Pilots' Phenom Always Drawn to Diamond
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
April 19, 2018
WARREN – Baseball, at its core, is a simple game. Throw a baseball, try to hit it and then catch it.
And that was more than enough to hook Bryce Bush.
“Baseball was first,” Bush said when asked which sport initially grabbed his attention. “My dad got me started. I was 3 years old. We’d always hit, play catch. Everyday. I just liked it.”
Bush has been all in ever since. One of four underclassmen selected to the 2017 all-state Dream Team by the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association, Bush is a 6-foot, 205-pound infielder at Warren DeLaSalle. He started at first and third base his sophomore season and played those two positions plus outfield last year before moving to shortstop this spring.
“I’m the best athlete on the team,” he said. “I’m used to it. It used to be my primary position. At shortstop, you’re in control of the whole infield. (Playing) third base was harder. You have to come in on balls, and that throw (down the line) is one of the hardest to make.”
For some, the transition would be a difficult challenge. But Bush, 18, isn’t your typical high school player. He has all the tools. He can run, hit for power and field his position. Pencil him in anywhere, and he’ll succeed.
Bush said he’ll likely play third base or right field at the next level. Just where at the next level has yet to be determined. He signed with Mississippi State University, and it’s likely he’ll be selected in the Major League Amateur Draft in June.
Where he’s headed next will be decided at a later date, and Bush said he doesn’t think about it that much. He said there were 10 major league scouts at his last game.
“I have no clue at all," he said of which round he'll be selected. “(The scouts) try to make it as hard as possible trying to figure it out. It’s really no big deal. I have a good backup plan.”
Until then, Bush’s focus is on this season and what he can do to make himself a better player while helping his team any way he can. Last season the Pilots reached a Regional Semifinal before losing to Sterling Heights Stevenson, 5-4. In 2016, DeLaSalle won the school’s fourth baseball Finals championship as the Pilots defeated Saline, 7-6, in the Division 1 championship game.
Bush and the other 15 returning players from last season have a new coach. Dave Zelmanski, a 1974 DeLaSalle grad, was hired after Matt Cook left the program to take over at Grandville.
Zelmanski had never met Bush before last fall. The new coach was a pretty good player in his day, having played four seasons at Wayne State University – but he said Bush is special. Zelmanski compares his introduction to Bush to when he was invited to a Detroit Red Wings practice about 15 years ago before he became a sales representative.
“I was working at Chrysler at the time,” Zelmanski said. “And I’m meeting guys like (Joey) Kocur, (Brendan) Shanahan and others. Then I saw (Steve) Yzerman. He was it. Just the way he carried himself. When I went to meet the (DeLaSalle) team, I saw Bryce, and he was it.
“I was talking with Jake Badalamenti, he’s one of our better players and he was part of the state championship team for football. He was in the (batting) cage, and I asked him where Bryce was. Jake takes me aside and he put his hands at his chest and said, ‘Coach we’re all here, the rest of us.’ Then he raised his hands over his head and said, ‘That’s where Bryce is.’
“(Bryce) is as quiet as a church mouse. He’s the nicest kid. And there isn’t anything he does that the other guys can do.”
Bush has what some call “God-given” talent. And it’s easy to see why.
His father, Elwood Bush III, grew up on Detroit’s west side and played baseball at Detroit Cooley. He went on to play at Hinds Community College in Mississippi and on the National JUCO championship team in 1989. Bush’s uncle, Ricky Bush, played at Jackson State, and his grandfather also played baseball.
Bush also has a brother, Ryan, 25, who chose basketball and was a good player at Berkley High.
Bryce Bush played basketball too but stopped after his freshman year to concentrate on the diamond.
In addition to his natural abilities, Bush is determined to out-work the competition. He works at his trade six days a week, taking Sundays off. He’ll run a half mile or so to begin his workouts before going into light stretching and then a more strenuous stretching exercise called dynamic warm-up. Many of these stretching exercises focus on his legs and arms.
He’ll then work on his footwork and field ground balls for 20 minutes or so.
He ends his training hitting with his teammates or, if he’s alone, in a batting cage. He’ll use a 35-ounce bat at the start to get loose, then go to his favorite wooden bat. Hitting alone takes an hour.
“I remember when I was 3, maybe 4 years old,” Bush said. “And I’d use a toy golf club and just start swinging it. I hit a wall with it sometimes.
“Honestly, I like everything about baseball. The best feeling is, of course, hitting a home run.”
Last season Bush hit 16 home runs to go with a .541 batting average. Through five games this season, he’s hit just one home run – but it was a memorable one against Birmingham Brother Rice.
“The wind was blowing in hard,” Zelmanski said. “Nobody was going to hit one out that day, and (Bush) just crushed one. I mean, it’s hard to say how far it went over the fence, but it had to go 20 or 30 feet beyond. Nobody could believe he hit it that far.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Warren DeLaSalle’s Bryce Bush applies a tag against Lake Orion. (Middle) Bush, after playing a variety of positions over the last two seasons, will line up primarily at shortstop this spring. (Photos courtesy of the Warren DeLaSalle baseball program.)
Britton Deerfield, Whiteford Administrators Provide Diamond Leadership As Well
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
April 15, 2025
Victoria Fraley has two new softball coaches this spring.
