MU8KEGON TWP. - A year ago the Reeths-Puffer softball team got off to a great start, ripping off 11 straight wins at the beginning of the season and looking like world beaters.
A while later came the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Tournament, when the Rockets posted a disappointing 1-1 record and failed to make the title game.
A four-game losing streak followed that, and then a first-game exit from the state tournament.
The very young Rockets were talented, but not quite ready.
The Rockets with the GMAA tournament trophy.
Forward to the 2024 GMAA City Tournament on Saturday, which was an entirely different story for Reeths-Puffer.
The Rockets reeled off three straight wins, including an impressive 3-0 victory over a very good Ravenna team in the championship game, and won the city title that eluded them last season.
R-P reached the championship game by beating Holton 10-0 in the first round and Mona Shores 10-2 in the semifinals.
It was the R-P’s first city softball championship since 2019 and they won it on their own field.
Now at 23-2-1, the one-year-older Rockets, with most of the same players from last season, seem more than ready to accomplish even bigger things over the next few weeks.
R-P pitcher Lainey McDaniel. Photo/Jeremy Clark
‘I think so, definitely!” said R-P head coach Sarah Bayle, when asked if the city title was a good omen for the rest of the season.
The big day was a statement of sorts for the Rockets, who entered this week with a 20-0-1 record, then were humbled on Wednesday with a pair of losses against state-ranked Hudsonville.
Saturday was their first day back on the field since then, and they showed that a few losses weren’t going to keep them down for long.
“I think playing Hudsonville gave us even more confidence,” Coach Bayle said. “Hanging with them (a 2-0 loss) in the first game and then just having the one bad inning in the second game, I think playing a great team like that helped us do what we had to do today.”
R-P standout pitcher Lainey McDaniel, who got the wins against Holton and Ravenna, echoed her coach’s thoughts.
R-P's Kaylee Jones runs the bases. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“I think it shows that we’re able to bounce back and that nothing can take us out,” she said. “Our team has a lot of grit and we will power through whatever.”
The championship game could have gone differently had it not been for McDaniel, who continued her tremendous season by pitching a masterful complete game shutout.
McDaniel scattered four hits and struck out five with no walks, and seemed to get stronger as the game went along.
Aided by with the error-free defense behind her, McDaniel was able to cruise.
“She just lets everything roll right off her shoulders and just does what she has to do,” Bayle said about McDaniel.
R-P's Natalie Kunnen slides in safely. Photo/Jeremy Clark
McDaniel’s best inning might have been the bottom of the fifth, when Ravenna’s Kendra Denhoff ripped a hard line drive that had center field written all over it, but McDaniel instinctively leaped and snagged the ball just as it reached the pitcher’s mound.
The next two Ravenna batters reached on soft singles, meaning Denhoff probably would have scored and broke the shutout if her liner had not been caught.
McDaniel calmly got the last two outs on pair of popups, maintaining R-P’s three-run lead and preserving her shutout.
“I always jump when they’re hit over me like that, and that time I got it!” McDaniel said.
McDaniel said she feels pretty confident in her skills these days, no matter how big of a game it might be.
R-P's Abby Critchett makes a play. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“I try not to get too nervous,” she said. “I try to trust myself and what I’ve worked for and practiced for, and this is what it is. I think I do good in pressure situations.”
The other hero of the championship game was R-P’s Abby Critchett, who delivered an RBI single in the first inning and an RBI triple to center field in the third.
R-P’s third run also came in the third inning on an RBI sacrifice fly by Mady Snyder, which scored Critchett.
“She’s been really consistent all year,” Bayle said about Critchell. “She is consistently getting RBIs we need right at the right moment. She’s been really good.”