Vestaburg High School - Wolverine Yearbook (Vestaburg, MI)

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!! YOU’RE OUT! As Tim Beach stretches to catch the ball, the umpire gets in position to call the batter out. The Hog Waller — A combination of poor pitching and fielding errors made for a game of high points against Portland. The Mercy Killing — Recovering from a 14-0 tourney loss, the Wolver- ines got it all together and decided to wipe Central Moncalm all over the field as they mercied then with their second 10-0 win in three games. The Squeaker — An extremely close game over Fowler with first one team, then the other, taking the lead. Revenge — Angered by their earli- er loss to Vestaburg, the Portland St. Pats team played with a vengeance to force the Wolves out of the districts. — Ups and Downs-------------- VARSITY BASEBALL — FRONT ROW: Manager David Donley. Harold Franks. Scott Vitz. Sam Wrisley, Aron Palmer, Jeff Bailey. Matt King, Manager Ryan Smith. BACK ROW: Coach Rick Roberts. Troy Mortensen, Darrell Donley. Tim Beach, Josh Ryckman, Andy Johnston. Assistant coach Dave Holsworth. !! HEY, BATTER, BATTER. Junior Andy Johnston times out the speed of the pitcher and practices a level swing while waiting in the on- deck circle. He went on to strike out. J Sports ! 27a

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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.

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JV Softball Baseball Guys Girls Coleman 9- 2 8- 3 Shepherd 1-10 Montabella 1-14 Saranac 4- 2 18-13 Saranac 15- 8 10-11 Carson City 3- 6 14- 1 Carson City 3-13 10-12 Portland 3-11 12- 8 Portland 1-19 8- 9 Montabella 9- 8 10- 9 Montabella 7- 8 13- 3 Belding 1- 2 16- 3 Lakeview 5- 6 13- 3 Lakeview 9-16 17- 3 Central Montcalm 0- 1 7- 8 Central Montcalm 0-11 7-18 Overall: 4-11 9- 6 !! SAFE! After getting the first base hit of the game, Tim Parrish dives back to first safely, against Central Moncalm's lefthander during the first game of the last double header of the season. Kecords not vital; EXPERIENCE WANTED by Tim Parrish and Faye DePue After identical 2nd place finishes in the Vestaburg Invitational, the JV softball and baseball teams had little in common. The boys managed to win only four of their 15 games while the girls won nine. From the invitationals, on, it was an up season for the girls. Coached by Cheryl McClellan and assisted by Katie Brantley, the team began their regular season by splitting their first four games. They finally broke out of their rut by winning five in a row. That win streak was ended by Central Moncalm in an extra innings loss, 8-7. Extra innings plagued the girls a second time as they lost to Central Montcalm 7-18 in the season finale. The girls were able to avenge an earlier Montabella drubbing, 1-14, as they defeat- ed them in both games of a double header played later in the season. The team was led in pitching by Rikki Steele with five wins and Cathy DeShano with four. Rachel Butler, with a batting average of .597, led the girls with three home runs. Steele, DeShano and Jeannie Bush all moved up to varsity for pre-districts and districts, where DeShano played second base and the other two were sent in to pinch hit. “Break” was the theme of the season for the JV boys. Unfortunately, they wer- en’t breaking records. Trevor McCormick, found out what gets broken when you show off your knuckleball and it doesn’t drop. Instead it went through the locker room window. Tim Parrish was the second “break” of the season as his nose got on the wrong end of a throw from sophomore Chad Palmer and he needed to have surgery. Rich Fisk was forced to invest in some sunglasses after he broke his nose trying to catch a pop up in the bright sun. Although they weren’t breaking re- cords, the team did experience some tri- umphs. In the double header victories over Saranac, the team was hitting well against their slow pitchers and also committed few errors. After being down 5-1 against Monta- bella, a seventh inning rally put the team in the win column, 9-8. The second game of the double header was a complete turn around, as the Wolverines saw their 7-1 lead end in a 7-8 loss. In the team’s loss to Belding, Tim Par- rish threw a one-hitter; however, an error scored the winning run for the Redskins. The team was coached by Scott Mar- shall, who was the former JV girls’ softball coach. With four of the boys’ 11 losses being only by one run and with an experienced team returning next season, the errors may be fewer and the victories more. 28a ! JV Softball Baseball