Champions! Gaylord tops Vicksburg, captures first-ever softball state title
EAST LANSING ― Seven years ago, a Gaylord softball team won a state championship.
The Gaylord Little League softball state championship team, led by Greg Jones, went all the way from Northern Michigan on a state title run against the best Michigan had to offer back in 2016. From that moment on, a high school state championship has been on the minds of Jones and the eight girls that have remained Gaylord Blue Devils all the way until this season.
This January, as they trained for yet another run at the state title, they made it their mission to bring it home this season.
Mission accomplished.
The top-ranked Blue Devils have been one of, if not the best team in the state this year, and they had one more chance to prove it on Saturday, June 17 in the MHSAA Division 2 state championship against No. 6 Vicksburg. They did so convincingly, running away with an 8-3 victory and securing the first softball state title in school history.
"We had so much fun doing it when we were eight, nine and ten," said junior Braleigh Miller, reminiscing on the Little League state title. "To do it again as teenagers, it's really great."
Gaylord has played its fair share of close games since this postseason began, and they were ready for another against Vicksburg with sophomore ace Aubrey Jones in the circle. She was dominant as ever, allowing just three Vicksburg hits throughout the game while keeping Vicksburg quiet for the most part.
On the offensive side, the Blue Devils' bats came to play.
A leadoff single from Miller in the third set up senior Alexis Kozlowski to do what she does best; launch home runs as she clobbered a pitch over the right-center field wall for her 14th home run of the season, giving Gaylord the early lead and putting all the momentum in the Blue Devils' dugout.
"It felt extremely good, it was a no doubter off my bat," said Kozlowski.
Vicksburg scraped a run across in the top of the third, but the Blue Devils countered with three more runs in the bottom of the inning off a Miller RBI single and another RBI hit from Alexis Shepherd, pushing the Gaylord lead to 5-1 as they started to pull away.
From there, Jones was locked in, mowing down Vicksburg batters with 1-2-3 inning after 1-2-3 inning.
"First inning is always pretty stressful as a pitcher with all the eyes on you, but after the first inning things were good," said Jones.
Gaylord added runs on an RBI double from Shepherd and an RBI single from Kozlowski, giving them an 8-1 lead headed into Vicksburg's final at-bats. And, while the Bulldogs did rally for two more runs, a groundball to Avery Parker to shortstop finished things off for the newly crowned state-champion Blue Devils as they secured the 8-3 victory.
"It is sort of a relief because its been our goal for such a long time and we finally did what we said we were going to do," Jones said following the win. "I couldn't be more proud of my team right now."
The ultimate goal realized
Gaylord accomplished a ton this season.
They will be remembered as a team that spent most of the year atop the Division 2 rankings, posted a 39-2 overall record against high-quality opponents and broke the MHSAA record for the most home runs hit in a single season, with Kozlowski's championship game homer being the 72nd of the year.
"Just a good way to finish the season and my senior year," Kozlowski said of the championship-game homer.
But all that was icing on the cake. The real goal was the moment they were named state champs.
It has been three-straight seasons that Gaylord has fielded a team talented enough to make it to this point, but fell short in losses to Owosso in 2021 and Escanaba in 2022. This year, while they played their fair share of close games, they have been in control almost the whole way; the only time they trailed during the postseason was in one half-inning against Freeland in the regional final and a few innings in the state semis against Dearborn Divine Child. All other times they led, and for the most part, led convincingly.
Gaylord posted double-digit runs in more games (27) than they didn't (15), defeated 11 teams ranked in the final state rankings and only lost to two top-ranked Division 1 schools. One of those teams, Hartland, would go onto to win the Division 1 state championship. Gaylord split a double-header with them, losing 4-2 in game one before a 9-1 victory in game two.
This team will live in the Gaylord and MHSAA record books for a while with the home run record, a state title and countless other impressive stats and accolades to go with.
But the state title was really all that mattered.
Miller had a day at the plate, going 4-for-4 with four singles, while Alexis Shepherd went 2-for-4 with four RBI. Kozlowski had the big hit with her homer, finishing the game 2-for-4 with four RBI
Jones allowed three runs on three hits, striking out four in her state-title-winning effort.
Two seniors say goodbye, host of starters return for next year's run
Is it too early to think about next year? Because Gaylord certainly could be back in this situation a year from now.
The Blue Devils roster will look very similar in 2024, only graduating two seniors from a team loaded with future college talent. And, with a healthy Jayden Jones back, this team could be even more well-equipped for a title run next year.
Still, to say they will miss their seniors Alexis Kozlowski and Abby Radulski would be an understatement.
Kozlowski, their most-consistent hitter, is moving on to Ferris State to join the Bulldogs softball team as a freshman in 2023-24 after wrapping with another all-state worthy senior season. Radulski, meanwhile, is on her way to Michigan Tech University after playing major roles on both this team and the Blue Devils volleyball team.
Gaylord wraps the season with a 39-2 record, a third-straight Big North Title, a third-straight district title, a second regional title in three years and, now, a first-ever state title.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Champions! Gaylord tops Vicksburg, captures first-ever softball state title
