Laingsburg vs. Fowlerville – – Hall of Fame Softball Classic Quarterfinal – – The Bleacher Denizen – – May 20, 2026 – – by Chuck Krafft
The rains came Monday and forced this semifinal game to be moved from Monday to Wednesday. Today, it’s a bit chilly, but it should not be raining.
Tonight, your Bleacher Denizen is at Ranney Park near Frandor in Lansing to cover the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame Softball Classic. In tonight’s second quarterfinal game, the Wolfpack from Laingsburg will take on the Gladiators from Fowlerville. I also covered the first game tonight – – between Eaton Rapids and Grand Ledge. The play by play of that game is posted here. https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2026/05/20/eaton-rapids-vs-grand-ledge-hall-of-fame-softball-classic-quarterfinal-the-bleacher-denizen-may-20-2026-by-chuck-krafft/
While we wait for this game to begin, I hope you will enjoy this Ragtime Tune with a bit of silly humor inserted from my You Tube Channel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUieaBvS38w
Here are the starting lineups. Fowlerville will be the home team and Laingsburg will bat first.
LAINGSBURG
Savvy Stirm 1b
Alayna Merrell 2b
Bella Latuszek ss
Harper Strouse c
Peyton Stahr 3b
Skylar Stiff p
JuJu Latuszek dp
Makenna Johnston rf
Addie Westphal cf
Alaina Asher will play left field, but will not bat.
FOWLERVILLE
Avery Borg c
McKenna Maybee ss
Kiely Davis 2b
Annabelle Szumlinski rf
Michaela Gulledge cf
Payton Ryan dp
Ella Olrich 3b
Rylee Gulledge p
McKayla Fletcher lf
Emma Hartman will play first base, but will not bat.
It is now time to review the events of this game through the somewhat open eyes of an Aging Bleacher Denizen who never had much of a softball career. He had a number of great cost saving ideas that his coaches never really supported. One of these involved trying to save wear and tear on softball gloves.
The Bleacher Denizen started realizing that the impact from catching softballs gradually wears lines in the leather of the gloves and reduces their expected life. He started letting fly balls drop and letting ground balls stop rolling so he could pick them up without causing wear and tear to the gloves. Coaches never appreciated the cost savings and started complaining about too many hits dropping in and too many inside the park home runs. Sometimes, a pioneer’s suggestions are simply not appreciated. Alas.
Fowlerville Pitcher Rylee Gulledge made a great running, diving catch of a popup off the bat of Laingsburg’s leadoff batter to open the top of the first inning. Alayna Merrell singled to center field. Rylee Gulledge retired the next Wolfpack batter on a fly to right field. Harper Strouse walked and Alayna Merrell advanced to second base. Laingsburg made its third out when Gladiator Second Baseman Kiely Davis made a nice catch ranging back into right field.
Laingsburg Pitcher Skylar Stiff retired the three Fowlerville first inning hitters on a popup to second bae, a strikeout and a line drive to center field.
Rylee Gulledge retired the three Laingsburg hitters in the top of the second inning on a fly to the pitcher, a bouncer to the pitcher and a fly to third base.
Annabelle Szumlinski singled to left field to lead off the bottom of the second inning for the Gladiators. Skylar Stiff struck out the next Fowlerville batter. Payton Ryan singled to left field and Annabelle Szumlinski advanced to second base. Ella Olrich singled to center field and Annabelle Szumlinski came home. Payton Ryan advanced to second base. Fowlerville made its second out on a fly to left field. Payton Ryan went to third base and Ella Olrich to second when McKayla Fletcher was hit by a pitch. Skylar Stiff struck out the next Gladiator hitter to end the inning.
Fowlerville scored one run in the bottom of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead.
Addison Westphal singled up the middle to lead off the top of the third inning for Laingsburg and went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Savvy Stirm. Addison Westphal advanced to third base on a groundout to the shortstop by Alayna Merrell. Rylee Gulledge retired the next Wolfpack batter on a fly to right field to end the inning.
McKenna Maybee walked to lead off the bottom of the third inning for Fowlerville. Skylar Stiff retired the next three Gladiator batters on two flies to center field followed by a grounder to first base to end the inning.
