By JOHN RAFFEL
Evart’s softball team won the Division 3 state title on June 15 at Michigan State University when the Wildcats defeated Ottawa Lake Whiteford 1-0 in the championship game.
Sophomore Kyrah Gray threw the shutout for Evart and struck out the last two batters with runners on second and third to give Evart its first ever MHSAA state crown.
Evart sophomore Mattie Tiedt in the bottom of the sixth had her team’s only hit, an RBI single to drive home Ally Theunick with the only run of the game. Theunick had reached base after being it by the pitch by Whiteford ace Unity Nelson.
Kyrah Gray had a flyout to the fence in left field during the game but wasn’t able to get a hit against Nelson.
“There was another pitcher we saw who might be a little faster than her,” Kyrah Gray said. “But her offspeed stuff was pretty nasty.”
“It was probably the first game in our Division all year where she was probably the second best pitcher on the field,” Shaun Gray said of Kyrah. “I thought she answered the call pretty darn good. In one inning, they hit a double into the gap and I thought our center fielder Emily Miller did a great job of getting the ball back in holding her to a double. There was a little blooper over the third baseman’s head, but Jillian Decker, our shortstop, made a heckuva play to not let that run score.”
Evart had won the semifinal game 8-3 on Friday over Buchanan. Gray was again the winning pitcher while she and Theunick also had solo home runs. Gostlin had a three-run home run.
Addy Gray played a huge role two seasons ago when, as a junior, she was the No. 1 pitcher for a Evart girls softball team which went to the state title game and lost a 3-2 heartbreaker to Millington in eight innings for the state title.
Gray was in the dugout supporting her former team. Gray watched her young sister, Kyrah Gray, pitch the Wildcats to seven straight playoff wins.
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