HARBOR SPRINGS — Before last season, the search for the last Harbor Springs softball district championship took flipping back decades.
Well beyond when even any of the players on the team were born.
Finding when the last time the Rams stacked consecutive titles takes an even deeper dive.
Except, now it’s not much of a dive at all. It happened Saturday, May 31 in Harbor Springs.
Hosting a Division 4 district tournament for a second straight season, the Rams came out on top for a second straight year, beating St. Ignace in a 20-2 semifinal, before rolling to a 16-2 district final win over Mackinaw City.
In the opener against St. Ignace, Hadley Binko went 3 for 3 with double and three RBIs, then earned the three-inning pitching win behind eight strikeouts and two hits issued.
Callie Keiser tripled, went 2 for 3 with two RBIs, Kendra Spooner went 2 for 2 with three RBIs and a double, then Maddy Woodward and Peyton Frost each doubled.
It took six innings to get by the Comets, with Kaylin Samyn going the distance with six innings and seven strikeouts.
Frost went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and five steals against Mackinaw, Woodward doubled again, went 2 for 2 with two RBIs, Keiser finished 2 for 3 with an RBI, Richardson went 2 for 4 with an RBI and Kayla Schreiber finished 2 for 3 with two RBIs.
Julia Short went 2 for 3 with two RBIs for Mackinaw City, then Liz Kurzynski doubled.
After a first round exit from regionals a year ago, the Rams will try to hang in a little longer this time around and they’ll get the change to do so when they host again at 10 a.m., Saturday, June 7 against Onaway.
The Rams would then meet either Hillman or Rudyard in a regional championship on Saturday with a win.
DIVISION 3
Grayling hosted district
GRAYLING — Last season, to get back on top in their Division 3 district, the Boyne City softball team found some late-game heroics to pull in the title.
In a tight meeting with host Grayling Saturday, May 31 in a Division 3 tournament again, there would be some magic for the Ramblers late, though not enough.
Boyne City came up just short in a 3-2 district championship loss against Grayling. The loss followed a 9-2 win over Charlevoix earlier in the day.
Against Charlevoix, Sidney Bush and Natalie Grobaski allowed just three hits, with Bush striking out seven through 5 1/3 innings.
Katelyn Dittmar then went 4 for 4 with an RBI at the plate, Lily Payton drove in two runs and Sidney Bush added an RBI. Eeva Rintala also had two RBIs for Boyne.
For Charlevoix, Ayla Kemp went 2 for 4, Jillian Gray singled and Addison Shearer had an RBI.
Against the Vikings, the late magic came when Payton singled in two runs in a 3-0 game, and no outs, though she was later thrown out stealing, then back to back strikeouts came to end the game.
Sadie Bush doubled twice, while Sidney Bush pitched a full seven, giving up four hits and striking out seven.
Boyne City finished a 16-20 season with a lot of talent returning again next season. Charlevoix closed out the season at 8-21.
DIVISION 4
Boyne Falls hosted district
BOYNE FALLS —The East Jordan softball team was in a tough spot in their Division 4 district tournament on Saturday, May 31.
Up against a team that had beat them twice, knew them well as a conference foe and was ranked No. 4 in the state, it was going to take some luck to advance for EJ.
But Saturday didn’t provide such luck.
Bellaire earned a 7-0 win over East Jordan, ending the Red Devils’ season with just two hits on the board.
Caitlyn Burks and Sydney Guerriero had the lone singles for EJ, with Emma Murray going six innings with six hits allowed and four strikeouts.
It finished out a 15-14 campaign for East Jordan, while Bellaire went on to a 14-0 district final win over Mancelona.
Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Harbor Springs softball earns district title; Boyne, EJ, Charlevoix fall