Flashback 1982: Diamond Finals Dominated by 1-Run Title Deciders
By
Ron Pesch
MHSAA historian
June 6, 2022
Heavy downpours earlier in the week, combined with all-night rain on Friday, meant the title games in both baseball and softball were postponed from Saturday, June 19 to the following Monday.
BASEBALL
Those baseball fans making the trip to Central Michigan University’s Alumni Field for the 1982 MHSAA Baseball Finals saw five of the Detroit Free Press’ 11-member Dream team – Rick Leppien of Midland, Bill Hanis from Plymouth Canton, Paul Ouillette from Bay City Handy, Frank Kendall of Mesick and Ron Fillmore from Sanford Meridian (a rare all-stater in three sports).
Runner-up in Class D in 1981, Mesick brought home a state title in ’82, posting a 30-0-1 record, capped by a thrilling – and for some, controversial – 3-2 win over Colon before an opening game crowd of 500.
Colon grabbed a 2-1 advantage in the third inning and had multiple opportunities to up its lead, loading the bases in both the fourth and again in the top of the sixth innings. But the Magi were unable to capitalize. In the bottom of the sixth with one out, Mesick’s Monty Geiger ripped an opposite-field double within inches of the rightfield foul line, scoring Chuck Hockey to knot the game at 2-2, setting the stage for a thrilling finish.
In the seventh, with Mesick runners at second and third and nobody out, Colon coach Mike Sowles ordered an intentional walk to Bulldogs star Frank Kendall. With the bases loaded, a grounder to short was tossed to home plate for the inning’s first out. Another near-identical shot, again to the shortstop, followed. The throw to the plate was accurate and beat the sliding runner, Ken LeFountain. However, the umpire ruled the catcher had been pulled off the plate by the throw, allowing Mesick to score the game winner.
“Our clutch hitting didn’t come through for the first time in a long time,” said Sowles to the Battle Creek Enquirer. His team had stranded 13 runners on the morning. “We just didn’t get the key hits to put them away.”
"Most observers in the press box located directly behind home plate, thought the umpire was right,” stated Steve Morse, staff writer at the Enquirer, who had covered the game.
While Sowles disagreed with the game-ending call, he added, “You’ve got to give credit to Mesick. They pitched out of those jams time and time again.”
Also named all-state in football and basketball, Sanford Meridian’s Ron Fillmore doubled off the centerfield fence, then scored what proved to be the winning run in the fifth inning following a two-out single by catcher Brian Garner as the Mustangs downed Buchanan 6-4 to earn the Class C baseball crown. It was the second consecutive runner-up finish for the Bucks, who finished the year at 25-6.
Beaten only once, at a tournament during the regular season by eventual Class A champion Midland, Sanford Meridian (29-1) banged out 13 hits and opened the scoring in the top of the first when Dave Ehlert scored on a double steal. The Mustangs then added runs in the second, and a pair in the third inning, for a 4-1 lead.
Buchanan knotted the game in the fourth inning.
Fillmore, who was headed back to Central Michigan University in the fall on a football scholarship, tripled, scored twice, and added an RBI on the day. Garner drove in three runs on a double and a pair of singles, while Jim Bailey and Kirk Shauger also added two singles. The Mustangs had added an insurance run in the sixth following a Dennis Ladlow sacrifice fly.
“Fillmore concluded an outstanding athletic career at Sanford-Meridian with his performance in the title contest,” wrote Jack Walkden in the St. Joseph Herald-Palladium. “Three times he bailed starter Dave Walter (12-0) out of tight jams. And the senior righthander closed out the game with a flourish striking out Buchanan’s 1-2-3 batters. He worked 2 2/3 innings in all, yielding no runs, no hits, striking out five, and walking just two.”
“Sanford-Meridian got some other good news Monday,” added Walkden. “The baseball program had been dropped for 1983 as part of budget cuts at the school.
“‘But it’s about 80 percent sure that it will be reinstated through outside funding,’ Sanford-Meridian Athletic Director Steve Digsby said.”
Bob Podschline drove home the tying run with a two-run double in the Class B contest, scored the winning run on a Carl Novick two-run double in the third inning, then racked up 10 strikeouts as Southgate Aquinas topped Bay City Handy, 6-2. The Raiders southpaw allowed just two hits across six innings. Novak added a fifth-inning home run, and Gary Lizanich tossed a hitless seventh to seal the win. Aquinas ended the season with a 22-10 mark, while Handy closed out the year 30-9.
