By Mitchell Boatman
LocalSportsJournal.com
Every young baseball player fantasizes about coming through at crunch time and hitting a walk-off home run for his team.
On Thursday afternoon, Mona Shores junior Aaron Piasecki did just that.
In recognition of Piasecki’s clutch hit, he is Local Sports Journal’s High School Hero of the Week for April 12-17.
Mona Shores’ Aaron Piasecki. Photo/Tonya Pardon
With his team trailing 4-2 against powerful O-K Green foe Zeeland East, Piasecki stepped to the plate with two players on base. He connected on a 2-0 fastball and hit a no-doubt, three-run bomb to give the Sailors a walk-off win.
“It was surreal,” Piasecki, a middle infielder and pitcher, said of the blast. “It was an awesome feeling. It’s definitely something I’ll tell my kids about.”
The homer was the first of Piasecki’s varsity career, which began two years ago during his freshman season.
“I hadn’t hit any home runs at the high school level,” he said. “I started to get some power this winter. It was just awesome, and cool to get a team win against one of the better teams in our conference.”
Piasecki celebrated his big home run with an emphatic bat flip as well — even though he thinks there are cooler ways to react to a homer.
“The day before in practice, me and Brady Rose were talking about how if you hit a home run, it’s cooler to just set the bat down, but my emotions just fired up,” he said.
Here are the rest of the Top 5 Heroes of the Week:
2. Holton’s Ryann Robins: The freshman made quite the debut in a Wednesday doubleheader against Newaygo. Between the two games, Robins crushed three home runs. As if that wasn’t enough, Robins tossed a no-hitter with 13 strikeouts in the second game of the twin-bill.
3, Reeths-Puffer’s Caitlyn Duffey: Duffey packed a week’s worth of statistical achievements into just three innings in a win over West Ottawa on Friday. Duffey pitched a no-hitter, with all nine outs coming via strikeout. She also went 3-for-3 with two home runs, including a grand slam, and drove in eight runs.
4, Muskegon Catholic Central’s Max Price:. In a 10-9 win Wednesday afternoon, Price delivered in a variety of ways. He collected two hits, three RBIs and three stolen bases on offense. He also closed out the game on the mound, earning a save by triking out the final two batters of the game.
5. Whitehall’s Maggie Evans: In a win against rival Montague, Evans provided the Viking soccer team with an offensive spark. She found the back of the net three times to register a hat trick and lift her team to a rivalry win.
NEWS AND NOTES
The Mona Shores boys lacrosse team went 1-17 the last time it took the field, during the 2019 season. But in just two games this year, the Sailors have doubled that win total.
Mona Shores started the season 2-0 with wins over Comstock Park (16-2) and Grand Rapids South Christian (17-3). Junior Landon Taylor scored 11 goals across the two games to lead the Sailor attack.
North Muskegon’s girls soccer team received a major boost from freshman goaltender Emma Lamiman early in the season.
With normal starter Syann Fairfield recovering from an injury, Lamiman was in the net for the two games of the season for the Norse and posted two shutouts.
Fairfield returned for the Norse Friday night and split goaltending duties with Lamiman. Each kept Grand Rapids Covenant Christian off the board for one half.
The two teamed up for another clean sheet Saturday afternoon, with Fairfield starting and Lamiman closing in a 4-0 win over Leland to give the Norse four straight shutouts to start the year.
