Preps!
EAST LANSING – Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central junior phenom Meghan Beaubien has a simplistic approach to pitching … and winning.
“I want to give my team the best chance there is to win,” she said. “So not letting anyone on base, that works pretty well.”
It works perfectly.
Beaubien recorded 15 strikeouts and fired her second consecutive perfect game Saturday in pitching the Kestrels to a 6-0 victory over Grandville Calvin Christian for St. Mary CC’s second straight Division 3 state title.
CC (28-5) led by six runs entering the final inning, but that doesn’t mean the game lacked drama.
With one out in the seventh, Sara Elderkin hit a ball that appeared to be headed into centerfield.
“It was just kind of one of those plays where it looked like it was going to go to Meghan, but it took a weird bounce,” said second baseman Peyton Bollenberg. “I did all I could to get there and I did and I ended up with a perfect game with Meghan.”
It would not have been only the second perfect game in championship game history without a good stretch by first baseman Liz Caldwell.
“I realized I needed to do my part and get the ball and hold it and squeeze it,” she said.
Beaubien (23-1) thought her perfect game might have been done after the ball was hit.
“When I saw it come off the bat I wasn’t sure, I thought it might be up the middle for a base hit,” she said. “Peyton did a really nice job getting over there and she made a good throw. Liz had a good stretch it was just really good work, just like we practice.”
St. Mary CC took a 2-0 lead in the third when Beaubien’s line drive singled in a pair of runs.
Perhaps the best part of the weekend for St. Marcy CC coach John Morningstar was the way the Kestrels hit the ball and fielded every ball hit to them.
“There’s no doubt, Meghan is a phenomenal talent,” he said. “With pitching like that you can do a lot of things. But these kids stepped up behind her. With 19 runs in two days and 30 hits, it makes it a lot easier for her to go out there and do her thing.”
And her thing this weekend was pitching absolutely perfectly.
“Winning the state championship is just great,” Beaubien said. “A couple of years ago nobody would have even though we’d be here and especially winning it back-to-back means a lot to us. The perfect game, that’s always good, but it’s more important to win the state championship.”
Today’s baseball, softball and soccer state finals