Laingsburg vs. Perry – – MHSAA Softball District Semifinal – – The Bleacher Denizen – – May 31, 2025 – – by Chuck Krafft
Today, your Bleacher Denizen is headed across town to Lansing Catholic High School where the local Division 3 Softball District Tournament will be played. AFter yesterdays drive to Fulton, it’s nice to be within five miles of home to do these games.
This will be a tough district to win as Laingsburg, Perry and Lansing Catholic are all great teams who have had excellent seasons.
10:00 AM is a bit early for your Bleacher Denizen, but when the alarm rang, your Bleacher Denizen was pleasantly surprised to be able to get out of bed without the aid of a crane. He made his way over to Catholic Central’s stadium and found a place in the press box. Angela Madden, the East Lansing High School Gymnastics Coach is announcing the game. Her dulcet tones are adding a lot to the proceedings.
In today’s first game, the Ramblers from Perry will compete with the Laingsburg Wolfpack. Both these teams feature top quality pitchers. Both Perry’s Sara Austin and Laingsburg’s Addy Buchin are capable of striking out hitters by the dozens!
They flipped a coin and Perry will be the home team. Laingsburg will bat first. Here are the starting lineups.
LAINGSBURG
Savvy Stirm 1b
Alayna Merrell 2b
Bella Latuszek ss
Addy Buchin p
Peyton Stahr 3b
Harper Strouse c
Makenna Johnston rf
Alaina Asher lf’
JuJu Latuszek cf
PERRY
Teagen Hallock cf
Sara Austin p
Madison Ralston ss
Alivia Davis 1b
Bella Hamel 3b
Ava Positano c
Grace Spiess lf
Ryleigh Allen 2b
Emma Winans rf
It is now time to look at the events of this game through the occasionally clear lens of an aging Bleacher Denizen who never had much of a baseball or softball career. He was showing some promise as a defensive outfielder until the powers that be ruled he was no longer allowed to use a bushel basket to help catch fly balls. When the fly balls started dropping in the Bleacher Denizen’s playing time started dropping out.
Perry PItcher Sara Austin retired Laingsburg’s leadoff batter in the top of the first inning on a grouder to third base. Alayna MErrell singled to left field and scored on a double to the right field fence by Bella Latuszek. Bella Latuszek stole third base and scored on a double by Addy Buchin. Jalynn Smith entered the game as a courtesy runner for Addy Buchin.
Peyton Stahr singled to left field and Jaylynn Smith advanced to third base. Sara Austin retired the next Wolfpack hitter on a popped up bunt to the pitcher. Peyston Stahr stole second base. Makenna Johnston singled to right field and drove Jaylynn Smith and Peyton Stahr home. Sara Austin struck out the next Wolfpack batter to end the inning.
Laingsburg scored four runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 4-0 lead.
Laingsburg Pitcher Addy Buchin retired Perry’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the third inning on a grounder to third base. Sara Austin singled up the middle and went to second base when Madison Ralston was safe on an error. Sara Austin advanced to third base and Madison Ralston to second base on a wild pitch. Addy Buchin struck out the next Rambler batter. Bella Hamel walked to load the bases with two out. Addy Buchin struck out the next batter for the third out.
JuJu Latuszek was safe at first base on an error to lead off the top of the second inning for the Wolfpack. She stole second base and went to third base on a groundout to third base where Bella Hamel made a nice pick. JuJu Latuszek scored on a sacrifice bunt by Alayna Merrell. Sara Austin struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Laingsburg scored one run in the top of the second inning to extend its lead to 5-0.
Addy Buchin struck out Perry’s first two batters in the bottom of the second inning. Emma Winans beat out an infield single and advanced to second base on an error. Addy Buchin got the next Rambler batter to pop up to the pitcher for the final out.
addy Buchin singled to center field to lead off the top of the third inning for Laingsburg. Jaylynn Smith entered the game as a courtesy runner and went to second base on a wild pitch. Peyton Stahr was safe at first base and Jaylynn Smith out at third base on a fielder’s choice fly to the shortstop. Sara Austin struck out the next two Laingsburg batters to end the inning.
