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Coldwater's Madison Wendel, center, signed a letter of intent Wednesday to play softball at Central Michigan. Seated with her are her mother Molly Wendel and father Jody Wendel.
COLDWATER - Coldwater softball star Madison Wendel signed a national letter of intent with Division I Central Michigan on Monday, while golfer Ben Giere, the individual medalist in the Midwest Athletic Conference tournament, committed to the University of Northwestern Ohio.
Wendel was the MAC Player of the Year in 2022 and Pitcher of the Year in 2023. She also twice earned second-team All-District honors and was on the All-District and All-Ohio first teams this spring.
"It feels awesome," Wendel said. "All this hard work and dedication has finally paid off."
Wendel, who switched her commitment from Marshall to Central Michigan in July, said the Chippewas had been recruiting her in the summer of 2022, after she met CMU pitching coach Sara Driesenga while playing travel softball in Kansas City.
"I was there for an elite camp, and she was my coach during that time," Wendel said. "I fell in love with how she coached, so then I thought about the Chippewas."
She later went to a prospect camp at Central Michigan, which helped her make her decision.
Wendel also said that she wanted to take the "student" part of being a student-athlete seriously, and the strength of Central Michigan's business and marketing programs was also a factor.
"I also want to be a college softball coach," she added. "Central Michigan, there's a lot of college softball coaches that come out of there."
On the field, she said she will plans to both pitch and hit for the Chippewas, and her statistics justify both. She has hit .475 for her career and above .450 in all three seasons, with 125 total hits and 30 home runs.
"I wanted to leave a legacy that little girls can look up to," she said. "I want them to strive to love the sport, loving what they're doing and having fun doing it."
For the Cavaliers, she has set records for home runs in a game (two on five occasions), RBI in a game (six) and, as a pitcher, strikeouts in a game (19, twice). Her home run season totals (11, 10 and nine) are the top three in Coldwater history, as are her strikeouts (278, 267, 227) and shutouts (nine, seven and four) in a season.
She also broke the MAC career strikeout record, finishing her junior year with 772, and ranks second in conference history for career home runs and third for pitching wins.
As a team, Coldwater has had its three best season by wins the last three years. The Cavaliers won an outright MAC title with a 9-0 conference record in 2022.
"It's amazing to have watched her just get better year by year," Coldwater coach Kyle Ahrens said. "Her statistics speak for themselves, but just her confidence and playing year to year, I feel like has grown so much. A lot of people don't get to see all the extra work she puts into her program."
Ahrens noted that Wendel also contributes to the youth softball program as an umpire in the summer.
"I love seeing them succeed and having fun doing what they're doing," Wendel said. "I love giving back to the community that's brought me so much joy."
Central Michigan went 29-26 and 18-11 in the Mid-American Conference under head coach McCall Salmon this spring, winning one game in the MAC Tournament.
For Coldwater, Wendel and catcher Claire Steinke will both be seniors, along with outfielder Rachel Schroyer. The Cavaliers have won at least 19 games the last three years, but have yet to get past the district semifinals.
"I hope to get past districts with my team," Wendel said. "I just want there to be a lot of success with our team, and to continue to rewrite the record books."
"I'm really going to enjoy this year, with her and Claire in their senior year," Ahrens said. "We have expectations now, a lot of big goals we're hoping to accomplish that we haven't yet."
Coldwater's Ben Giere, center, signed a letter of intent Wednesday to play golf at the University of Northwest Ohio. Seated with him are his father Neal Giere and mother Lisa Giere, and standing are Cavalier coaches Jason Hemmelgarn and Austin Pleiman.
Giere finished his senior year in style, winning medalist honors at the MAC and sectional tournaments with 2-under 70s and an eagle in each. He was two points behind Collin Feathers of Delphos St. John's for MAC Golfer of the Year.
"This year, not only did our team do well - probably one of the better teams of my four years, winning-wise - but as an individual, winning county was a goal, and winning MAC was also a huge goal," he said.
Giere said he wasn't planning to play in college, but his golf instructor, Kaleb Kuhn, was a UNOH alumnus and recommended it to him, so he got in contact with coach Eric West.
"We went up there and looked around, and immediately, the coach is everything you can ask for and the facilities are really great," Giere said. "It just kind of clicked."
He also looked into Kentucky - "way back", he said - but UNOH also suited him because it was closer. He intends to major in business management.
The Racers, who play in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference in the NAIA, won the UPIKE Fall Invitational at the start of the fall and won in match play against Rochester in the WHAC Fall Preview. They ended with a fourth-place finish in the Egypt Valley Championship in Ada, Michigan in mid-October, shooting a 911 as a team with Luke Turner tied for 10th with a 226 for 36 holes over three days.
In his four years with the Cavaliers, Giere got accustomed to spending summers out at the golf course, playing golf after work and practicing his driving and putting. Heading into his first year with the Racers, he said West hasn't given him any particular areas of his game to focus on.
"Golf-wise, not really, but character-wise, just keep being myself," Giere said. "Just don't get too cocky, I guess."