Rylee Gulledge retired the first two Wolfpack batters in the top of the fourth inning on a popup to second base and a fly to center field. Skylar Stiff singled to left field. Maddy Butler entered the game as a courtesy runner for Skylar Stiff. Maddy Butler went to second base when JuJu Latuszek singled to center field. Makenna Johnston lined a single to center field to drive Maddy Butler home. JuJu Latuszek went to third base and Makenna Johnston took second base on a throw.
Addison Westphal beat out an infield single to drive JuJu Latuszek home. Makenna Johnston advanced to third base. Laingsburg made its final out on a popup to second base.
Laingsburg scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 2-1 lead.
Skylar Stiff retired Fowlerville’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the fourth inning on a groundout to second base. Ella Olrich singled up the middle and took second base on a single to left field by Rylee Gulledge. Kourtnie Koven entered the game as a courtesy runner for Rylee Gulledge. Skylar Stiff struck out the next Gladiator batter.
Avery Borg lined a single to center field to drive Ella Olrich home. Kourtnie Koven advanced to second base. McKenna Maybee singled up the middle. Kourtnie Koven went to third base and Avery Borg to second. Kiely Davis lined a single to center field. Kourtnie Koven and Avery Borg scored as McKenna Maybee went to third base. Annabelle Szumlinski singled to center field; McKenna Maybee scored and Kiely Davis moved up to second base. A Fowlerville fan just messaged me that this was Kiely Davis’ 100th career RBI!
Peyton Stahr went in to pitch for Laingsburg and Skylar Stiff moved to third base. Peyton Stahr struck out the next Gladiator hitter to end the inning.
Fowlerville scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 5-2 lead.
Alayna Merrell singled off the glove of Fowlerville Third Baseman Ella Olrich, who made a great diving effort, to lead off the top of the fifth inning for Laingsburg. Bella Latuszek lined a single to center field and Alayna Merrell advanced to second base. Rylee Gulledge struck out the next Laingsburg batter and got the second out of the inning on a fly to the shortstop.
Alayna Merrell advanced to third base and Bella Latuszek to second base when Skylar Stiff was safe at first base on an error. Everly Izzo went in to pinch run for Bella Latuszek at second base. Rylee Gulledge got the next Wolfpack batter out on a bouncer to the pitcher to end the inning.
Peyton Stahr retired the three Fowlerville hitters in the bottom of the fifth inning on a grounder to first base, a fly to right field and a soft line drive that to the pitcher that she knocked down before throwing the runner out at first base.
Rylee Gulledge struck out the Wolfpack leadoff batter in the top of the sixth inning. Addison Westphal beat out a bunt single. Addison Westphal went to second base when Savvy Stirm singled to left field. Alayna Merrell singled to center field to drive Addison Westphal home. Savvy Stirm advanced to second base. Bella Latuszek hit a home run to center field to give Laingsburg a one run lead as she, Savvy Stirm and Alayna Merrell all scored.
Rylee Gulledge retired the next two Wolfpack batters on a fly to right field and a fly to left field to end the inning.
Laingsburg scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 6-5 lead.
Peyton Stahr struck out Fowlerville’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the sixth inning. Avery Borg walked and went to second base on a groundout to third base by McKenna Maybee. Peyton Stahr retired the next Gladiator batter on a popup to third base to end the inning.
Rylee Gulledge retired the first two Wolfpack batters on a grounder to shortstop and a fly where Shortstop McKenna Maybee made an excellent running catch. Makenna Johnston was safe at first base on an error. Addison Westphal singled to center field and Makenna Johnston advanced to second base. Maddy Butler entered the game to pinch run for Makenna Johnston. Rylee Gulledge got the next Wolfpack batter on a fly to left field to end the inning.
The teams entered the bottom of the seventh inning with Laingsburg holding a 6-5 lead.
Annabelle Szumlinski and Ella Olrich each had two singles and one RBI for Fowlerville. Kiely Davis had one single and two RBI. Avery Borg had a single and one RBI. McKenna Maybee, Payton Ryan and Rylee Gulledge each had a single.
Rylee Gulledge pitched the complete game for Fowlerville and struck out two batters.
Bella Latuszek had a single, the game winning home run and three RBI for Laingsburg. She was named the player of the game! Addison Westphal had three singles and one RBI. Makenna Johnston had two singles and two RBI. Alayna Merrell, Skylar Stiff and JuJu Latuszek each had two singles.
Skylar Stiff pitched three and two thirds innings and struck out four batters. Peyton Stahr pitched three and one third shutout innings and struck out three batters.