May 13, 2023, STEVENSVILLE, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Community College softball team's chance at a national tournament berth came to an end after losing to Jackson College in the NJCAA Division II Regional Championship on Saturday.
GRCC needed to win three games on Saturday to win the championship, and got off to a good start by defeating Hocking College 4-1.
But the team lost another tough game to Jackson College, 4-2, ending a season that included a Northern Conference championship, and the team’s most wins since 2013.
GRCC's Izzy Regner and Macy Huver combined to give up no earned runs, four hits and struck out 12 batters against Hocking.
Jaye Guichelaar was a perfect three-for-three with two RBI while Vanessa Hewitt hit her second home run of the year and Annika Roersma hit a double and scored two runs.
In the championship game, GRCC struck first with a leadoff home run by Lauren James in the second inning. But Jackson responded with four runs over the next three innings for a 4-2 victory.
GRCC out-hit Jackson nine to six, including two each from Regner and James.
Regner (20-5), who leads all NJCAA Division II pitchers with 292 strikeouts, earned the save in game one before picking up the loss in the later game.
Because of their strong play in the tournament, Regner, Guichelaar and James were all named to the All-Tournament team.
Regner had an ERA of 1.85 and struck out 35 batters including a season-high 16 against Mott Community College. Guichelaar batted .538 with seven hits and was the only player to not strike out. James batted .417 and led the team with three RBI.
GRCC finished the season with a 25-18 record.
This story was reported by Ben Brown.