SPORTSBEAT BY PETER JAKEY: Bruder ready to turn another softball program around
Emily McLean was a standout performer on the diamond the last two years for the Ferris State University Bulldogs in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Equally impressive, if not more so, was the managerial performance of Heather Bruder as head coach of the Northwood University softball program. This past spring, the Timberwolves set a school record with 37 victories and earned a share of a GLIAC regular season title. Under Bruder?s direction, Northwood went from a pretender in the league to a contender. They were 71-29 over the last two seasons. In 2005, Bruder helped Northwood emerge from the basement of the GLIAC to win the school?s first league title. The Timberwolves also qualified for the NCAA Division II regionals. Now, after a successful run in Midland, Heather is ready to fuel another turnaround at Bluffton University in Northwest Ohio, a school that has had little success in two decades and posted a 15-23 record in ?06.
Bruder told the Midland Daily News in July, ?It?ll be very difficult for me to leave (Northwood), but at the same time I always talk to my (players) about bettering yourself each and every day, both on the field and off the field,? she said. Bruder will coach, serve as an assistant professor, and work toward her doctorate in sports psychology. Heather was in Rogers City a few weekends ago for the Nautical Festival Women?s softball tournament, and was three outs from winning the championship game, but got tripped up by a couple of errors, none committed by Heather, or her sister Holly. The point is, success has followed Heather wherever she has gone. From the Bruder apple orchard in Moltke Township to the Gilpin Memorial Field softball diamond with the Hurons, and during her playing days at Alma, where the Scots advanced deep into the NCAA playoffs. No doubt, she?ll take the same level of intensity and a winning attitude which has spelled success at every stop in her career. I have been chronicling her accomplishments for more than a decade, and I?m sure it is not about to come to an end now.
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A memo from the athletic director and a few phone calls saved the Rogers City junior varsity football program?s 2006 season. They only had a little more than a half dozen players practicing up at Gilpin the first week-and-a-half. The time had come for athletic director Pat Lamb to make a decision about the 2006 JV season. He sent out a referendum to coaches and players that said if the numbers did not improve to more than 15, the season would be cancelled. The players on the JV team must have been working the phones because there were 16 in camp earlier in the week. Lamb reported some impressive numbers across the board for fall sports at Monday?s school board meeting. New girls head basketball coach Paul Stempke will have about a dozen players to look to this season, while JV coach Karl Grambau had 14 athletes ready to compete for jobs at the first practice this week. There were 10 girls and 12 boys out for cross country, 12 cheerleaders, and 14 golfers. In all, Lamb said there were 109 high school students participating in the school?s sports programs.
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With a couple of impressive wins at Boston, the Tigers have righted the ship. The losses in Chicago were among
He also made a nice play at first late in the game. Brandon Inge charged a weak grounder and delivered a high throw to first, but Casey caught the ball and got his foot down, just as the runner brushed by him. There is a lot of comfort in having Casey anchoring the first sack for the Tigers, as the Boys of Summer gear up for the stretch run toward a division title and a playoff run. If they face the Red Sox, this mid-August performance has proved they can play with the MLB power.