It’s nothing new to the Britton Deerfield senior. Every year of her high school career, a new coach has welcomed the team come springtime.
But this year’s coaching duo – while two people she’s become very familiar with at the Class D high school of 140 students in Lenawee County – is a bit different.
It’s her superintendent, Stacy Johnson, and high school principal, Jeff Scott.
“I was so excited when I found out,” said Fraley, a pitcher for the Patriots. “I knew they had coached previously, and Mr. Scott has coached so many sports before. I was excited for the change because I knew they would hold us to higher standards than other coaches in the past.”
Fraley said the difference became noticeable the first practice of the spring.
“In years past, some people have been okay with losing,” she said. “Now, people are being held accountable.”
Johnson and Scott decided to co-coach this season after a lack of candidates surfaced to replace last year’s coach.
Britton Deerfield athletic director Erik Johnson is the husband of the superintendent and co-softball coach, and he’s already signed on to coach golf this spring. Superintendent Johnson said Erik started hinting about her coaching months ago.
“He plants a seed, right? He kept building upon that,” she said. “He’d say ‘There are no candidates.’”
Finally, Johnson and Scott – who have coached together previously – decided on coaching together again.
“We’re never going to let our kids go without,” Stacy Johnson said. “We’ll never let them go without the same opportunities that some kids in other districts have, so we just step up. That’s what we do.”
Both are at every practice and bring different perspectives.
Scott was the softball coach for BD several years ago. He’s also coached girls basketball and football – with Erik Johnson, also currently the varsity football coach.
“When I left the program, it was in pretty good shape,” Scott said. “The secret to softball is to have a program that develops a pitcher. Pitching comes with a lot of time and dedication and commitment. You can teach the hitting and fielding; you can practice that and get better.
“When I first took over back in the day, there were probably five girls who were travel ball players. With that comes experience – girls play all summer. They get a lot of work in. I don’t think there is anyone in our program now who has played a game of travel ball. Teams who have two, three, four travel ball players will have an advantage on us.”
Scott said the 11 girls on BD’s varsity softball roster are green, but willing to learn.
“I have some girls who are learning to run bases and some girls who are learning the rules – how to tag up and things,” he said. “I had to back up a little bit, slow down a little. I am going to teach them college-level skills. We do have some young ladies who are willing and dedicated to learn.”
Johnson grew up in Monroe, where she played high school softball for one of the winningest coaches in state history in Vince Rossi.
“They don’t come any better than Coach Rossi,” she said. “I learned from him. I love this. I like being out here. I feel like I still have some knowledge to pass along to the girls.”
BD opened its season last week, being swept by Sand Creek in the Tri-County Conference opener for both schools. The Aggies scored most of their runs without hitting a ball out of the infield, taking advantage of walks and a couple of misplays. Scott, however, was encouraged by the determination he saw in the BD girls.
“We’re going to have bumps and bruises, but I can’t wait to see where we are going from the first game to the last game,” he said. “This is fun. I have 11 players, 22 sets of eyes looking at me every time.”
Another Tri-County Conference school, Ottawa Lake Whiteford, had a similar situation this spring when a lack of candidates for the junior varsity baseball coaching job led to Scott Huard, the superintendent in that district, putting his name into the running. He was hired.
“When I made the decision 18 years ago to move from the classroom to school administration, I also gave up coaching understanding that being a school administrator is demanding of your time,” Huard said. “As a school administrator, you have a greater reach and influence on the number of students, staff, and the families you serve. However, with this greater responsibility, you often lose out on creating those close relationships with your students or athletes as a teacher or coach might do from being with them daily.”
Huard’s return to the diamond has been welcomed.
“What I have found this spring in coaching is that my passion for coaching and teaching baseball has returned after being idle for many years,” he said. “It has also afforded me the opportunity to really get to know 15 of our students in a much different way than being a superintendent.”
Johnson and Huard said getting away from the day-to-day pressures of being a superintendent has been a bonus.
“I love the kids,” Johnson said. “So much of my job is about the district. It relates to kids, but it’s not necessarily dealing with them 1-on-1. This gives me that opportunity. For a couple of hours every day I can catch my breath a little bit and be out here with the girls.”
Huard echoed those sentiments.
“It has been nice to slip away for a couple of hours to practice with the boys, which allows me to rejuvenate my energy, which I believe has made me a better superintendent and avoiding potential burnout,” he said.
As a player, Fraley loves having the school administrators at the softball field.
“They will treat you the same no matter what,” she said. “They are both so encouraging – on the field and in the school. Because we are now their athletes and students, I think they hold us to a higher standard. You can really see the shift. It’s a different atmosphere out here.”
Huard, who coached in Bryan, Ohio, before becoming an administrator, isn’t sure if he will continue coaching in the future, but is having fun with it this spring. Being superintendent of the district is his No. 1 priority.
“I don't feel that the boys treat me any differently since I am the superintendent and their coach,” he said. “(And) I am treating them like any other baseball team that I have coached at the high school level. I am attempting to prepare these boys for future success at the varsity level by ensuring they are fundamentally sound in all aspects of baseball as well as understanding game situations.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Britton Deerfield varsity softball coaches Stacy Johnson, far right, and Jeff Scott announce their starting lineup to their players before a recent game. (Middle) Johnson points something out to senior Victoria Fraley. (Photos by Doug Donnelly.)