Traverse City Central's Piper Cavanaugh named Michigan softball player of the year

Piper Cavanaugh’s season at Traverse City Central ended with one of Michigan high school softball’s top honors, a statewide award that selects just one winner from each state, plus Washington, D.C., across 12 sports. Gatorade named the Oregon commit the 2025-26 Gatorade Michigan Softball Player of the Year, putting a Grand Traverse County athlete in a program that has spent 41 years celebrating the nation’s best high school players.

The 5-foot-11 senior right-handed pitcher backed up the recognition with numbers that stood out even in a deep playoff run. Cavanaugh helped lead Central to a 32-2 record and a Division 1 regional final, while batting .593 with 51 RBI, 57 runs scored and nine home runs. In the circle, she went 19-0 with a 0.41 ERA, 244 strikeouts and just four walks in 102 innings, a combination of power, command and durability that made her one of the most difficult players in the state to game-plan against. Softball America ranked her No. 41 nationally in her class.

Her work in the classroom and around the program matched the production on the field. Gatorade said Cavanaugh carried a 3.99 weighted GPA and had signed a written letter of athletic aid to continue her career at the University of Oregon. The award release also highlighted her volunteer work as a student athletic trainer at Traverse City Central athletic events and as a pitching instructor for a 12U travel softball team, giving younger players in the area a front-row view of what advanced-level preparation looks like.

Cavanaugh’s impact on the Trojans was also measured in the way opposing teams had to adjust. Traverse City West coach Brandi Reynolds said in the award release that Cavanaugh changes matchups and strategy and called her a complete player. That reputation only grew as Central’s senior class, which included Cavanaugh, Grace Cary, Anna Tabaczka, Anika Peterson and Rachel Poortenga, pushed for milestones the program had never reached before.

The Trojans had never won the Big North Conference or a regional softball title, and Cavanaugh’s move from Traverse City West to Central changed the program’s trajectory. Michigan High School Athletic Association coverage in May noted that she had not lost a game since joining Central, while local reporting in mid-April said she and Cary were both headed to Division I programs, with Cavanaugh bound for Oregon and Cary for Ohio State. For younger players in Traverse City, the standard now sits higher: a county product who paired elite pitching, middle-of-the-order power and academic excellence with a season that altered what Central believes it can become.