Here is what we learned from the first week of spring sports in the Gaylord area
GAYLORD ― It has been a little more than a week since the first games of the 2024 spring sports season were played and Gaylord-area teams and programs have been getting after it ever since.
In years past, this opening week was usually filled with tons of weather cancellations as the leftovers of the Northern Michigan winter would keep teams from getting outside. Not this year; outside of one rainy day, the weather has been perfect and has allowed teams to really get their feet under them in the first week and a half of the season.
It's still early, but we've seen enough to gather some surface-level information on nearly every team that has played at home so far. Here are takeaways from week one around the Gaylord area:
Top dogs still shining
Once the spring season started, there were plenty of eyes on the Gaylord-area. Fittingly.
Gaylord is home to some of the top softball talent in the state, and three girls (Jayden Jones, Aubrey Jones, Jayden Marlatt) with enough buzz to earn some of the top honors the state has to offer this season.
So far, they are continuing to shine the only way they know how.
Marlatt, a Ferris State-signee and one of the best female athletes in JoBurg history, is already putting up ridiculous numbers; in just four games, she has 12 hits, 12 runs scored, 11 RBI and 3 home runs from the plate along with a 2-0 record and 28 strikeouts from the circle.
The Jones sisters, meanwhile, have shown their abiltiy to be productive even against some of their tougher opponents. Aubrey Jones, an Oklahoma State-commit, started the season with a two home runs against Heritage, while her older sister Jayden, a Virginia Tech-signee, broke out of a bit of a slow start with a home run and a double against Farmington Hills Mercy, the No. 2 ranked team in Division 1.
Early-season rust, high-level opponents give top teams trouble
It wouldn't be the first week of the baseball and softball seasons without a bit of rust to be shaken off.
Even though the weather improved this week, the lack of great weather in the weeks leading up meant many teams were barely able to get outside before their first games, and it showed; in one game, Gaylord and Sault Ste Marie pitchers combined to walk 11 batters while hitting six with pitches.
Gaylord baseball has been able to shake off some of that rust after playing eight games in six days, while Gaylord St. Mary, a Ski Valley Conference title contender, nearly saw their slow start cost them a key league matchup with Bellaire, but rebounded to start their Ski Valley title race off with two wins.
Maybe the slowest start has come from Gaylord softball. The Blue Devils, the preseason No. 1 ranked team in the state Division 2, went 3-2 in their first five games, matching their loss total from the entirety of their 2023 state title run. Their start, however, has less to do with rust and more to do with the opposition they're facing.
The Blue Devils are the overwhelming favorites to repeat as D2 state champions and, in order to prepare for another potential state title run, they are taking on a much more brutal schedule than in years prior, with matchups against top-ranked teams like Hartland, South Lyon, Grand Blanc and Lake Orion up-and-down the Blue Devils' schedule. Their first two losses of this season came against some of those tough teams, splitting a doubleheader with Mercy (No. 2, Division 1) while falling in extra innings to Clare (No. 10, Division 3) in the team's season-opening games at Freeland.
Area track athletes not missing a beat
Early season track and field can be hit or miss at times, with one of the tougher transitions from indoor to outdoor and less flexibility when it comes to rain or snow.
The weather has allowed for a quick start this season, and area athletes haven't missed a beat.
The top individual performance came from Gaylord St. Mary senir Rylan Matelski at the Inland Lakes Quad on Tuesday, April 9, breaking a long-held school record in the long jump with a new personal best leap of 21 feet, 8 inches. JoBurg had the best team performance, with the boys placing first out of five teams with 91 points while the girls took second with 99 points.
Meanwhile, the Gaylord girls track and field team had a strong showing at their season-opening meet at Traverse City Central, outscoring the Trojans 90-40 while winning many of the individual events. The Blue Devils dominated most of the events on the track, with Emily Jorgenson winning the 100-meter run (14.19 seconds), Skylee Ames winning the 200-meter (28.85 seconds), Ivy Roberts winning the 400-meter (1 minute, 6.76 seconds) and Katie Berkshire winning the 800-meter (1:06.76).
It's hard to takeaway anything major from the first track and field meets of the season, especially with many athletes not even running their main races and in their more natural events. Still, it seems area athletes have hit the ground running in 2024.
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: Here is what we learned from the first week of spring sports in Gaylord, Johannesburg
