Succesful week on area baseball and softball diamonds; Gaylord-area roundup, May 10

GAYLORD ― The spring sports season goes by fast.

It feels like just yesterday that the snow was melting and teams were just getting out to play some of their first games of the season. Now, a week into May, teams are already wrapping up their conference schedules and preparing for the postseason.

This week was filled with impactful conference matchups on the diamond and the soccer pitch as well as some important tune-up meets for area track athletes. Get caught up with the action around Northern Michigan this week:

Gaylord baseball, softball sweep at TC Central

With the loaded schedule the defending state champion Gaylord softball team has in front of them this year, it isn't all that often that they play the same team at the same time as the Gaylord baseball team. It is even less often that those teams see similar results, but that is what happened on the GHS road trip to Traverse City on Wednesday, May 8 as both teams walked away with two-game sweeps at TC Central.

The softball program went toe-to-toe with one of the top players in the state, University of Dayton signee Camryn Craig, and still walked away with 10-2 and 10-0 victories in their two games on Wednesday. Junior Aubrey Jones led the way; she homered twice in the game one win before throwing a no-hitter in game two, striking out 10 Trojans in the process.

Meanwhile, Gaylord baseball also walked away with two conference wins, holding on for a 6-2 win in game one before a narrow 1-0 victory in game two. Noah Vanderveer struck out nine batters on his way to the win in game one, while Aidan Locker went 3-for-7 with two RBI and three stolen bases throughout the back-to-back victories.

Jones sisters: Gaylord softball stars Jayden and Aubrey Jones trying to soak in final season together

Fayth Sanom: Former Gaylord cheer captain, Alpenfest Queen helps Alma to NCA and STUNT championships

JoBurg softball stays perfect, baseball upsets GSM

The No. 2 ranked softball team in Division 4 stayed busy this week, while the JoBurg baseball team played just one (important) game.

Senior Jayden Marlatt led the Cardinals softball team to another four wins to stay perfect during the 2024 season over the past week, putting up matching 16-0 mercy-shortened victories against Gaylord St. Mary on Tuesday while needing a walk-off single to finish off a sweep of Rogers City on Wednesday.

After an 8-1 win in game one of the doubleheader, JoBurg found themselves trailing by a run entering the final inning before a rally helped them tie and eventually win a hard-fought matchup. Freshman Mady Peppin had the big hit as her RBI single pushed the winning run across the plate to help JoBurg to its 20th win in 2024.

Meanwhile, JoBurg baseball ended up with just one game this week thanks to the weather, but they made that one game count, upsetting Gaylord St. Mary on their home field and handing the Snowbirds their first conference loss of the season.

Catcher Collin Lake was questionable up until 15 minutes before game time with a shoulder injury, but a 3:45 p.m. phone call from the doctor cleared him and made a huge impact; Lake wnt 3-for-4 with two RBI from the plate while throwing out a runner at third base for the final out of the 7-5 victory.

New PR's, season-best times for area track athletes

Now under two weeks away from the first regional track meets of the 2024 season, Otsego County athletes continue to gear up for the final stretch of the season while proving themselves against the top competition from around the area.

First, Gaylord athletes set a few new personal records in a dual meet against TC West on Tuesday, May 7. Sophomore Katie Berkshire won the 800-meter run with her new personal bets time of 2 minutes 22.60 seconds. Meanwhile, junior Connor Byram had a new personal best distance in the shot put, logging a throw of 46 feet, 10 inches.

Then on Thursday, Gaylord St. Mary senior Mirriam Murrell impressed at the East Jordan Invite, logging the best 3200-meter performance in either the large or small schools divisions with a time of 12:01.80, her season-best time.

Soccer results

Thursday, May 9: Petoskey 3, Gaylord 1

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: Succesful week on area baseball, softball diamonds; Gaylord roundup, May 10