Catching up with Gaylord-area athletes summer accomplishments

GAYLORD — The end of July is an interesting time to be a sports fan. Some teams, coaches and athletes from different sports are wrapping up their summer seasons, vying for their last tournament championships or looking to finish on a high note.

For others, this time of year is just the beginning of their seasons, with just the first of many practices, scrimmages and camps going on now, signifying the start of a new year.

Gaylord-area athletes are on both ends of that spectrum, with some beginning to wrap up successful summer campaigns across the country while others are returning to their respective teams for the beginning of the fall sports season.

Catch up with what local prep athletes have been up to this summer.

Aubrey Jones and Alexis Shepherd

Soon after the heartbreaking loss the Gaylord softball team suffered in the regional finals, their players were right back to work, joining their respective travel teams for a summer of even more high-level softball.

Aubrey Jones and Alexis Shepherd are both members of the 2024 Mojo Abernathy team, an elite 16U travel team located in Jackson, Tenn.

National tournaments took the team all across the country through June and July, with stops in Kansas, Colorado and Tennessee before a final stop for the Premier Girls Fastpitch Nationals in Irvine, Calif. this week.

Both put up consistent statistics throughout the summer; as of Tuesday, Shepherd has 24 hits and a .270 batting average with nine runs batted in and seven runs scored, while Jones has a .319 average with 16 RBI and 23 runs scored.

Jones has put up great numbers in the circle, posting a 1.03 earned run average through 20.1 innings of work.

The Mojo Abernathy team is into bracket play in the final tournament of their season, dropping a 4-2 decision to Hotshots Premier Esparza on Monday evening.

It has been a summer of national recognition for Jones as multiple organizations recognized her as one of the top softball prospects in her class. First, the summer started with her being listed as a top ten overall player for the Class of 2025 on Extra Innings Softball’s top prospect rankings, coming in tied for ninth with four other players.

She also participated in the 16U Future Stars All-Star Game in Aurora, Colo., a game streamed on ESPN 3 on Thursday, June 30 as part of the 53rd annual Colorado 4th of July Sparkler and Fireworks Tournament from June 26 to July 3.

Jayden Jones

Aubrey’s older sister, Jayden, is also part of the Mojo program as one of the leaders of the 2023 Mojo Danley team. Another 16U team located in Winchester, Tenn., Jones has been just as active this summer, touring the country while collecting some hardware in the process.

Mojo Danley made their mid-June trip to Kansas City worth it, winning the Top Gun Invitational 18U Championship after going 10-1 over four days.

Mojo Danley is also competing in the PGF Nationals this week in California, claiming a 3-1 record and the top seed from their pool through their first four games before winning back-to-back bracket games on Tuesday.

Michigan Bolts Blue 16U

Many of the Gaylord softball girls stay within Michigan for their summer softball experience, and the Michigan Bolts Blue 16U team located in Essexville, Mich., includes a good chunk of the Blue Devils roster, including Addison and Kennedy Wangler, Alexis Kozlowski and Avery Parker.

The Wangler sisters played in all 25 games for the Bolts, both eclipsing .400 batting averages when all was said and done. Addison finished with a .414 average, 10 RBI and 12 runs scored, while Kennedy hit .408 with 13 RBI and 29 runs scored.

Kozlowski put up solid numbers as well, hitting .400 even through 12 games while picking up six RBI and 11 runs scored.

Parker may have been the most active of any Gaylord athlete this summer, splitting her time between softball with the Bolts and AAU basketball with the Michigan Mystics. She played in 14 games for the Bolts, hitting .477 with 12 RBI and 17 runs scored while going 4-2 from the circle with a 2.41 ERA.

Her basketball season concluded this past weekend in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the Mystics making it to the final four of the Select 40 Finals tournament.

Gaylord Baseball Club

The 18U baseball team made up of players from Gaylord, St. Mary’s and Johannesburg-Lewiston players, current and former, wrapped up their 21-game season last Thursday, splitting the final doubleheader of the year to finish with a 9-11-1 record.

The team, made up of nine players from St. Mary’s, six players from Gaylord and three from JoBurg, had an up-and-down season, with win streaks never getting above three games but losing streaks never exceeding four in a row.

Former St. Mary’s player and current Alma College football player Sam Sircely led the team offensively, hitting for .491 average, logging 22 RBI and nine runs scored while playing in all 21 games over the summer. Current Snowbird Dillon Croff was next in line, hitting .371 with 12 RBI and 11 runs scored on the season.

Gaylord Volleyball

The Blue Devils volleyball team is still a few weeks away from its season opener against Ogemaw Heights, but the team is still well into its offseason program, preparing for the final stretch of practices before game one.

One major step towards season-readiness came when the varsity squad made a trip to Big Rapids on July 19 for a two-day camp along with other teams at Ferris State University. There, new head coach Brittany Cornish and the team got some serious reps in while forming a bond early.

Tryouts for the Gaylord team are scheduled for August 8 through August 10 at 5 p.m. at the GHS gym.

Gaylord football

As the calendar gets ready to flip from July to August, many sports fans across the country are getting ready to flip their calendars from baseball/softball season to football season.

That sentiment only grows as teams participate in more active and competitive drills, and the football team was able to get a first taste of football action last week in a 7-on-7 event in Ithaca High School last Tuesday.

The field of teams featured some elite programs, including Lansing Catholic, Mount Pleasant, Mason, Alma and the hosting Ithaca Yellowjackets.

At times, Gaylord shined through as a sleeper team among many great teams, with multiple receivers hauling in touchdown receptions or defenders knocking away passes from would-be receivers.

And at other times, the Blue Devils seemed a step slow, either slightly unprepared for what they saw or a step slow with their reads.

“The boys played well,” head coach DJ Szymoniak said. “Definitely a learning experience and we took away some things to get better on.”

The action only ramps up from there; Gaylord is scheduled to travel to Traverse City West on Tuesday, July for a 7-on-7 and big man camp, followed by an event of their own at Gaylord High School on Thursday.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Catching up with Gaylord-area athletes summer accomplishments