By rights, Lake Fenton High should have won
its first state softball championship a year earlier than it did.
The 1994 team was a steamroller that reeled
off a Genesee County-record 39 consecutive wins and seemed destined for glory.
“That was the year we were expected to win
it all,” said coach Jerry Cowan, who would go on to win 568 games in a 24-year
career. “We had a senior-laden team and did very well.”
But those Blue Devils were stopped two
games short of the finish line in a controversial semifinal loss to eventual
champion Ida.
Instead, it was a roller-coaster ride by a
young 1995 Lake Fenton team that culminated in a Class C title and a wild
championship game against a team from its own league.
Lake Fenton beat Genesee Eight Conference
rival Goodrich 10-6 in a messy, error-filled final at Bailey Park in Battle
Creek that saw the Blue Devils rally from a 6-2 deficit and finish
the season 31-5.
It’s that Lake Fenton team that will be
inducted into the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame at its 40th annual
banquet Dec. 7 at Genesys Conference & Banquet Center.
“It was a strange year,” said Cowan. “We
lost five games during the season and almost didn’t even win the league. But it
all worked out in the end. You have to have talent to win a championship,
but you also have to have a little luck on your side.”
