1971: MHSAA Launches 'Big One' for Baseball
June 13, 2016
By Ron Pesch
Special for Second Half
“It’s a big one,” said state director of athletics Al Bush, when asked about organizing the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s inaugural baseball tournament back in January 1971. “The idea has been under study for more than three years.”
After discussions with the MHSAA Representative Council, in mid-December a committee of seven coaches from various parts of the state gathered and built the framework for the tournament, according to Associated Press reports.
Still ranked among the Top 10 all-time fall classics, the Detroit Tigers’ 1968 World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals meant interest in the national pastime was on the rise in Michigan.
Bush noted that about 650 Michigan high schools had sponsored baseball in 1970, and that plans for organizing the pending tournament were much like those for basketball, with Districts and Regionals. Circulars sent out by the MHSAA asking about planned participation indicated nearly 500 schools intended to play in the tournament. As in other sports, except basketball, plans were to host separate tournaments for the Upper and Lower Peninsula due to weather conditions experienced above the Mackinac Bridge.
While a number of cities in the past had hosted baseball tournaments where schools from around the state had been invited to participate, the MHSAA had never previously sponsored a statewide tournament. Perhaps the most well-known was one hosted in Battle Creek for about 10 seasons in the 1940s and 1950s.
In April 1971, Districts were announced, with qualifying round play scheduled for May 17-27 and Pre-District contests planned for May 29 that would allow the field of teams to be cut to four for the Districts. A total of 594 teams entered the Lower Peninsula tournament. The Finals for all classes were scheduled for June 19.
“I think you could draw it out of a hat and call a certain team a favorite, and you’d be correct,” said MHSAA Associate Director Vern Norris 45 years ago when discussing the uncharted territory of that first tournament. “There’s just no basis for comparison. I think we can say the teams competing Saturday are the cream of the crop, although in any tourney competition some good teams are eliminated early.”
“Overall, we’ve been very pleased,” he continued. “No. There haven’t been any major problems. The umpiring has been good and the support from the schools excellent. The person who really helped us out was the weatherman.”
All 48 Regional games were played without a hitch. In years past (and in years to come), weather had played havoc with previous tournaments.
Four sites were used for the games. Class A was played at Wyandotte Memorial Field, while Class B was hosted at Battle Creek Central. Class C contests were scheduled at Marshall High School with Class D at Central Michigan University’s Alumni Field in Mount Pleasant. Semifinal games were scheduled for 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., with finals scheduled at 3:30 p.m. at each location.
The Detroit area emerged with three of the four titles, with games played beneath hot and humid weather.
Jim Saad, recruited to Colorado State to play football, smacked a 355-foot two-run homer to left field in the opening inning of the Finals as Harper Woods Bishop Gallagher blanked Royal Oak Kimball 3-0 before 1,200 fans for the Class A crown. Greg Boos tossed a two-hitter for the Lancers, striking out 10 along the way. It was the first of three Class A baseball titles won by Gallagher and their coach Jim Bresciami, who would lead his teams to 545 wins between 1965 and 1985. The Detroit Catholic League’s First Division East champion, Gallagher finished with a 32-5 record on the year. Right-hander Boos ended the season with an 11-2 mark.
Detroit Lutheran West posted 24 wins against a single defeat, scoring a 4-1 win over Pinconning for the Class B title. A bases-loaded single by Fred Schebor in the fifth inning brought in two runs to break open a 1-1 tie. Bill Lindblom was responsible for West’s other two runs, driving in runners with a single in the second inning and a double in the sixth. Junior Leon Druckenmiller struck out six and scattered six hits for the Leopards for the win. Earlier in the day, John Paloni struck out 18 batters in West’s 3-0 Semifinal win over Wayland.
Hamtramck St. Ladislaus took advantage of a pair of third inning errors, scoring two runs in the team’s 3-0 win over Dearborn Sacred Heart. Tom Crepeau pitched a four-hitter and struck out seven, while Paul Janas led the victors with two singles and a double in the Final. The win avenged a pair of nonleague losses to Sacred Heart during the regular season. Rick Radzinski pitched a two-hitter and drove in three runs in Ladislaus’ 7-1 Semifinal win over Sanford-Meridian.
