Vestaburg High School - Wolverine Yearbook (Vestaburg, MI)

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!! FENCING IT. Although one might assume sophomore Rhonda McQueen is bored and not playing, she actu- ally played every game and was. at one time, the team's leading hit- ter. The Depresser: Having a chance to win the league, the girls jumped out to a big lead but ended up losing in the eighth inning to Central Montcalm. 7- 9. The Thriller: Behind by two runs in the bottom of the seventh with bases loaded. Tammy Martin stepped up to the plate and cranked a home run to beat Coleman, 12-11. — Ups and Downs-------------- VARSITY SOFTBALL — FRONT ROW: Manager Brent McQueen, Brad Bigelow. MIDDLE ROW: Cathy DeShano, Amy Jenkins, Rhonda McQueen, Lori Gramam. Amy Hodges. Linda Marshall. BACK ROW: Coach Ken Bigelow. Jenny Bigelow. Tammie Johnston. Amy Frost. Karen Hansel. Karen Monroe. Kathy Keeler, assistant coach Kris Olejniczak.

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VHS II 11 8 13 4 12 10 15 3 6 8 28 14 II 11 14 0 3 2 6 4 9 12 14 10 3 12 7 8 10 12 0 Varsity Softball J OPP. Trl County 0 Trl County 7 B«al City 9 Beal City 3 Coleman $ Coleman 11 Porland St. Pat 9 (.anting Catholic 1 Saranac 5 Saranac 13 Ashley 4 Ashley 4 Carson City 6 Carson City 1 Ann Arbor Green Hills 0 Britton Macon I Webber ville 0 Portland 2 Portland 12 Montabella 4 Montabella 3 Belding 1 Belding 11 Lakevlew ( Lakcvlew 5 Beal City 2 Sacred Heart 2 Central Montcalm 9 Central Montcalm 9 Fulton (Pre District) 0 Ashley (District) 3 Bay City All Saints 4 League: 9-5 Overall: 23-9 !! TIME OUT. First team all conference player Tammie Johnston, who batted over .400 in the league, pauses for a drink during her team’s 11-0 rout of Tri County. !! NOT ENOUGH. Even though right fielder Amy Frost hit a triple her first time at bat, it was not enough to take the league championship from Central Montcalm. T 2r UHLS’ HIGH HOPES kJ STOP AT DISTRICTS by Karen Hansel and Jenny; Bigelow When you make it to the semi-finals and no one thought you would, and almost every player returns the next season . . . the pressure is on. Starting the season ranked third in the state, Ken Bigelow’s varsity softball team felt that pressure and met the challenge, but not without several disappointments. The first blow came at the hands of the Beal City Aggies who defeated the girls 9- 8, with a controversial home run. Because there was no fence, the girls were told to raise their hands if the ball went into the tall grass. The umps would then decide whether to call it a homerun or a ground run double. As Karen Hansel stood in cen- ter field with her hands in the air, a Beal City player ran the bases, scoring a run. Due to the confusion, the raised hands rule was dropped; too late, however, for the Wolverines. The very next game, against Coleman, found the girls again on the losing end. This time, they were ahead by one run in the 7th inning. Coleman came up to bat and took advantage of two Vestaburg er- rors, winning the game, 54. One of the biggest downers of the sea- son came in a must-win double header against Central Montcalm. If the girls could win both, they would tie the Hornets for the league championship. Ahead 5-0 in the first game, the Wolverines were fired up, looking ahead to game two. However, before game one was over, Central rallied to win 9-7. Deflated, the girls entered the second game losing by one run, 8-9. With the regular season over, the girls entered tournaments with high hopes of a remake of last year. Fulton was an easy victory. Pre-Districts were out of the way. Ashley was another easy game. They were half way to a district championship. Then came 1 in the state, Bay City All-Saints, who scored two unearned runs before they really started hitting and took a hard- fought 4-0 game from the Wolverines. The season wasn’t without it’s bright spots. Besides the state ranking during the season, the girls picked up an impressive invitational tournament win at Portland. They defeated the first two teams in the Webberville tourney before losing in the final and taking third place honors. They also won two contests over Belding, giving them the chance to meet Central Mont- calm for the league championship. They ended up third in the TCAA. Ending the year with an admirable 23-9 record, the girls went on to pick up several post-season honors, including 7th in the state. Tammie Johnston made 1st team all- conference, and honorable mention all-dis- trict. Linda Marshall and Karen Hansel got 1st team all-district; Hansel was also 2nd team all-conference. Jenny Bigelow got 2nd team all-conference and honorable mention all district. Tammy Martin was honorable mention all-conference. 11 WHAT’S THE PITCH? In her team's vie- tory over TYi County, three year varsity pitcher Jenny Bigelow throws one of her two no hitter games. The team won by a “meager 11 runs. 24a ! Softball