In the bottom of the third inning, Addy Buchin retired the three Laingsburg batters on a striketout, a fly to the shortstop where Bella Latuszek made a fine play backing into the outfield and another strikeout.
Alaina Asher singled down the right field to lead off the top of the fourth inning for Laingsburg. Sara Austin struck out the next hitter and retired the next two Wolfpack batters on a popup to first base and a grounder to the shortstop to end the inning.
Addy Buchin retired the three Perry batters in the bottom of the fourth inning on a fly to center field, a grounder to second base and a strikeout.
Bella Latuszek singled to right field to lead off the top of the fifth inning for Laingsburg. She advanced to second base when Addy Buchin singled up the middle. Jaylynn Smith entered the game as a courtesy runner for Addy Bushin. Sara Austin retired the next Laingsburg batter on a fly to the shortstop. Bella Latuszek and Jaylynn Smith performed a double steal that left Bella Latuszek on third base and Jaylynn Smith on second base.
Bella Latuszek scored and Jaylynn Smith advanced to third base on a bunt single by Harper STrouse. Jaylynn Smith scored and Harper Strouse scored all the way from first base on an RBI single by Makenna Johnston. Makenna Johnston advanced to second base on a groundout to second base by Alaina Asher. Sara Austin struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Lai gsburg scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning to boost their lead to 8-0.
Addy Buchin retired Perry’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the fifth inning on a grounder to the shortstop. Emma Winans singled to right field and advanced to second base when Teagen Hallock singled to left field. Sara Austin singled to center field to load the bases as Emma Winans went to third base and Teagen Hallock went to second.
Emma Winans scored on an RBI groundout to the shortstop by Madison Ralston. Teegan Hallock went to third base and Sara Austin to second. Teegan Hallock and Sara Austin scored on a single to center field by Alivia Davis. When the batter tried to get to second base, Laingsburg Catcher Harper Strouse fired the ball to second base to get her out for the third out of the inning.
Perry scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to trim the Laingsburg lead to 8-3.
Sara Austin retired the first two Laingsburg hitters in the top of the sixth inning on a grounder to the pitcher and a strikeout. Bella Latuszek doubled to center field and stole third base. Laingsburg made its third out of the inning on a grounder to third base. Perry First Baseman made a fine scoop of the throw from third base to secure the inning’s final out.
Addy Buchin retired the three Perry hitters in the bottom of the sixth inning on a fly to center field, a grounder to the pitcher and a strikeout.
Peyton Stahr singled to lead off the top of the seventh inning for Laingsburg and went to second base on a passed ball. Sara Austin retired the next three Wolfpack hitters on a strikeout, a soft liner to first base and another strikeout to end the inning.
Addy Buchin retired the three Perry hitters in the bottom of the seventh inning on a popup to third base, a groundout to the shortstop and a strikeout.
Laingsburg won the game by the score of 8-3 and will play Lansing Catholic in the district final.
Sara Austin and Emma Winans each had two singles for Perry. Alivia Davis had a single and two RBI. Teagen Hallock had a single. Madison Ralston had one RBI.
Sara Austin pitched the complete game and struck out nine Laingsburg batters.
Bella Latuszek had two doubles, one single and one RBI for Laingsburg. Addy Buchin had a double and two singles as well as one RBI. Makenna Johnston had two singles and four RBI. Peyton Stahr had two singles. SAvvy Stirm and Harper STrouse each had one single and one RBI. Alaina Asher had a single.
Addy Buchin pitched the complete game for Laingsburg and struck out nine batters.
I also covered the championship game. Here is a link to that game! https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2025/05/31/laingsburg-vs-lansing-catholic-mhsaa-softball-district-final-the-bleacher-denizen-may-31-2025/