Wayland captured yet another district softball championship Saturday afternoon by blanking neighborhood rival Hopkins 14-0 in the tournament finals. It was its 27th district crown.
The Wildcats clouted four home runs in the ballgame, which was shortened to six innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
Winning pitcher Madi Ludema scattered six Viking hits and helped her own cause by booming two of the four homers. She walked no one and struck out four while on the mound. Ludema ended the day tied for the school record for most home runs in a season, 12.
Hannah Brinks absorbed the pitching loss, going only three innings, yielding nine runs, all in a massive Wayland rally in the third inning. Freshman Stallard finished up in the final three frames.
Ava Vandrekolk collected three hits and Cami Hibma had a double for Hopkins.
Harmony Laker and Hannah Rairigh both added a home run to the Wildcats’ offensive attack. She also had a double and a single and six runs batted in. Lauren Wright cracked a triple, Rairigh finished with three hits and Shelby VanHouten two as Wayland as a team collected 15 hits in all.
The Wildcats will play next against Hudsonville Unity Christian at Unity Christian next Saturday.
Hopkins defeated Middleville Thornapple Kellogg 12-7 in the district semifinal earlier in the morning.
The Vikings shot out to an 8-0 lead in the first two innings, but had to hang on the rest of the way. TK closed the gap to 9-7 late in the ballgame, but the Vikings rallied for three more runs in the end.
Hopkins completed the season with a 23-9 overall record and was second in the O-K Silver Conference standings.