4/24 Week Sports Preview

Our Aggie spring sports teams are going to be very busy this week! Here is a preview of the week to come:

On Monday , there aren't any games for any of our Aggie sports teams. However spring sports pictures will be taking place at 3:00.

On Tuesday, the Aggie track and field teams will be hosting a track meet against Evart High School. Come out and support our Aggies as events begin at 4:30. Beal City baseball and softball also will be in action on Tuesday. Varsity baseball and varsity softball will travel McBain high school to take on the Ramblers. while junior varsity baseball and softball will host McBain at home. All of these games begin at 4:00 and are double headers! 

The junior high boys and girls track teams will have a meet on Wednesday at home against Pine River, but no games or meets other than that. The meet begins at 4:30 and we hope to see a lot of blue supporting!

Thursday will be full of action as the Aggie's varsity baseball, varsity softball, junior varsity softball, and junior high track and field teams will all be in action! Varsity baseball and varsity softball will travel to take on the rival Irishmen of Sacred Heart! Those games begin at 4:00 and will be double headers. The junior varsity softball team will host Sacred Heart at home. Those games begin at 4:00 also. Finally, our junior high track and field team will be participating in the Montabella Invite. The invite begins at 4:00.

The week will conclude Friday, as the boys and girls varsity track and field will participate in the Clare Invite. The track meet begins at 3:00 so be sure to come support our Aggies!

We also want to wish all of the Beal City students and athletes a great night at prom! Have fun and be safe!

Make sure to support our Aggie teams throughout this busy week! Good luck and go Aggies!

Softball and Baseball home games canceled (4/20/2017)

Both the varsity baseball and varsity softball home games have been canceled due to bad weather. The softball team was set to play John Glenn High School and the baseball team was set to play Alma High School. If these games get rescheduled there will be an edit to this post, or there will be another blog post. Thanks and Go Aggies!

Upton's 10 K's Not Enough in Beal City Opener

The varsity baseball team at Beal City didn't expect to be playing their first game on April 11th. They also didn't expect to be playing in what felt like playoff football weather. However, on Tuesday the Aggies got their first taste of the 2017 baseball season in a tough match up against the Bay City Central Wolves.

On opening day, the Aggies started junior pitcher Brett Upton. Beal City started slow and fell behind 2-0 after the 1st inning. However, they would settle down as Upton would continue to mow down hitters. He followed up a stellar second inning by striking out the side in the third. The Aggie defense held strong, but they couldn't seem to get a run across. Collin Sharrar would get the first Aggie hit of the season on a ground ball up the middle, but he would eventually get stranded at third to end the inning. 

                                       (Brett Upton pitching 4/11/17 Photo by Joey Paciero)

Both teams continued to battle keeping the score at 2-0 until the top of the sixth. The bases would be loaded as starting pitcher Brett Upton would exit the game. He finished with 10 strikeouts allowing 4 runs and a walk in 5 1/3 innings. The top of the sixth would eventually be a seven run inning for the Wolves. 

Trailing 9-0, It would've been easy for the Aggies to lay down and die, but they kept fighting. In the bottom of the sixth, senior Thomas McCann would hit an RBI double to put Beal City on the board. Brett Upton followed his double, with one of his own that hit the center field fence bringing McCann in to score. However, their rally would fall short and Bay City Central would go on to win 10-2. 

The second game of the double header would be called due to darkness. However, the boys will be back in action Thursday, April 13th at 4:00 to take on Claire High School at home! The Aggies baseball team will look for their first win of the season so make sure you come out and support them!

Aggie's Look for Opening Day Wins

Both the Aggie baseball and softball teams did not believe their seasons would begin in mid April. However, due to inclement weather against Shepherd High School on March 27 & 28, both the softball and baseball seasons begin today against Bay Central High School!
After returning from Spring break, the softball and baseball teams will look to start off the season with a win. The games begin at 4:00 at Beal City High School!
We hope to see everyone out there supporting our Aggies!

Coach Davis and Team Ready to "Knock the Season Out of the Park"

I had the pleasure of attending a softball practice and interviewing Beal City’s Head Softball Coach, John Davis and a few of the varsity softball members earlier this week to discuss the upcoming season for Beal City.  We got to talk and crack a few jokes about what both Coach Davis and the players are excited about for this upcoming week and season.

As a head coach, John Davis has high aspirations for the team this year.  He wants to kick off the season and beat some of the bigger teams that are not in the Highland Conference with Beal City.  Coach Davis has his eyes set on capturing a win from schools like Mt. Pleasant, Bay Central, and Clare.  Although he states that it is a tough schedule to begin the season, by the end of the season, “The record will not show it when we are done, it will ultimately make them better throughout the season.”  As for the players, Evart was high on the list of teams that they wanted to beat this year along with Clare.  The players main overall goal though seems to be getting their picture in the weight room at the end of the season.  This can only be accomplished if they win Districts.  The District game may be farther down the road, but the entire Varsity squad was in unison when this goal came into question.  It is something they are determined to accomplish.

This is Beal City’s first week back since last week was Spring Break.  Due to this, Coach Davis feels that it is hard to tell how the team is looking right now.  Before the break, he stated that both the pitching and batting were looking extremely good.  He did say that they are still a little rusty on the field, but it should be an easy fix and they will be back to normal.  When it comes to the team progressing through the season, he feels they are in a great position to finish strong in the conference.  “We play bigger teams at the beginning and are able to stay competitive with them and sometimes beat them.  This makes it hard for our conference teams to deal with us when they face us later on.”

