Photos by Scott DeCamp | CatchMark
MONTAGUE — When the dust had settled on Oakridge’s sweep of host Montague Tuesday and there was a moment to reflect, the numbers posted by the Eagles’ softball program are simply staggering.
With 13-0 and 18-1 victories, Oakridge finished unbeaten in West Michigan Conference Lakes Division play this season. It marks the Eagles’ seventh straight WMC championship.
Consider these gaudy stats for the Oakridge program both on Tuesday and during its dominant run:
- An eye-popping 101-1 conference record during that seven-year reign.
- Six home runs during the second inning of Game 2 Tuesday. The MHSAA record book does not list records for home runs in an inning, but the Eagles’ six in the nightcap ranks them fifth for homers in a game.
- This Oakridge squad owns the program record for homers in a season with 47 and the Eagles aren’t finished yet. That number ties them for 14th in the MHSAA’s record book and it’s the most ever for a Muskegon-area team. Oakridge finished with 43 home runs two seasons ago.
Watch a highlights and reaction video from Oakridge’s big day Tuesday:
Here are more details and notables from Tuesday’s doubleheader:
- Oakridge improves to 25-9 overall and finishes 12-0 in the WMC Lakes Division.
- Montague is now 15-16 overall and 7-4 in the WMC Lakes. The Wildcats still have a divisional game to complete against rival Whitehall after the teams were tied at 19 through eight innings of an April 25 contest suspended by darkness.
- As for Oakridge’s offensive fireworks Tuesday, where do you begin? Well, we can start with the team’s lone senior, catcher Andrea Romero-Serrano, who in Game 1 went 2-for-4 with a grand slam, double and five RBIs and in Game 2 finished 3-for-3 with a double, four RBIs and two runs scored. She was selected Player of the Game by CatchMark SportsNet’s Scott DeCamp for the CSN WMC Game of the Week. Watch a TikTok with Romero-Serrano below:
- In Game 1, which went six innings, Oakridge’s Kaelinn Jozsa homered, drove in three and scored twice. She also earned the pitching win, scattering three hits, striking out eight and walking two.
- Madison Clark doubled twice for the Eagles in the first game, while Brenna Cabrera and Ahria Doornbos also doubled.
- Doornbos, Gracie Willea and Madison Bowen had two hits apiece in Game 1.
- Madison Clark drove in three runs in the first game, while Cabrera scored three times and Doornbos scored twice.
- Maddie Kessler had two hits to pace Montague in Game 1.
- Natalie Kellogg took the pitching loss for the Wildcats in the first game.
- Oakridge was the home team in Game 2. The Eagles led 2-1 before going to bat in the bottom of the second. That’s when they absolutely erupted. Here’s how it went: Gracie Willea hit her first home run to lead it off, then Bowen singled and Rylee Vanderputte reached on an error. Jozsa followed with a three-run home run. Doornbos reached on an error, Cabrera singled, Madison Clark singled, and Romero-Serrano singled to score two runs. Gracie Clark followed with a two-run home run. After a pitching change, Gracie Willea doubled, and Bowen singled to score a run. Vanderputte grounded into a fielder’s choice for the first out and Jozsa popped out for the second out. Doornbos followed with a two-run home run. Cabrera singled, then Madison Clark hit a two-run homer. Romero-Serrano singled, then Gracie Clark hit her second home run of the inning, another two-run shot. After another pitching change, Gracie Willea singled. An Oakridge pinch-hitter struck out to end the inning, but not until the Eagles had piled 16 runs on 15 hits in the inning, powered by a half-dozen homers.
- Cabrera finished 3-for-3 in Game 2 for Oakridge as did Gracie Willea. Jozsa had two hits and three RBIs with two runs scored. Cabrera scored three runs.
- Jozsa picked up the pitching win in the second game, too. She allowed one run on three hits with two strikeouts and three walks in the three-inning game.
- Alissa Wynn had two hits in the second game for Montague, while Kiara Mikkelsen had an RBI single.
- Reagan Cederquist took the pitching loss in Game 2 for the Wildcats.
- It was senior day for Montague. Four Wildcats were celebrated, including Kellogg and Mikkelsen plus a pair of foreign-exchange students.
- It was an emotional day for Kiara Mikkelsen and especially for her father, Montague coach Randall Mikkelsen. Watch a heartfelt video on them here:
- Being that the Oakridge-Montague doubleheader was selected CatchMark SportsNet WMC Game of the Week, CatchMark livestreamed Game 1. We attempted to stream it, anyway. Connectivity was very poor, meaning the feed kept dropping. Below is a replay of the livestream, which is incomplete and jumps around because of the poor connection. Our apologies.
