Knights bow out of tourney with 10-6 loss to Raiders

Walled Lake Northern’s first appearance in the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) regional tournament was all too brief as it was eliminated by North Farmington, 10-6, on Saturday, June 11 at Novi High School.

“We did all we could to win the game, but we could not just get it done,” Northern Head Coach Mark Grattan said.

“I have to give (Head Coach) Dave Brubaker a lot of credit, North Farmington hit the hell out of the ball today, to all fields. There was not one of my players who did not get some action.”

The Knights (23-10) scored two runs in the top of the first inning, but the Raiders answered back with four runs in the bottom of the first.

North Farmington (34-4) then scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 9-2 lead.

The Knights scored three runs in the top of the fifth and one in the top of the sixth, but that was as close as they would get as they loaded the bases in the sixth, but ended up lining into a double play.

Sam Kern had three hits to lead Northern while Erin Lee, Jaclyn Parvin, Mackensy Lakian and Caitlyn Kelley all had 2 hits each.

“We worked hard all week, we were ready to play. Our scouting was right on point. Kristen Socha and Rich Paul had our team ready — we just could not get it done,” Grattan said.

The Raiders fell to Canton in the regional final later in the day.

The loss concluded a historic season for the Knights in which it shared the Kensington Lakes Activities Association (KLAA) North Division title before winning its first Lakes Conference, KLAA Association and MHSAA district championships.

Kelley, Kern, Lakian, Kristina Weltzin, and Kari Knight were all recently named to the All-KLAA Lakes Conference team.

“We rose to a lot of occasions this year, and I’m so proud of this team,” Grattan said.