With the team having their first game rescheduled and then later cancelled due to weather, the team is biting at the bit to start games.  “It can be really claustrophobic in the gym we start the season off practicing in.  This year we have had the advantage of getting outside a little earlier, which the girls always look forward to.”  This has provided the young team, that has no seniors, a chance to better prepare for the upcoming season though.  Most of the team has been lucky enough to be the same as the ten-year travel team.  Alli Peak, a junior, states, “We all know what each other can do.  I know where they (my teammates) play and they know where I play.  It isn’t anything new which adds an excitement level to know that we are all a team again.”

With two freshmen, seven sophomores, and three juniors rounding at the roster, there is still a chance to better learn the game and gain experience at the varsity level.  The team needed to fill the shortstop and first baseman positions, and luckily there are some young players who are able to step up and fill those positions when needed.  “The shortstop position was filled by a freshman, but we are still trying to work out the first base position.  We run into some problems when some girls have to pitch and they cannot take on position for us during that time.”  Although the team is young, they are determined to not let that stop them.  Shelby Trevino made the comment, “I think we are a young team, but I think we have a lot of potential.  I think we will be able to do great things this season.”

Although they were supposed to open their season at the end of March, due to weather, they get to open the bats this week.  Beal City Softball will start their season tomorrow, April 11, at 4:00 against Bay Central.  They will also take on Clare on Thursday, April 13.  Beal City will get the pleasure of hosting both varsity games at home this week.

By: Valerie Johnson

Members of the Beal City Varsity Softball Team stretch prior to practice

Make sure to check out bonus content from the interview and pictures from practice on our instagram and twitter accounts.

One Season Ends for Another to Begin

It was a sad couple of days for Beal City High School when both boys’ and girls’ basketball took the court for the final time this season.  Although neither team finished the way that they had hoped to come out, both teams had some star moments this season.

To start off with the girls’ team, they finished sixth in the Highland Conference per MaxPreps.com with a 4-10 league play record and a 5-16 overall record.   One standout game they had was against Evart on February 9 when they pulled off a 55-50 win.  A week later, Beal City girls had another impressive win of 48-13 over Marion.  With the season ending, Beal City will miss the seniors lost this year that include: Haley McMullen, Mackenzie Schneider, and Natalie Gross.  The remaining girls will look to build upon this past season while heading into next season with key returners: Ashley Reihl, Alex Fussman, and Mackenzie Yuncker.

On the boys’ side, Beal City finished with a third-place finish in the Highland Conference per MaxPreps.com with a 8-5 league play record and a 11-9 overall record.  One of the boys’ standout games was on February 7 against Sacred Heart.  They walked away with a whopping 67-38 win against Sacred Heart.  This was also Coach Cam Gatrell’s 200^th career win.  Another impressive game by the boys was on March 2 when Beal City pulled off the close win against the Lake City Trojans winning 73-67.  Since the season has come to the end, the boys’ team has had to say goodbye to one lone senior, Kyle Yuncker.  The team will have a strong returning class for next year to build upon the positives from this season which will be led by: Lucas Schumacher, Ryan Schafer, and Logan Chillman.

Although it is sad to know that the winter sports season has come to an end on the court, there are plenty of new activities starting up this spring.  Both softball and baseball practice started yesterday, March 13.  They start games up and hit the ground running towards the end of March and the beginning of April.  Both boys’ and girls’ track and field also start up to help finish out the school year on a high athletic note.  We want to wish all the upcoming sports teams the best of luck to start off their seasons!  #GoAggies

By: Valerie Johnson

We Wore Blue for Kelly Pung

Coach Antcliff with the girl's during a timeout.

Last Tuesday, February 21, 2017, Beal City Athletics did something truly amazing.  They came together as a community to bring hope and awareness for Kelly Pung’s fight against cancer during Beal City’s girls’ basketball game against the NMC Comets.  The girl’s team may not have pulled out a win in the game, but awareness was brought to a fantastic cause.

The game got off to a slow start for the Aggies when after the first quarter they were down 28-2.  The lone score for the Aggies was made off of an offensive rebound by sophomore, Alex Fussman.  She continued to have an impressive night for the Aggies by nailing a three late in the fourth quarter and by taking charge of the Aggie offense.

Another impressive standout for the Aggies that night was junior, Ashley Reihl.  She continuously battled on both the offensive and especially the defensive side of the ball for rebounds.  These are stats that not very many people pay attention to, so we wanted to give her some credit.  She impressed us enough with these behind the scene battles to win Athlete of the Week honors from our blog staff for last week.

Although the final score for the game was not in Beal City’s favor finishing 18-68, there was still a win on the night.  Beal City students, staff, and community members helped raise a whopping $4,186.  Some of the areas that raised money were the t-shirts that people were able to purchase with the saying, “I Wear Blue for Kelly Pung” on the back.  As a spectator, the front truly captured my attention reading, “Not all Cancer is Pink.”  Along with the t-shirts, there was a bake sale, bracelets for sale, and a 50/50 raffle.  To truly capture the Beal City spirit though, one had to be there for the halftime half-court shot.  This was run by Beal City’s own “Blue Crew,” an organization run by Beal City High School students, that raised an additional $57 to help Kelly’s fight.  Watch the video below to catch a couple lucky participants drain their half court shot!

By: Valerie Johnson