Fast-Pitch Softball

Russell Houk led Ludington High to Big Seven basketball championships in 1938, 1939 and 1940 and was the Orioles leading scorer his senior season. He was the president of his class, graduating with honors. One of the area's premier athletes in the 1940's and 1950's, he attended Central Michigan University where he played center at 6-feet, 4 inches and 170 pounds, in 1941 and 1942 before enlisting ...Read More...

Before her junior year at Mason County Eastern, Sharon Stickney was told she would be pitching when the softball season started. She was still chucking 30 years later. Success has followed Sharon, whose last name is now McCumber. Her Eastern high school team was the Class D state runner-up in 1977. She went to Oakland University where she played softball and volleyball for one year before transfer ...Read More...

Wally Sadosty’s athletic career began at the age of seven under the wing of basketball standout Pete Tillotson, who was a member of the first Mason County Sports Hall of Fame class in 2005. Sadosty played baseball in the spring and summer, football in the fall and basketball outside in the winter. In high school, he was the starting quarterback for Ludington High for three straight years. As a s ...Read More...

Ashley Melchert lettered in softball in all four of her high school seasons, helping Mason County Central reach the Final Four as a freshman and as a junior.  In basketball and volleyball she lettered her sophomore, junior and senior years.  She earned All-West Michigan Conference honors in softball her junior and senior seasons and in basketball and volleyball as a senior.  She earned all-area ...Read More...

A two-time all-state basketball player for Mason County Eastern, Kristy Stark's 1,779 points set the state record for career scoring in 1979, breaking the record held by Magic Johnson's sister, Evelyn. Stark earned All-American mention and her scoring record earned her a spot in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd section and Michigan Senate Resolution. Stark, with her trademark pigtails flyin ...Read More...

The versatile Jamie Melchert earned all-conference honors in softball four times, in basketball and in volleyball twice. She was also all-area in volleyball twice and in softball twice.  Felled by a serious injury, Melchert dropped out of school, taking a rare ‘red-shirt’ year as allowed by the Michigan High School Athletic Association, while rehabbing her surgical-repaired knee. She came bac ...Read More...

A four-time all-conference player in softball, Stefanie Morong holds every pitching record in Central’s record book. She was also a two-time all-area selection and was all-league in basketball in 2005 and all-league, all-area and an all-state honorable mention in volleyball in 2007.  In volleyball, Morong played the libero, the newly designated back-row position that is intended to be used as a ...Read More...

In the early 1970s when girls' athletics in Michigan were just getting their legs, Free Soil's Helen Shereda was off and flying. With her long arms and legs flapping, she flew like a giant, unstoppable bird across the basketball courts and softball diamonds of West Michigan. At 6-foot, 1 1/2 inches and 150 pounds, she was a dominating force on the inside in basketball. But she was also the best ba ...Read More...

The oldest of three baseball-playing brothers from Free Soil who competed for Central Michigan University, Steve Papes earned All-America honors in 1970, when he was the most valuable player and captain on a 36-4 Chippewa squad. "A great deal of the success we had this season was due to Steve's leadership on and off the field," said his coach, Waldo Sauter. Papes set CMU single-season records for ...Read More...