Marshall entered Wednesday night’s girls soccer game against the Kalamazoo Central Lady Giants wanting to push their winning streak to 11.

Kalamazoo Central said, “Not so fast!”

In what became an extremely competitive SMAC Tournament quarterfinal matchup, the Kalamazoo Central girls soccer team needed an overtime period to get the game winning 2nd goal.

Ali Russo had another big game with one goal and one assist. Tori Boone had the other goal and Brianna Chapman dished out one assist.

Grace Kiel had one of her best games of what has been an outstanding season. Kiel had 12 saves.

The Final Four is set. The Lady Giants, Portage Northern, Mattawan, and Portage Central. Kalamazoo Central will kick off against Portage Central on Saturday (5/19).

Kalamazoo Central edged out four other teams and won the Kalamazoo Loy Norrix Invitational on Wednesday.

Jake Han led the way for the Giants with a 39.

Alec Saylor had a 40.

Lonnie Duncan and Matt McGinnis each shot 41.

As a team, Kalamazoo Central finished with a 161. This edged out 2nd place Gull Lake (162) and 3rd place Portage Central (163).

The boys will rest up over the weekend and look to make a strong showing Monday (5/21) at the Big 16/SMAC tournament.

Kalamazoo Central baseball could not get the bats going in Game 1, but were able to play a much better game both offensively and defensively and win Game 2 by a score of 4-2.

Kalamazoo Central’s Austin Kannegieter and Stefan Vandermolen came up big in Game 2. Vandermolen had a home run and three RBIs. Kannegieter landed a double and an RBI.

Vandermolen was also solid on the mound in Game 2, throwing a complete game with 10 strikeouts.

This seems to be a recent trend for the Giants; a lackluster Game 1 followed by a solid win in Game 2. If you recall, this is what happened last week against Gull Lake. Come playoff time, if the Kalamazoo Central baseball team can play the way they do in these Game 2′s for their elimination games, the Giants could make a deep run.

The Giants will look to bring their A-game, for both games, this Saturday against Schoolcraft. Games begin at 10 a.m.

Kalamazoo Central couldn’t quite get past Kalamazoo Loy Norrix in Monday night’s girls soccer game. The game ended in a 2-2 tie.

Lady Giant Ali Russo scored both goals for Kalamazoo Central. Both of these goals were set up by Christian Slater.

Girls Lacrosse

Regionals start on Thursday (5/17). Times are still TBA

Girls Soccer

Tonight (5/14) against Kalamazoo Loy Norrix. 6:45 p.m.

Softball 

On Tuesday (5/15) the girls will be going against Niles, away games, in a doubleheader starting  at 4:30 p.m.

On Thursday (5/17) it’s a 4 p.m. road game at Marshall.

On Saturday (5/19) it’s another road game. This one is against Vicksburg as part of the Greater Kalamazoo Invitational. The time is 9 a.m.

Girls Track 

On Friday (5/18) Division 1 Regional at Holt. 2 p.m.

Regular seasons are winding down. Make sure to get out and support the teams this week.

Baseball

Tuesday (5/15) doubleheader @ Niles. Action begins at 4 p.m.

Thursday (5/17) @ Coldwater, 4 p.m.

Saturday (5/19) GK Tournament, 10 a.m.

Boys Golf

On Wednesday (5/16) there will be a meet involving the Giants, Portage Northern, and Kalamazoo Loy Norrix. Tee-off is at 3:30 p.m.

Boys Lacrosse

Final game of the season is Tuesday (5/15) night home against Harper Creek.

Boys Track

On Friday (5/18) Division 1 Regional at Holt. 2 p.m.

Grittiness. Toughness. Short memory?

The Giants needed all three in last night’s upset win over Richland Gull Lake.

Richland Gull Lake is one of the best teams in the state. They came into last night’s doubleheader with only one loss on the season, and in Game 1, they were quick to show just how good of a team they are. Gull Lake dominated Game 1 to the tune of 13-0.

A lesser team may have rolled over, giving up before the first pitch of Game 2. But not our guys.

The Giants came out and posted four runs in the first inning of Game 2. However, Gull Lake slowly chipped away at the lead, cutting it in half going into the bottom of inning four. The Giants fought right back scoring three runs, pushing their lead back up to 7-2.

In the fifth inning, Gull Lake started to look like Game 1 Gull Lake again. They scored three runs in the top of the inning then came out on defense and picked up two outs. The Giants were able to load up the bases with Kyle Jean ready to land his biggest hit of the season.

Whack! Jean connects, sending the ball to the gap in deep right-center. One run scores. Two. Three. Jean’s rounding third. Coach Scott Spalda is wheeling his arms wildly. In the park grand slam!

The Giants rallied from the momentum and closed out the upset win by a score of 13-6.

Jean’s grand slam was obviously the highlight of the night, but the win would not have been possible without the outstanding pitching of Stefan Vandermolen, who went six innings striking out nine.

Kyle Jean led the way with two hits, one home run and five RBIs. Vandermolen had two hits and gave himself his own run support with two RBIs. Wyatt Morrison had a double and an RBI and Austin Kannegieter also chipped in with an RBI.

This win is a huge deal. If you can beat Gull Lake, you can beat almost anyone in the state. The Giants will take this new confidence into their final regular season games next week against Niles.

There was no slowing down Gull Lake’s bats last night as the Lady Giants fell by scores of 14-0 and 16-1.

Gull Lake is a difficult team, because they have a handful of girls who can all hurt you at the plate, but also have the solid pitching of Alyssa Olsen and Abbey Watson. Olsen struck out seven in Game 1, Watson struck out six.

Lexi Wark had an RBI double in Game 2.

It’s been a tough season for the girls, but the slate is wiped clean in the postseason. The girls will look to build some late season momentum in their doubleheader against Niles Brandywine next week.

The Kalamazoo Central girls tennis team had a strong showing Thursday night winning all but one of the eight flights against Kalamazoo Hackett.

To get things started, Siani Johnson won her No. 2 singles flight against Hackett’s Maddie Buday, 6-0, 7-6.

At No. 3, Central’s Mallory Humphrey had another impressive showing winning hers in straight sets.

Lady Giant Chloe Bielby was on fire only giving up one set in her two match wins (6-0, 6-1).

The girls won all of their doubles matches too. Here’s a look at the winners:

No. 1: Eugina Chiang and Aaliyah Morton

No. 2: Helen O’Leary and Meaghan Tokarski

No. 3: Joslyn Johnson and Chloe Rikstad

No. 4: Ankh Hawkins and Jessica Rogers

This is really good momentum to have going into tomorrow morning’s SMAC tournament. Tennis action begins at 9 a.m.