Sharon Lifts Braves Into State Championship Game

EAST LANSING---"We're going to the 'Ship".

That's about all that Gladstone Braves senior Tinner Sharon had the strength to say after Friday's Division Three State Semifinal softball game at Michigan State University.

Sharon pitched eight innings while in obvious pain, and played a part in two key plays in the eighth inning to lead the Braves to a 5-4 win over the Coloma Commets in the MHSAA Division Three State Semifinals.

Gladstone plays for a state title on Saturday.

The cliche in sports is that a player can "take the team on her back and carry the team to victory". But that cliche is pretty accurate for what happened on Friday at MSU.

Sharon played the game with a bum ankle. Her arm has been sore for more than a week. Early in Friday's game, she lost her stride and fell down, face-first, in the pitcher's circle.

Then she had to bounce back after giving up two home runs in the seventh inning that turned a 4-1 Gladstone lead into a game that had to be won in extra innings.

Tinner Sharon double play ends game

And then, in the eighth inning, Sharon got the job done. She led off with a single. Sadie Strasser bunted her to second. But Sharon noticed that nobody covered third base, so she kept running.

Then the Commet player rushed a throw to third, and it went off the third baseman's glove. So, Sharon ran home, bumped into the catcher, and scored.

But that's not all. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Sharon walked Commet right fielder Katie Scheuer. But when Nicole Larson bunted, she popped it up.

Sharon raced out of the circle, caught it, and shoveled the ball to Bridget Becker at first for a double play. All in a day's work.

"We all know that we have fight in us to want this," Sharon said. "And that's what we did. We all found what we needed to get us the win."

And that play in the eighth inning when nobody for Coloma covered third?

"So, I went and the ball rolled by third, and so I went for home," Sharon said. "I had oxygen, but I thought I was gonna break my leg or something."

Sharon's performance left many of the spectators at the field in awe, praising her for her toughness. One of them is her head coach, Ashley Hughes.

Tinner Sharon scores eighth inning run

"I think Tinner did a real nice job today, even after those two home runs," Hughes said. "That's tough. Being a pitcher myself, that's tough to deal with. She had an issue with her ankle today, and I'm very proud of her."

"And I'm very proud of the girls."

The Braves led 1-0 until the fourth inning. That's when Lexi Hongisto ripped a triple to the fence in right field. Jess Beaudry followed with a long two-run homer to left-center field, giving Sharon and the Braves a 3-0 cushion heading into the late innings.

Jess Beaudry two-run homer

"It's just fantastic right now. My emotions are everywhere," Beaudry said. "To get something like that, nothing feels better. I mean, absolutely nothing feels greater than that."

"I didn't really look at it, I just saw it bounce other side of the fence. I was more out of breath from screaming going around the bases than from going around them."

Coloma (34-10) got a run in the bottom of the inning on a RBI single by Kristen Potter, but Sharon struck out the next two batters to end that inning. Then in the top of the seventh, Gladstone scored a run when Bridget Becker and Sam Sailer got base hits.

Becker scored when Coloma pitcher Emily Najacht was called for a circle violation.

That is a balk, and the run scored. The Comet head coach was livid with the call, and she argued profusely with the umpire. But the call stood, and it was 4-1.

That turned out to be huge. In the bottom of the seventh, Sharon needed one more strike to end the game. But Jenna Faulerack launched a two-run homer to left to make it 4-3. Then Lexie Summers followed with a solo shot to stun the Braves.

It was 4-4. And that set up the dramatics of that eighth inning.

"I had nothing but faith in our team," Beaudry said. "We were chanting 'we're not done yet'. I walked into the dugout and said, 'we're not done yet'. Let's go. We have the bats to do it."

"And we did. We let them slip by once, but we were not gonna let it happen again (in the bottom of the eighth inning."

Hughes loved the way her team responded to adversity throughout the game.

"The girls were up and down today," Hughes said. "But it's incredible. Absolutely incredible. I can't say enough about their teammwork today. They rallied when they needed to. Just mentally tough today."

CLICK HERE to see the game's statistics, courtesy of the MHSAA.

Gladstone (29-2) will face Unionville-Sebewaing (40-0) in the state championship game Saturday afternoon at 3:00. The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com, starting at 2:40 Eastern time.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos taken by Lucas LaCosse, listen to radio interviews, and listen to radio highlights, including both teams' home runs.

Gladstone's Tinner Sharon gets attention after falling during Friday's game. (Lucas LaCosse photo)

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

4/8	4:00 PM	at Green Bay Preble	3 - 5 (L)	0-1

4/8	6:00 PM	at Green Bay Preble	4 - 1 (W)	1-1

4/18	4:00 PM	Norway Knights	11 - 2 (W)	2-1

4/19	1:00 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	3 - 2 (W)	3-1

4/19	7:00 PM	Rapid River Rockets	10 - 0 (W)	4-1

4/22	4:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	6 - 0 (W)	5-1

4/22	6:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	6 - 2 (W)	6-1

4/26	11:00 AM	Paw Paw Redskins	4 - 3 (W)	7-1

4/26	1:00 PM	Holland High School	10 - 0 (W)	8-1

4/26	4:00 PM	Williamston High School	11 - 1 (W)	9-1

5/1	4:00 PM	at Traverse City St. Francis	5 - 0 (W)	10-1

5/1	6:00 PM	at Traverse City St. Francis	3 - 4 (L)	10-2

5/6	4:00 PM	Rapid River Rockets	8 - 0 (W)	11-2

5/6	6:00 PM	Rapid River Rockets	11 - 4 (W)	12-2

5/8	4:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	4 - 0 (W)	13-2

5/8	6:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	5 - 2 (W)	14-2

5/13	4:00 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	1 - 0 (W)	15-2

5/13	6:00 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	6 - 4 (W)	16-2

5/17	10:00 AM	Birch Run	5 - 2 (W)	17-2

5/17	2:00 PM	Frankenmuth High School	6 - 4 (W)	18-2

5/17	6:00 PM	New Boston Huron High School	10 - 3 (W)	19-2

5/20	4:00 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	6 - 0 (W)	20-2

5/20	6:30 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	2 - 1 (W)	21-2

5/28	4:00 PM	Houghton Gremlins	16 - 0 (W)	22-2

5/30	2:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	5 - 0 (W)	23-2

5/30	4:00 PM	Manistique Emeralds	12 - 0 (W)	24-2

6/7	12:00 PM	at Traverse City St. Francis	3 - 1 (W)	25-2

6/7	2:00 PM	Boyne City	4 - 1 (W)	26-2

6/10	12:00 PM	Muskegon Oakridge	5 - 1 (W)	27-2

6/13	10:00 AM	Coloma Comets	5 - 4 (W)	28-2

6/14	3:00 PM	Unionville-Sebewaing	2 - 1 (W)	30-2