Gaylord wins 2nd straight state championship, beating Vicksburg in extra innings

EAST LANSING - The Gaylord Blue Devils made it back-to-back division 2 state championships as they beat Vicksburg 3-2 in 8 innings. Gaylord got the scoring started in the first inning and then added another run in the 2nd. Vicksburg scored with two outs left in the bottom of the 7th sending the game to extra innings. In the 8th Jayden Jones hit helped score Alexis Shepherd which ended up being the winning run.

Aubrey Jones pitched the complete game for Gaylord striking out 5 and only giving up 2 runs in 8 innings.

The entire team was very emotional after the game, with many members of the team being seniors, including Jayden Jones.

“It’s been a battle, it’s been a grind. We’ve had overcome a lot, a lot of people doubted us, a lot of people didn’t want us to win. And we proved a lot of people wrong.” Said Jones. “I’m just so glad to have had these last ten years with this team, it’s really, really sad, though, that it’s over.”

Vicksburg was easily the toughest game that Gaylord has had during their playoff run and head coach, Ron Moeggenberg knew it.

“Heart rate was up a little bit, but we couldn’t show much emotion, so we didn’t want the girls to, you know, feel our little bit of a heart race. But, you know, we talked to them during the playoffs before the playoff run started that, you know, at some point in this tournament, we’re going to have a close game. That was today.” Said Moeggenberg.