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« Varsity Baseball VHS OPP. 4 Tri County 13 7 Trl County 17 7 Beal City 13 0 Beal City 7 0 Coleman 12 4 Coleman 5 16 Portland St. Pat 12 5 Lansing Catholic 12 7 Saranac 8 3 Saranac 7 12 Ashley 2 10 Ashley 8 2 Carson City 13 1 Carson City 7 8 Portland 11 2 Portland 5 3 Montabella to S Montabella 6 4 Belding 7 1 Belding 4 6 Lakevlew 4 3 Lakeview I 10 Beal City 0 0 Sacred Heart 15 10 Central Montcalm 0 2 Central Montcalm 1 7 Fowler 6 9 Portland St. Pat 11 League: 4-10 Overall: 9-19 !I GOT THE SIGNAL. Catching the sec- ond game of a double header against Port- land, Aron Palmer sees his team lose by three runs. When not behind the plate. Palmer played second base. RE-DISTRICT VICTORY BOOSTS CONFIDENCE by Eric Jackson and Ryan Smith Baseball, “Yes!” they all said. “We want to play baseball!” And so, they did, that Vestaburg varsity, ending with a record of 9-14; however, unrepresentative of the hustle they showed throughout the year. After beginning practices in mid-March, the Wolverines started their season with six games and one non-league tournament. Unfortunately the team began a losing streak with Tri County which continued through Beal City and Coleman until they entered the Portland St. Pat Tournament. Vestaburg started off their tournament hopes with a win against host Portland, 16-12. However, the Wolverines dropped their next and last game in the tourney against Lansing Catholic Central, 5-12. The Wolves began their league play by losing two to Saranac during which they found out just how tough the league action would be this year. The next two games against Ashley gave Vestaburg a break from regular 26a ! Baseball league play, as they beat the Bears twice, 12-1 and 10-8. When the Wolves went back to league play, though, they were forced to recog- nize grim reality as Carson City Crystal ground through them twice, 7-1 and 13-2. They dropped their next six league games in a row to Portland, Montabella and Belding. Entering the Sacred Heart Invitational and the Wolverines beat Beal City 10-0, but were forced out by a stammering blow of 14-0 from 1 ranked Sacred Heart. Losing to Sacred Heart obviously didn’t affect the team in the least, though, be- cause they came back to regular season play and mercied Central Montcalm 10-0 in the first game of the set and beat them 2-1 in the second. Even so, the Wolves entered the pre- districts expecting a first game loss; how- ever, they came out unscathed, and walked away with a 7-6 win over Fowler. Reaching the districts for the first time in over four years, the Wolverines looked back upon all their experience to help them try to win the next game, but were shot down by St. Pats, 9-11, thus ending their season. The new coaches, Rick Roberts and as- sistant David Holsworth took some adjust- ing to but turned out to be extremely good at their jobs and were pleased with their teams’ success. “I think everyone on the team pro- gressed greatly and I’m very proud of them all for the great job they did for the team,” said Coach Roberts. Post season honors went to three play- ers. Scott Vitz, who played short stop and was the team’s leading hitter, earned all- conference first team honors. Teammate Tim Beach was awarded second team all- conference and Dominic Beni was named honorable mention.