Fowlerville vs. Waverly – – Hall of Fame Softball Classic Quarterfinal – – The Bleacher Denizen – – May 21, 2024 – – by Chuck Krafft

Today, the Gladiators from Fowlerville will compete with the Warriors from Waverly to see who will advance to the semifinal game. This is being sponsored by the Greater Lansing Area Sports All of Fame. It is being held at Ranney Park, where Hall of Fame Director Bob Every has done a wonderful job making this into a beautiful softball diamond.

The Bleacher Denizen is juggling the announcing, note taking and scoreboard operation for the evening.

Here are the starting lineups for tonight’s game. Waverly won the coin toss and will bat last.

FOWLERVILLE

Tori Briggs p

McKenna Maybee lf

Kiely Davis 2b

Tommi Kleinschmidt cf

Angelle Haan dp

Tara Peterson rf

Avery Borg c

McKayla Fletcher 3b

Meadow Browne 1b

Molly Lamar will play shortstop, but will not bat.

WAVERLY

Dani Anzaldua 3b

Abigail DeLong cf

Lettie Sutton c

Sydney Sutton 2b

Bella Rodriguez ss

McKenna Benzinger lf

Nevaeh Larner p

Cherie McCants rf

Savanna Wade 1b

It is now time to review the events of this game through the occasionally observant eyes of an aging Bleacher Denizen who never had much of a baseball or softball career. He always was confused about whether to swing at the balls inside or outside of the strike zone. His coach did not like his strikeout rate and suggested the Bleacher Denizen find another hobby!

Tori Briggs walked to lead off the top of the first inning for Fowlerville. Waverly Pitcher Nevaeh Larner struck out the next Gladiator hitter. (Most of the game, to save wear and tear on your aging Bleacher Denizen’s aging fingers, we will abbreviate Gladiator to Glads.) Kiely Davis ignored the Bleacher Denizens nickname angst and ripped a double down the left field line to drive Tori Briggs home.

Tommi Kleinschmidt singled to left field and Kiely Davis advanced to third base. Angelle Haan singled up the middle to drive Kiely Davis home as Tommi Kleinschmidt moved to second base. The next Glad hitter was out on a fly to second base. Avery Borg walked to load the bases. Fowlerville made its third out of the inning on a fly to left field.

Fowlerville scored two runs in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead.

Dani Anzaldua singled to left field to lead off the bottom of the first inning for Waverly. Abigail DeLong singled to send Dani Anzaldua to second base. Fowlerville Pitcher Tori Briggs struck out the next Warrior hitter. Sydney Sutton walked to load the bases.

Dani Anzaldua scored on an RBI groundout to the shortstop by Bella Rodriguez. Abigail DeLong moved up to third base and Sydney Sutton to second base. Tori Briggs retired the next Warrior hitter on a groundout to second base to end the inning.

Waverly scored one run in the bottom of the first inning to trim the Fowlerville lead to 2-1.

Waverly Pitcher Neveah Larner retired Fowlerville’s leadoff batter in the top of the second inning on a grounder to the pitcher. Tori Briggs singled. Tori Briggs was out when the next hitter hit a fielder’s choice grounder to second base; the batter was out on an interference call to end the inning.

Tori Briggs struck out all three Waverly batters in the bottom of the second inning.

Neveah Larner retired the Gladiator leadoff batter in the top of the third inning on a grounder to second base. Tommi Kleinschmidt walked and took second base on a wild pitch. Fowlerville made its final two outs of the inning on a fly to left field and a fly to second base.

Dani Anzaldua doubled to right field to lead off the bottom of the third inning for Waverly. Tori Briggs retired the next Warrior batter on a bunted fly to the pitcher. Dani Anzaldua stole third base. Lettie Sutton blasted a home run to drive in Dani Anzaldua and herself.

Sydney Sutton was safe at second base on an error. She advanced to third base on a groundout to shortstop by Bella Rodriguez. McKenna Bensinger doubled to drive in Sydney Sutton. Waverly made its third out of the inning on a grounder to third base.

Waverly scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 4-2 lead.

Nevaeh Larner retired the three Gladiator batters in the fourth inning on a strikeout, a fly to left field and a fly to second base.

Tori Briggs struck out the Waverly leadoff batter in the bottom of the fourth inning. Savannah Wade singled off the pitcher’s glove. Savanna Wade moved to second base when Dani Anzaldua singled to left field. Abigail DeLong swatted a single off the pitcher’s glove; Savanna Wade advanced to third base and Dani Anzaldua to second base. Lettie Sutton singled to drive in Savanna Wade and Dani Anzaldua. Abigail DeLong went to third base on the play and Lettie Sutton advanced to second base on the throw home.

Tommi Kleinschmidt made an excellent catch in center field to turn a drive by Sydney Sutton into a sacrifice fly. Abigail DeLong scored on the play. Waverly made its final out of the inning on a fly to left field.

Waverly scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to push its lead to 7-2.