Managed by 1952 alumnus Jim Powell, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart rebounded from an early 8-1 deficit in its Semifinal game with Marion for a 16-12 win, gaining a birth in the Class D championship game against Portland St. Patrick. The Irish’s Roger Therman then pitched a four-hitter in a 5-1 win over St. Patrick.
To the north, with its later thaw, the high school baseball season continued to revolve around summer American Legion baseball but also two U.P. high school leagues: the Eastern Upper Peninsula High School Baseball League (EUP) and Western Upper Peninsula High School Baseball League (WUP). In its 14th year of operation, the WUP saw Ironwood post an 11-1 record against six league opponents to earn the 1971 league championship, while Rudyard repeated as champs with a 12-4 season in the nine-team EUP.
Today, the U.P.’s most famous baseball player remains Kevin Tapani, a 1981 graduate of Escanaba, who pitched for 13 years in the Major League. Tapani quarterbacked the Escanaba Eskymos to the MHSAA Class A football title in 1981, yet never threw a pitch for his high school because of the weather.
Forty-five years later, Mother Nature continues to influence baseball in the Upper Peninsula – although over time Upper Peninsula schools began taking part with those from the Lower Peninsula in a statewide MHSAA Tournament. The first U.P. team to make the Semifinals in baseball was Sault Ste. Marie in 1988.
This season, 21 Upper Peninsula schools sponsored varsity baseball teams, as gradually some have brought back programs long in hibernation – Gladstone, for example, made the Division 3 Semifinals in 2014 after bringing back a baseball program the year before that hadn't played since 1959.
Ron Pesch has taken an active role in researching the history of MHSAA events since 1985 and began writing for MHSAA Finals programs in 1986, adding additional features and "flashbacks" in 1992. He inherited the title of MHSAA historian from the late Dick Kishpaugh following the 1993-94 school year, and resides in Muskegon. Contact him at [email protected] with ideas for historical articles.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Lutheran West stands together for a team photo; it won the inaugural Class B title. (Middle) Champions of the first MHSAA Tournament, in 1971, included Harper Woods Bishop Gallagher, Hamtramck St. Ladislaus and Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart.
Nori Continuing Minor League Climb Boosted by World Baseball Classic Stardom
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
April 20, 2026
It wasn't until Dante Nori stood star-struck in the outfield grass at Houston's rollicking Daikin Park that he fully grasped the massive leap he had just accomplished.
Less than two years after helping Northville to its first Division 1 baseball title before a crowd of hundreds at McLane Stadium, Nori last month found himself playing before a partisan crowd of 38,653 against arguably the best club the United States has fielded for the World Baseball Classic.
It's a leap that few other WBC players have made and not only humbled Nori – a member of Italy's national team – but fulfilled a lifelong dream.
"You're sitting out there in left field and you look at your (defensive) shift card and you see names like Bobby Witt or Aaron Judge or Kyle Schwarber, and I was like a little kid," said Nori, who had turned 21 just five months before the start of the tournament. "You see those guys, the crowd is chanting 'USA, USA,' and it's so cool."
Nori's rapid progression from Michigan's Mr. Baseball Award honoree in 2024 to top Philadelphia Phillies prospect to the WBC could be the stuff of which movies are made. A MaxPreps All-American at Northville, Nori was the 27th overall player taken in the 2024 MLB draft. He promptly opened his professional career with 14 games at low Class A Clearwater to finish out the summer.
He began catching the eye of places like MLB.com, where he's ranked seventh among Phillies prospects, and Baseball America, where he's sixth, by sweeping across three levels of the minors in 2025 while hitting .261 with 18 doubles, 12 triples and 52 stolen bases in 62 attempts.
By the time the Phillies opted to send Nori to the prestigious Arizona Fall League last October, representatives from the Italy team scheduled to play in March's WBC were very much interested. Italy and then the Phillies okayed his participation and left the decision to Nori, who called it a no-brainer.
"Right away I said yes," he said. "I've always dreamed of that and when that dream finally comes true, it's great."
