Kayanne
Tiedt
John RaffelEVART – One of the reasons Evart’s softball team and coach Amanda Brown can’t wait to return to the diamond next year is the return of several key players from the 2022 Division 3 state runner-up team.
This includes second baseman Kayanne (Jojo) Tiedt who was a first-team all-conference and All-State honorable mention choice.
“I think we accomplished a lot,” Tiedt said after the team won the state quarterfinal game over Kalkaska. “This is the first time in school history that softball or baseball has won this so its awesome.”
The Wildcats beat Calvin Christian 4-1 in the state semifinal game and lost to Millington 3-2 in extra innings in the title bout.
Tiedt, a sophomore, batted .447 with 42 singles three doubles, three triples, two home runs, and 29 RBIs. She was also all-conference all-district all-regional and honorable mention All-state.
“I think we’re one of the strongest defensive teams,” Tiedt said.
Second base has been her position for a couple of years now.
“I just like making diving plays,” she smiled. “I made a couple this year, but not a whole lot.”
But Tiedt got her uniform dirty a few times.
She also hit the ball extraordinarily well for coach Amana Brown’s team.
“The key is watching the ball, stay back and don’t lunge,” Tiedt said.
She also played on the team last year.
“I think I improved a lot,” Tiedt said. “My hitting’s a lot better.”
As for this year’s team, “I feel we have more confidence this year,” she said. “Last year I don’t think we felt we could compete with a lot of teams. But this year we felt we could.”
Tiedt also plays Evart volleyball and basketball. She plays travel league softball for the Expos.
“Travel league is good because you see better pitchers,” she said.
