Introducing the 2022 The Daily Reporter Softball Dream Team

The 2022 Spring Sports season is officially in our rearview mirror and schools from across Branch County are already preparing for the start of Fall sports in just a few months.

After a long spring season filled with cancellations, rain outs, umpire shortages and a host of other troubles, we here at The Daily Reporter have sat down and reviewed the entirety of the 2022 season in an effort to put together our annual The Daily Reporter Softball Dream Team.

The five county softball teams saw a great deal of success in 2022, with one team claiming a conference title while another advanced all the way to their regional final before suffering a heartbreaking late inning loss. A few other teams also continue to build their programs up with a great mix of youth and veteran leadership with an eye on success on the diamond.

The Coldwater Lady Cardinals advanced the farthest when it came to the MHSAA postseason, winning a hard fought Division One District Championship before setting its sights on a possible regional crown. Coldwater started off their regional run with an exciting victory over DeWitt before facing a very potent Mattawan squad. While the Cardinals had Mattawan on the ropes and led late, a seventh inning score propelled Mattawan to the win, ending an amazing season for Coldwater. The Cardinals will return most of their roster next season, saying goodbye to only three seniors, and will look to repeat as District Champions for the third year in a row.

The Bronson Lady Vikings absolutely rolled through their Big 8 conference schedule, finishing the 2022 Big 8 schedule unbeaten to claim the outright conference championship. Included in that conference championship run was a total of eight All Conference honorees, including the Big 8 Most Valuable Player and MHSSCA All State honoree in senior catcher Jadyn Cary. Bronson ran into the proverbial buzzsaw in the Centreville Bulldogs in the District tournament, bowing out to the eventual district champs to bring a tremendous 2022 season to a close.

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The Quincy Orioles entered into a new era of softball in 2022 as new head coach Joe Gross took over the program. The Orioles came into the season with four straight Big 8 conference titles under their belt but were facing a bit of a rebuild after losing a ton of talent from last year’s squad. This year’s Orioles did not disappoint in the least, battling injury and illness all year long to finish fourth in the conference before advancing to the District finals before falling to Centreville. Quincy does say goodbye to a handful of successful seniors but still returns a dangerous nucleus of players for the upcoming season.

The Union City Chargers continue to rebuild a young program under head coach Kerri Adams, a team that is still struggling with numbers as they do not boost a JV squad. Despite their number crunch the Chargers gave several teams a run for their money this season and will return two All Conference players to next year’s squad. What Union City lacks in numbers they make up for in heart as the Chargers continue to build a program full of potential in the coming years.

The Tekonsha Indians also entered a new era of softball, beginning their first year under new head coach Aryn Henry. The team also continues to battle an influx of youth and also struggled with key injuries this season. Coach Henry and the Indians will also return some solid talent next year and with a full offseason under coach Henry look for the Indians to make huge strides in 2023.

There were a number of players from the area very deserving of a spot on The Daily Reporter Softball Dream Team, some earning All Conference and All Regional honors, while some earned their way on to the team simply by sheer will and guts.

Some of those very deserving players will undoubtedly miss out on inclusion on this list but in order to not water things down we have decided to keep numbers to 16 honorees, with an Honorable Mention list also included. Please let me reiterate, some of these decisions were very hard as there were many deserving players taking to the diamonds all across Branch County.

So without further ado, ladies and gentleman, I am pleased to introduce the 2022 The Daily Reporter Softball Dream Team.

Coldwater

Pitcher/IF- Mackenzie Scheid, Sophomore

Pitcher/IF- Alexis Bills, Junior

IF- Jayla Foster, Senior

OF- Brooklyn Kerry, Junior

Catcher- Karlie Knisely, Junior

IF- Rylee Rice, Junior

Bronson

Catcher- Jadyn Cary, Senior- TDR Dream Team MVP

Pitcher/IF - Lynsey Smith, Senior

Pitcher/IF- Addison Harris, Junior

First Base- Brealyn Lasky, Sophomore

IF- Haylie Wilson, Junior

Quincy

Second Base- Kailey Allman, Junior

First Base- Cemara Paul, Senior

Third Base- McKynna Connin, Junior

Union City

IF- Mara Bailey, Junior

P/IF- Carley Gordon, Junior

Honorable Mention honors goes to-

Coldwater- Brianna Omo; Morgan Dancer; Ava Longstreet

Bronson- Kaylee Wilber; Caitlyn Hagen; Ciara Blankenship; Aubree Calloway

Quincy- Danika Skirka; Deziray Skirka; Alyssa McCavit

Union City- Hope Schley; Brooklynne Schley; Summer Thorpe

Tekonsha- Carissa Shedd, Lydia Blashfield

Congratulations to the members of the 2022 The Daily Reporter Softball Dream Team.

For questions or comments about the Dream Team and its selections please contact Sports Editor Troy Tennyson via email at ttennyson@thedailyreporter.com or at sports@thedailyreporter.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: Introducing the 2022 The Daily Reporter Softball Dream Team