Waverly Pitcher Nevaeh Larner retired the Fowlerville leadoff batter in the top of the fifth inning on a fly to center field. McKenna Maybee walked and moved to second base when Kiely Davis was safe at first base on an error. Nevaeh Larner struck out the next Glad hitter. Angelle Haan blasted a three run home run over the center field fence to drive herself, McKenna Maybee and Kiley Davis home.

Tara Peterson and Avery Borg walked. McKayla Fletcher slammed the second Gladiator three run homer of the game to drive herself, Tara Peterson and Avery Borg home.

Meadow Brown doubled to the left center field fence. Tori Briggs walked. Waverly Catcher Lettie Sutton unleashed a great throw to second base to pick the runner off and end the Fowlerville inning.

Fowlerville scored six runs in the top of the fifth inning to take an 8-7 lead.

Makenna Bensinger singled off the third baseman’s glove to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning for Waverly and stole second base. Tori Briggs struck out the next Warrior hitter. Cherie McCants singled to drive Makenna Bensinger in. Dani Anzaldua singled to centerfield. Glad Center Fielder Tommi Kleinschmidt fired the ball to third base to catch the runner trying to advance. This ended the bottom of the fifth inning.

Waverly scored one run in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game at 8-8.

Nevaeh Larner retired the Fowlerville leadoff batter in the top of the sixth inning on a grounder to second base. Waverly Left Fielder McKenna Bensinger made a great running catch of a foul fly to record the second out. Tommi Kleinschmidt hit a single that eluded a fine diving effort by Waverly Shortstop Bella Rodriguez. Nevaeh Larner retired the next Glad batter on a grounder to third base to end the inning.

Tori Briggs retired the first two Warrior hitters in the bottom of the sixth inning on a fly to second base and a popup to the shortstop. Sydney Sutton lined a single to left field and stole second base. Waverly made its final out of the inning on a grounder to second base.

Nevaeh Larner retired the first two Gladiator hitters in the top of the seventh inning on a fly to first base and a fly to right field. McKayla Fletcher walked. Nevaeh Larner struck out the next batter to end the inning.

McKenna Bensinger blooped a single to center field to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning for Waverly and stole second base. Tori Briggs retired the next two batters on a popped up bunt to first base and two strikeouts to end the inning.

With seven innings in the books, the game was tied at 8-8.

In the Hall of Fame Classic, Bob Every uses a rule he developed to try to end the game. While the major leagues place a runner on second base to open extra innings, the Hall of Fame places the ninth batter in the order on second base and has the leadoff batter come up to bat. (In subsequent innings, the hitters continue to bat through the order as normal.)

Meadow Browne was placed on second base to open the top of the eight inning for Fowlerville. Tori Briggs was intentionally walked. McKenna Maybee singled to center field to advance Meadow Browne to third base and Tori Briggs to second base. Abigail DeLong made a wonderful sliding catch of Kiely Davis’ sacrifice fly to center field. Meadow Browne scored as the other runners held. Tori Briggs was out at third base and McKenna Maybee advanced to second base on a fielder’s choice grounder by Tommi Kleinschmidt.

Angelle Haan blasted her third three run homer of the game to drive in herself, McKenna Maybee and Tommi Kleinschmidt. Fowlerville’s next batter was out. My apologies, but in the scramble to run the scoreboard, announce and take notes, I managed not to write down how she got out, but the inning was over.

Fowlerville scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning to take a 12-8 lead.

Savannah Wade was placed on second base to open the bottom of the eighth inning for Waverly. Tori Briggs retired the first two Waverly hitters of the inning on flies to center field. Savannah Wade advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Tori Briggs got the next batter to ground out to the pitcher to end the game.

Fowlerville won this game by a 12-8 score and will play Grand Ledge in Wednesday’s semifinal game.

Angelle Haan hit two home runs and a single; she also drove in seven runs and was named the Dan Henry Distributing player of the game.

Dani Anzaldua had five hits in five at bats for Waverly. Her hits included a double and four singles. Lettie Sutton had a home run, a single and four RBI. McKenna Bensinger had a double, a single and one RBI. Sydney Sutton had two singles and one RBI. Abigail DeLong had two singles. Cherie McCants had a single and one RBI. Savannah Wade had one single. Bella Rodriguez had one RBI.

Neveah Larner pitched the complete game for Waverly and struck out three batters.

In addition to the offense generated by Angelle Haan noted above, McKayla Fletcher had a home run and three RBI. Kiely Davis had a double and two RBI. Meadow Browne had a double. Tori Briggs and Tommi Kleinschmidt each had a single.

Tori Briggs pitched the entire game for Fowlerville and struck out nine batters.

Here is the play by play of tonight’s other Hall of Fame Classic Game between Williamston and Grand Ledge. https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2024/05/22/grand-ledge-vs-williamston-hall-of-fame-softball-classic-quarterfinal-the-bleacher-denizen-may-21-2024-by-chuck-krafft/