell, 1-1 with an RBI, Skylar Stora, 1-1 with two RBIs.