In the day’s final contest, Midland’s Chemics downed Plymouth Canton, 5-4, in Class A. Rick Leppien smacked a 385-foot two-run homer over the left-centerfield fence in the top of the second inning to open the scoring. It was his eighth round-tripper of the year. He scored again on a double steal to up the score to 3-0 in the fourth.
“The Chemics increased their lead to 5-0 with two more runs in the top of the fifth,” stated Don Winger in the Midland Daily News. “Bryan Kuehne doubled, moved to third on a ground out by Chris Carter, and scored when (Canton) shortstop Don Dombey threw wild to first on Mark Sayad’s grounder. Sayad raced all the way to third on the play and pitcher (Greg) Money promptly doubled him home.”
Victory, however, would not come easy.
Leppien, the ace of the Midland pitching staff with a 16-1 record, was limited to a relief role in the championship contest because of a “30 outs rule in effect for the semifinal and final games.” Hence, Midland coach Frank Altimore was forced into juggling pitching duties across four members of the staff.
A series of walks, a passed ball, and a timely single – Canton’s lone hit on the day – cut the margin to 5-3 in the fifth inning. Additional issues in the sixth led to another run, setting the stage for an exciting finish.
In the bottom of the seventh, Altimore moved pitchers in and out like chess pieces. The Chiefs had the winning run at third base when Money returned to the mound for the fourth time, and “blew a 3-2 pitch” past Canton’s batter to end the game for the final out.
“It was dark, and I told them to just come in with heat. They did, and we won. It was a great ballgame,” said Altimore.
Moments later, “a heavy downpour inundated the playing field,” concluded Winger. “But, by that time the Chemics were celebrating their second state title in 10 years, and they were oblivious to the raindrops.”
Money, the starter, was credited with both the win and the save for Midland, which finished with a 35-5 mark. Canton ended the season at 25-5.
“They were on a vision quest,” their coach would recall in 2007 when the team was honored with induction into the Midland County Sports Hall of Fame. “We had an incredibly talented team in 1981, senior-loaded. They went to the regional finals, where they got beat by a very poor team from Jackson with a great pitcher.”
In total, over 3,100 attended Monday’s baseball games.
SOFTBALL
Three one-run games kept softball fans on the edge of their seats at Lansing’s Ranney Park.
Paula DeFord and Jean Sullivan each drove in three runs as Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard rolled over Gaylord St. Mary, 9-2, for the Class D title. Senior Ann O’Sullivan held St. Mary to just two hits in the day’s opening game. Rain also had pushed the Softball Finals to Monday.
The Irish, focused on aggressive baserunning, stole 10 bases and took advantage of six errors by the young Gaylord squad. Up 2-0 after the first, and 4-2 after three innings, Gabriel Richard pushed across four more runs in the fourth. The Irish ended the campaign with a 30-6 mark, with O’Sullivan finishing her senior year with 16 wins against four defeats.
“New Lothrop’s first batter of the game, Kelly Fisher, crossed the plate with the game’s only score,” stated Bill Khan of the Flint Journal in his article covering the Hornets’ 1-0 win over Pontiac Catholic in the Class C Final. According to Khan, the “lone run couldn’t have been planned much better.
“Fisher led off the Hornets’ half of the first inning with a walk, then proceeded to swipe her 71st base of the season.”
The thefts marked the top season total recorded in Michigan, as well as the nation, at the time.
Fisher advanced to third on a groundout. A squeeze that went back to the mound initially held her at third, but the toss by the pitcher to first for the out opened an opportunity.
“… Fisher came streaking down the line and made a headfirst slide into home,” just under the tag of the relay to the plate, scoring the game’s only run.
Pontiac Catholic junior Vicki Morrow, who would later earn the Big Ten Softball Player of the Year honor at the University of Michigan in 1987 and was later selected to the Big Ten All-Decade Team, struck out five and allowed only four hits, while New Lothrop pitcher Sandy Deneen limited Pontiac’s offense to just five scattered hits and two walks across seven innings. New Lothrop ended the year with a 29-4 record, while the Titans finished at 30-3.
In Class B, Chelsea topped West Branch Ogemaw Heights, 3-2 in 13 innings. Senior Amy Unterbrink allowed just four hits on the day. Lisa Beeman scored the game winner following a single by Amy Hume.
