OTTAWA LAKE — Whiteford’s softball team is starting the 2022 season No. 4 on the Division 4 pre-season rankings list and Aly VanBrandt is a candidate for Michigan’s Player of the Year.

The Bobcats are 2-0 and resume action this week.

The Division 4 pre-season rankings, by the Michigan High School Softball Coaches Association, finds Whiteford in the top 5:

DIVISION 4

1.  USA
2.  Holton
3.  Riverview Gabriel Richard
4.  Whiteford 
5.  Breckenridge
6.  Bridgman
7.  Hillman
8.  Portland St. Pats
9.  Mendon
10. Jo-berg

Honorable Mention
Kalamazoo Christian, Inland Lakes, Ishpeming, Norway, Onaway, Rogers City, Rudyard, River Valley

VanBrandt, coming off a record-breaking season for the Bobcats and who has already committed to playing at the University of Indiana, is listed among the STATE CHAMPS Network as a Michigan “Total Softball Player of the Year contest.”