Bradshaw, Porter state’s Gatorade honorees
If you’re wondering who the top pitcher is in the state of Michigan, rest assured that — at least according to the folks at Gatorade — that pitcher resides in Oakland County.
You don’t even need to specify the sport or gender.
South Lyon softball’s Ava Bradshaw was named the Gatorade Michigan Softball Player of the Year this week, becoming the first Lion athlete to win the honor.
A week earlier, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s ace Brock Porter earned Gatorade Michigan Baseball Player of the Year honors for the second straight season, giving the Eaglets three straight honors.
Still only a sophomore, Bradshaw has helped the top-ranked
Lions (33-3) win the Lakes Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles, as well as the district title. The Lions were set to play in regionals Saturday morning at Northville.
She’s currently 28-2 with an 0.88 ERA and 314 strikeouts in 175.2 innings pitched over 34 games, against just 31 walks. At the plate, she’s hitting .389 with three home runs and 34 RBI.
As a freshman, Bradshaw helped the Lions win their first state title, and was named the Total Softball Player of the Year by STATE CHAMPS! Network.
“As a competitor, Ava Bradshaw is as fierce as anyone I’ve seen at the high school level,” South Lyon East head coach Paul Nieto was quoted in the Gatorade POY news release. “She engages in every pitch and competes to win every inning. She’s a dominant pitcher and she also swings the bat with power and consistency. Her skill set is one of the best we’ve seen.”
Porter’s squad was also set to play on Saturday morning in the regional finals at Novi.
The top-ranked Eaglets entered the weekend unbeaten and among the highest-ranked teams in the nation by multiple publications.
At the time of his selection on June 3, Porter was 6-0 with a 0.17 ERA, 87 strikeouts and 17 walks in 42 innings pitched, with
a WHIP of 0.476 and a batting average allowed of just .024. In 29 at-bats, he’d hit .517 with 17 RBI, four home runs and an OPS of 1.528.
Porter was the winning pitcher in the 2019 state championship game, and threw a complete-game two-hitter for the Eaglets in last year’s semifinals, en
route to a second straight state title.
“I’ve had the pleasure of watching Brock Porter pitch since 2019,” Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett head coach Dan Cimini was quoted in the news release.
“We have not seen a pitcher this dominant in Michigan high school baseball in my lifetime. He is a probable top 10 choice in this year’s MLB Draft and he has tremendous athletic
ability, but his outstanding character, work ethic, teamfirst attitude and how hard he competes are the things that set Brock apart from his peers. He’s a great teammate and leader on and off the field. His dominance on the mound has been fun to watch and very impressive, but his willingness to do anything to help his team win a baseball game is just as impressive. I feel he’s a guy we will be talking about for many years to come.”