Ogemaw Heights held a 2-0 lead entering the seventh, but a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning by the Bulldogs pushed the game to extra innings. It was the third straight “cliffhanger” for Chelsea, which ended the year with an impressive 33-2 record – tops in school history.
“In the regional final, they scored four runs with two outs in the seventh inning to trip Dearborn Divine Child, 4-2,” according to Rob Allstetter of the Ann Arbor News, “and they needed an Unterbrink double in the bottom of the eighth inning to turn back Richmond in the semifinals, 4-3.”
Royal Oak Kimball topped Grandville 1-0 in a Class A showdown featuring two of the state’s top pitchers, Kimball senior Julie Bishop and Grandville junior Kathy VanDerMolen.
A leadoff single in the seventh was the only hit allowed by Bishop, who upped her career mark to 46-5 with the win.
Kimball’s Lisa Bean, who had walked earlier in the inning, scored the game’s only run in the third when Mary Pike smashed a two-out double over the left fielder’s head. It was one of only two hits allowed by VanDerMolen.
Bean, Pike, and VanDerMolen, Chelsea’s Unterbrink, the Ogemaw Heights battery of pitcher Pam Czach and catcher Sue Pauley, Morrow and Pontiac Catholic teammates Mary Hashinger and Bridget Syron, Gabriel Richard’s O’Sullivan, her catcher Martha Rogers, and infielder Alicia Seegert, as well as Gaylord St. Mary junior Kristin Fosdick all were among postseason all-state first-team selections named by the Michigan High School Softball Coaches Association in mid-July.
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) New Lothrop’s softball team celebrated the 1982 Class C championship with a 1-0 win over Pontiac Catholic. (2) Mesick won the Class D baseball title that spring. (3) Sanford Meridian’s Ron Fillmore would go on to play football at Central Michigan. (4) Kimball’s Lisa Bean would score the only run of the 1982 Class A Final. (Photos gathered by Ron Pesch. CMU football photo courtesy of the CMU Athletics Organizational Records.)
Union City to Omaha: Skirka Takes Murray State Baseball to 1st College World Series
By
Scott Hassinger
Special for MHSAA.com
July 28, 2025
UNION CITY – From his days fielding ground balls at Alumni Field in Union City to coaching the Murray State Racers at the 2025 College World Series in Omaha, Neb., Dan Skirka has never taken the game of baseball for granted.
A 2003 Union City graduate, Skirka credits his experience of growing up with three older brothers as playing a major impact in his athletic development.
"I played all three sports – football, basketball and baseball – when I was younger while growing up. After my freshman year, I began to concentrate solely on basketball and baseball," he said.
Inspired by watching his older siblings Darren (graduated 1995), Justin (1999) and Brian (2001) compete for the Chargers, Dan couldn't wait to be just like them when he reached the high school level.
"I would attend my brothers' games and I was always trying to emulate them and their teammates,” Dan Skirka said. “The desire to compete for my school when I got the chance helped turn me into the person I am today. It was just really special being on that field, and I never take the game for granted."
While his older brothers played multiple positions, Dan began his career as a pitcher, but an arm injury his freshman year convinced him to switch to shortstop, where he started his last three years for the Chargers.
Skirka was brought up to varsity his freshman year in both baseball and basketball. He played baseball under Joe Tinervia, earning all-conference at shortstop his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. As a senior, Skirka batted .520 in earning all-region as well.
He also was selected all-conference in basketball his sophomore, junior and senior years. A small forward, Skirka remembers well the thrill of winning a District championship his junior year before losing in the Regional Final. Being able to share that experience with guys he grew up with was priceless.
"I learned a lot about leadership skills and how necessary they were in my growth and maturity as a player in high school and college. I learned a great deal from the example the older guys set," Skirka said.
After graduating from Union City, Skirka became a two-year starter at shortstop at Kellogg Community College for head coach Russ Bortell. The Bruins captured a Michigan Community College Baseball Association title during Skirka's sophomore season. The Bruins also reached the regional semifinals that spring after falling in the regional final his freshman year.
"We had a great program at Kellogg, and I learned a ton about baseball from the coaching staff there.” Skirka said. “Grand Rapids Junior College won the regional both years I was at Kellogg. They had a tremendous team and were tough to beat."
