ADRIAN – Brea Olmsted will begin her career as an Adrian College athlete in a few weeks.
The recent Summerfield graduate got to spend some time on campus playing in the Monroe County vs. Lenawee County All-Star Softball Game on Tuesday, July 21.
Olmstead, who will play on the women’s golf team for Adrian College, showed off her skills in another sport.
She took Most Valuable Player honors for the Monroe team by going 2-for-3 with a double and giving up just one fluke hit and striking out 10 in five pitching innings.
“It was exciting” said Olmstead who helped her team roll to a 26-0 victory. “It was great to play with girls I’ve been playing against for four years.”
She’s excited about becoming a collegiate golfer, but sad to play competitive softball for the final time.
“It’s bittersweet,” she said.
There was no bitter and all sweet for Olmstead and Olivia McMahon of Monroe, who combined to toss a three-hitter in the 10-inning game.
“The did a great job,” said Whiteford coach Matt VanBrandt, who was in charge of the Monroe squad. “They threw a lot of strikes, that’s the key.”
McMahon give up two hits and struck out six over her five innings.
The contrasting styles between the lefty Olmstead and the right-handed McMahon kept the Lenawee hitters off balance.
The alternated two-inning stints in the circle before finishing with one inning each.
“She has a lot of spin,” McMahon said. I don’t, but we worked really well together.”
It also was the final softball game for McMahon, who will begin classes at Michigan State in the fall.
“I had a ton of fun,” she said.
The entire Monroe team had a ton of fun.
The final score could have been far worse. An All-Star rule limited teams to a maximum of five runs in an inning.
Monroe reached that max three times, including one frame that was halted with the bases loaded and no outs.
“We had a lot of great seniors in Monroe County,” VanBrandt said.
Several hitters warranted MVP consideration.
Bedford All-Stater Kaitlyn Kwiatkowski racked up three hits, including a pair of doubles.
“We definitely had some really hot bats,” she said.
One of those hot bats belonged to her future Davenport University teammate Aly Lewis of Monroe, who clubbed a home run to straightaway centerfield.
“Honestly, yes,” Lewis said when asked if she thought her drive would clear the fence. “I hit it so good that I almost didn’t feel it hit the bat.”
Addison Ramsby (New Boston Huron), Emma Price (Bedford), Emily Lambert (Ida) and Kennady Kroll (Airport) finished with two hits each.
Tecumseh’s Maddy VanBlack, who went 2-for-2, earned MVP honors for Lenawee County.
She hadn’t picked up a bat since her team was eliminated from the state tournament on May 31.
“I’m focusing on volleyball,” said the St. Mary’s of Indiana recruit. “No matter what the score was, we had fun.”
She was officially 2-for-2, but had some fun with that official scoring.
“It was about one and a half hits,” she said.
Her first single was a spinning pop up, that just avoided being caught then took a weird hop away from the second baseman.
Kurina Dotson had the only other hit for Lenawee.
Adrian’s Hailey Vetitoe, who said she had not pitched since the age of 10, came on to get the final out for her team.
VanBrandt announced after the game that Monroe and Lenawee have agreed to play again next season at Adrian College on the Wednesday after the state finals (June 23).
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe County rolls to lopsided victory against Lenawee All-Stars
About the Author
