Marlette 2023 Spring Sports Preview

Marlette Varsity Baseball

Marlette Varsity Softball

Head Coach: Sarah Kady
Last Year’s Record (league) 8-4 (overall)18-15-1
Key returning athletes: (please include grade) Junior – Dalaney Gage; Junior – Hayley Hazen; Junior – Emily Newland
Comments on returning players: We expect Dalaney Gage to have a big year coming off her success as a sophomore where she earned all region honors as a pitcher. Her batting has only improved since last year and we expect more of the same. Hayley has grown so much since her freshmen year. We are excited to see her step into a leadership role. As our leadoff hitter and the anchor for our defense in the outfield, we anticipate her putting up some big numbers batting, and making tons of plays in the outfield.
Similar to Hayley, Emily Newland is stepping into a much bigger role for the team this year. She worked hard playing ball year round, and we have great hopes for her as a batter. Emily is unique in that we can virtually put her anywhere on the field and she can be impactful. We look forward to seeing her grow even more this season.
Lost to graduation: Aaliyah Gonzales, Gracie Bell
New athletes to the team: (please include grade) We have seven freshmen and two sophomores that are new to the team this year. Sophomores – Brooke Reber and Jennifer Quintano; Freshmen – Payton Strickler, Megan Bartz, Autumn, Klatzke, Jayden Turland, Natalie Ellis and Elainena Vanderpool.
Comments about your team’s strengths/weaknesses and any goals for the season: We are extremely young, have no seniors on the roster. We expect there to be growing pains, but our hope is that we will compete game in and game out and get better as we prepare for district play.
Outlook for your league – Where do you see you team fitting in? A lot of teams around the league graduated some really talented players. As a staff, we believe that we have the chance to be competitive in every game this year. We have a few really talented players that are returning from last year and we believe that their experience and knowledge will help our younger players.

Marlette Varsity Girls Track

Coach: Cathy Storm
27 Years Head Coach
1st Place League 2022
Key Returners: Olivia Findlay, Adi Ruggles, Lily Lemanski, Lily Parker, Liz Gierman, Alexis Clapsaddle, Bella Hinojosa and Dalaney Gage
Key Losses: Patricia Mcintee and Emma Woods
Key Newcomers: Alexandra Findlay and Shelby Parker
Players To Watch: Olivia Findlay, Lily Parker, Lily Lemanski, Adi Ruggles and Liz Gierman
Season Outlook: We have a strong group of returning athletes. We hope to build on the success we had last year. This is a very talented and hard working group.

Marlette Varsity Boys Track

Coach’s Name/Years Coaching: Foster Findlay/26 years
Coach’s Record:NA
Team’s record and finish last season:Third
Key returners with comments/last season’s honors/grade: This year we return seven athletes.We have two talented junior vaulters – Logan Malloy and Tyler Izydorek. They should both improve on their marks significantly from last season and be among the best vaulters in the area. Triston King returns as a sprinter and is working very hard to rehab from an injury this fall. In the throws we have Jack Macha returning and he should continue his success from last season and qualify for the championship meets. Turlough Bennett returns as a middle distance runner and will improve on his success from last season. Turlough works very hard and loves to compete. We expect big things from him this season. Quintin Sartin returns in the sprints/jumps and should score well for us when the season progresses. He should also qualify for the championship meets as well. Anthony Rosario and Dakota McCombs will also help us in the distance.
Key losses to graduation: Jeremiah Miller-Throws. He was an amazing teammate and scored lots of points for us in the shot and disc. He will be missed greatly.
Top new prospects, grade and position: Spencer Guzek-sprints (11th), Cameron King-hurdles (9th) and Gianino Perna-distance (9th), Logan McIntyre-sprints(9th).
We have a very young and inexperienced team this season. Many kids are new to track and we are working hard to get them ready for competition. I am pleased with the work I have seen thus far.
Team captains: All of our veterans lead this team.
Team strengths:Our greatest strength is the work ethic these boys have shown. They are all willing to try new events and do what is necessary to become better athletes. It has been fun to see our kids’ willingness to get out of their comfort zone.
Team goals: Our goal for this season is to improve greatly on our marks from last year. We are also striving to improve our relay standings and build our numbers for the future.
Comments on your league/conference and Season outlook: I think Brown City and Ubly are still the favorites to win the league title. If we continue to work, we will definitely score well and earn several all-conference accolades along the way. I also believe we will send a couple boys to compete at the state finals this season.