Skirka received a Division II baseball scholarship to Grand Valley State University, where he played under Steve Lyon and helped the Lakers win two Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles. As a senior, Skirka was selected GVSU's Scholar-Athlete of the Year and named to the Division II all-region team, one step away from All-America honors, after hitting .400. He graduated from GVSU majoring in social studies with future plans to become a high school teacher and coach.
Skirka helped his teams at Kellogg and GVSU win a combined 173 games. He credits then-assistant coaches Eric Laskovy (Kellogg) and Jamie Detillion (GVSU) as being heavy influences in his decision to pursue a career in coaching college baseball.
"Laskovy and Detillion were both great assistant coaches who later became head coaches at those schools, and they served as great mentors to me. They both felt that I'd make a good college coach,” Skirka said. “I had always had good relationships with my college coaches, and I served as a team captain at each school. I learned a lot of lessons about toughness and loving the game. Sometimes we played in front of no spectators, and there were a lot of long bus rides."
Laskovy, now a highly-successful head coach himself at Kellogg, describes Skirka as the same genuine and humble person that he was during his playing career.
"Dan was quiet, but real confident and he handled himself well on the field. His strong work ethic as a player made him a coach's dream. He had good leadership skills and he always led by example,” Laskovy said. “That shows up now in his personality as a head coach. He knows the game well and won't get outworked by anyone, and he's seen every situation there is to see in baseball. He knows his stuff, and he's earned the respect of every one of his players and they love him. I couldn't be any prouder of him and the success he's went on to enjoy."
Detillion, who served as GVSU's head coach for 12 seasons before joining Henry-Scheim as a dental sales rep, described Skirka as being another coach on the field during his playing career.
"Dan went from being a good contact hitter to being a power hitter his senior season at GVSU. He was another coach on the field and he outplayed others by how well he prepared," Detillion said. “He always does the right thing, and his mannerisms and the way he goes about his business reveal his high character.”
While student-teaching before graduating from GVSU, Skirka served as an assistant coach in 2008 at GRJC before becoming an assistant coach in 2009 for Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas. He joined Murray State's coaching staff as an assistant from 2010-2015 before leaving to become the recruiting coordinator at Walters State Community College (Tenn.), which finished as national runner-up in 2018.
Skirka accepted the position of head baseball coach back at Murray State on July 2, 2018. He’s only a few weeks removed from leading the Racers to a historic season.
Murray State, which is 206-151 under Sirka, finished with a school-record 44 wins this spring, winning the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament championships. The Racers earned their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2003 and fourth in program history. Murray State then upset host Ole Miss to claim the school's first NCAAA Regional crown, followed by a Super Regional victory over Duke that earned the Racers' their first trip to the College World Series. Murray State ended the season 44-17 after CWS losses to UCLA and Arkansas.
Skirka, who received Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Mike Martin National Coach of the Year awards, turned down several coaching offers at other schools to remain at Murray State. He recently received a four-year contract extension that came with a substantial pay raise to become reportedly the highest paid coach in the MVC.
Skirka stated that his decision to stay on at Murray State was a simple one.
"Murray State is a real special place. I love the guys and people in this community, and it just feels like home,” Skirka said. “College baseball presents a lot of challenges. The game is difficult sometimes, and guys need to remember to be patient. It takes weeks, months and sometimes years to earn your time and develop a winning program."
Skirka pointed out clutch performances this season from his senior duo of outfielder and lead-off hitter Jonathan Hogart and third baseman and No. 3 hitter Carson Garner. Hogart hit a school-record 22 home runs, and Garner had 17.
"We have tough kids who grinded out and won 14 games by one run. We were never out of any game with a good mixture of veterans and underclassmen,” Skirka said. “It was a group of guys that loved one another and went out every day and had fun. This group worked hard and competed like crazy. They play the game the right way, and do it with a smile on their face. Our coaching staff is great as well. We meshed pretty well together."
Skirka and his wife Kelsey (Hanson) – also a 2003 Union City grad and a standout in volleyball, basketball and softball – have a 9-year old son, Keagan.
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Union City sophomore shortstop Dan Skirka makes a throw to first base after fielding a grounder in 2001. At right, Skirka dons headphones for a postgame interview this past season. (Middle) Skirka (32) lays the ball up for two points while playing for Union City against Athens. (Below) Skirka is pictured with wife Kelsey and son Keegan before a game this spring. (Union City photos courtesy of Union City High School. Murray State photos courtesy of ProfEatonPhoto/Murray State athletics.)