Gaylord softball wins back-to-back state titles, ties single-season HR record
EAST LANSING — The Gaylord softball team is going out on top again.
A year after earning the program's first-ever state championship, the Blue Devils did it again on Saturday, June 15, defeating Vicksburg 3-2 at Michigan State's Secchia Stadium in extra innings to earn their second-consecutive MHSAA Division 2 state title.
Gaylord's Aubrey Jones, the Gatorade Michigan Softball Player of the Year, led the team with another dominant performance in the circle, earning her 15th win of the season and wrapping up 2024 with a perfect 15-0 pitching record.
Offensively, Gaylord was led by senior Jayden Jones who logged three hits and two runs batted in, including a clutch RBI single in the top of the eighth inning that scored the eventual winning run.
Hali Lenartowicz had an RBI single of her own, while Kennedy Wangler had the lone extra base hit, a lead off double in the second inning. The Blue Devils finish the year with 72 home runs, tying the MHSAA record for homers in a single season they themselves set in 2023.
Gaylord finishes with a 38-4 record, wrapping up one of the most impressive two-year stretches in Michigan softball history; the team has gone 77-6 overall, hit 144 home runs and scored 952 runs over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and have filled the GHS trophy cases with four Big North Conference championships, four district championships, three regional championships and, now, two state championships.
The Blue Devils graduate six seniors including Jayden Jones, Addison Wangler, Braleigh Miller, Hali Lenartowicz, Taylor Moeggeneberg and Alexis Shepherd.
Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gaylord softball wins second-straight Divison 2 state championship