Whether it was spearheading Northville to a 2-1 win over Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice at the MHSAA Finals or helping Italy to one of the biggest upsets in WBC history – a stunning 8-6 win over Team USA – Nori said he long ago learned to deal with the pressure of the moment.
"I've always been the kind that the more pressure there is, the more I calm down," he said. "It doesn't matter if you're playing Salem High School in 30-degree weather or whether it's the WBC, it's still baseball.
"But if you told me that I'd be playing in a high school state championship game and then would be in the WBC, I wouldn't have believed you. The WBC was just great. I enjoyed the heck out of it. It's so nice when a dream comes true."
Nori admits the only time he ever got a bit antsy on a ballfield was when he caught the eye of Northville teammate Joey Broughton, now in the Milwaukee Brewers chain, during the team's 9-2 win over Bay City Western in the 2024 Semifinals. The pair, who combined to score three runs and drive in six that day, were transfixed on what the team was on the verge of accomplishing.
"I remember it was the most I've ever been hyped up," he said, "but it still wasn't about nerves."
Help for Nori in navigating a pressure-filled WBC came from an unlikely source. Italy's roster featured two other former Michigan high school baseball stars in infielder Jon Berti and center fielder Jakob Marsee, who like Nori are both from the Metro Detroit area. Berti, from Troy High School, was a Mr. Baseball finalist and all-stater in 2008 when he batted .467 with a school record 66 hits and 66 stolen bases. Marsee earned 11 varsity letters in three sports before graduating from Allen Park High School in 2019. He was taken by San Diego in the sixth round of the 2022 draft before being traded to Miami.
Nori said the pair provided a steadying influence.
"I knew they were both from Michigan, but I had never met either one," he said. "But my mom and Jakob's mom are friends, so it was kind of cool to bond with him. I had never played left field before, and he helped me with directions in playing out there. It helped me get a feel for playing."
Italy wound up being one of the WBC's best stories, winning its bracket and making the semifinals before finishing 5-1. The team was a combination of veterans such as Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and Aaron Nola of the Phillies, but also top prospects like Nori and infielders Andrew Fischer and Sam Antonacci.
"If you look at the roster with the prospects and major leaguers, absolutely," he said of making the semifinals. "It was a blend of everything – experience and young talent who worked so well together. We all believed the same way – that we could be in the championship game. We played with a chip on our shoulder."
Nori not only enjoyed the WBC, he excelled. The 5-foot-9, 170-pound speedster wound up leading Italy in hitting with a .400 mark while adding a pair of homers, six RBIs and two stolen bases. His tournament included going 3-for-3 with two runs, two RBIs, a double and a homer against Brazil, a pair of hits and an RBI against Great Britain, a key sacrifice fly against USA and an RBI single against eventual champion Venezuela.
But maybe the biggest honor came after Nori returned home and received a late-night phone call from his father. Nori joined USA's Roman Anthony and Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Dominican Republic on the WBC all-tournament outfield.
"I was asleep about midnight, and I was kinda groggy and the phone goes off," he said. "It's my dad and he never calls that late unless it's important. I'm half asleep and confused and my dad says, "Did you see that?' It still hasn't hit me. You look (at the outfielders), and you see names like Tatis and you're the only minor leaguer on that team. That's something."
With this WBC now in the record books, Nori can now turn his attention to playing for Double-A Reading (Pa.) this summer. He's off to a solid start through the team's first eight games with a .310 batting average, seven extra-base hits and six RBIs.
As for the prospect of playing in the next WBC, Nori finds himself in a rare position. He already has Italy qualification, but since he was born in Canada he could play for that country's national team. Or if his career blossoms, he could one day play for the United States. Actually, Nori said there is little doubt what choice he'd make.
"I thought about that, playing for one of the three," he said. "But with Italy, we created such a relationship and bond that I'm locked in for Italy. There is no way I would leave that group."
PHOTOS (Top) Dante Nori (6) stands in for the next pitch during an at bat for the Reading Fightin Phils this spring. (Middle) Nori watches the home run he’d just launched travel out of McLane Stadium during Northville’s 2024 Division 1 Semifinal win over Bay City Western. (Top photo courtesy of the Reading Fightin Phils.)