MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP – Last October, Reeths-Puffer softball coach Sarah Bayle called her returning players together for a special meeting.

She told them she had to share some news that would impact the coming 2022 season.

“I told all the girls to come in for a special 7 a.m. meeting before school, and that it was a really important meeting to talk about the upcoming season,” said Bayle, now in her third year as the R-P varsity head coach.

“I said, ‘Let’s play a game,’ and I gave then a saran wrap ball. They sat and took turns pulling it apart, one girl at a time, and when they got to the middle there was a onesie that said ‘Coach Bayle is having a baby!’ It was cool to see how excited they were.

“Then one of my seniors, Caitlynn Duffey, started counting the months on her fingers and said ‘Coach you are cutting it close. When are you due?’ I told her the end of April or early May. She just said, ‘We will make it work.’”

It’s now mid-April, Coach Bayle is into the ninth month of her pregnancy, and she and her husband, former Fruitport and Taylor University baseball player Cody Bayle, will be welcoming a baby boy any day now.

Her due date is April 27, but her doctor said the baby could be a little early or a little late. They have already picked a name but are keeping it secret to surprise everyone.

Ironically, assistant coach Megan Gonyan is also pregnant, but is not as far along as Bayle.

No matter when the new little Rocket pops into the world, he will cause a bit of a disruption for the R-P softball season, because Bayle will leave the team to go on a short maternity leave.

While losing a coach for a few weeks, about a month into the new season, is hardly ideal for the Rockets, Bayle has a plan to keep things going smoothy while she tends to the baby.

Her husband, who is an assistant coach this year, will serve as the interim head coach, with the help of fellow assistants Gonyon and Sage Price. Bayle will return to the team after a few weeks, leaving family members to take care of the baby in the crowd.

The baby already has some little Rocket baseball and softball outfits waiting for him to wear to the games, she said.

“The tentative plan is for me to be out a couple of weeks,” said Bayle, whose team is 2-1 so far this season. “I have a really good support system. I plan on coming back to coach after a few weeks and bringing the baby, weather permitting. The grandparents and a lot of other family members are planning to be there to take care of him for as many games as necessary.

“It’s going to be fun.”

Bayle is the former Sarah Ferenz, a 2013 Reeths-Puffer graduate who was an All-Conference and All-Area softball player for the Rockets. She went on to play softball at Muskegon Community College and Ferris State University.

She was the R-P junior varsity coach in 2018 and 2019, while she was still a student at Ferris, and made the drive back and forth between Big Rapids and Muskegon on a daily basis to lead her team.

Bayle was hired as a teacher at Reeths-Puffer High School just two weeks after graduating from college, and because the varsity softball coach in 2020 when her former varsity coach, Trista Stingle, left to become a school administrator in Houghton Lake.

She had to wait a year to coach the varsity, however, because the 2020 season was wiped out by COVID. Last season, with a young squad, the Rockets posted a 14-18 record.

The Bayles were married last August, and while they had no definite plan to start a family right away, they weren’t opposed to the idea, either.

“We talked and decided that it was going to be God’s timing,” Bayle said. “It turned out that His timing was in the middle of the softball season. But we’re all excited and we’re going to make it work.”

The baby will have an entire softball team – and an entire high school – eager to meet him when he arrives. He will also have an automatic best friend, Sarah and Cody’s dog, Gunner.

“He is the sweetest black lab,” Bayle said. “I’m sure he will take a liking to the baby quickly, and will want him to play fetch right away!”