Western's White Enjoys 'Special' Career
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
May 4, 2016
WALLED LAKE – Seeking a higher level of performance, many high school athletes have channeled their energy to one sport.
Many refer to this concentration as specialization – and Cody White, for one, isn’t buying it.
White, a junior at Walled Lake Western, is a three-sport athlete and he loves every minute of it. He plays basketball during the winter, baseball in the spring and football in the fall. During the summer he competes in AAU basketball, travel baseball, 7-on-7 football games with his Western teammates, and he participates in a few summer football camps.
White has played these same sports all throughout high school. His freshman year he competed in track and field, along with baseball. White hasn’t ruled out returning to track and field, in addition to baseball, as a senior – but this season he’s sticking with just baseball.
It’s a hectic schedule but, again, White wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I couldn’t see myself not competing in those sports,” he said. “I love them so much. I want to finish my senior year playing all three.”
White estimates that he’ll have two days off, away from sports, in June. In July he’ll take a week off, between his summer baseball team schedule ending and the start of football practice.
There’s no question White is driven, but it’s more than that. In some high schools, and with some coaches, playing multiple sports can be a challenge. There are some coaches who would prefer the students to play one sport and only one sport.
According to Western football coach Mike Zdebski, that isn’t the case at his school.
“We encourage them to play more than one sport,” Zdebski said. “For one, we want them to get their money’s worth. We have a pay-to-play policy of $425. You play one sport and it costs $425. You play three sports and it costs the same. And, two, playing other sports helps them develop other skills. In basketball you create space. In baseball you chase fly balls, and that helps with depth perception. Besides you get to work with other coaches and other teams.
“We’re lifting weights during the summer. If a kid is playing summer baseball or AAU basketball, if they have time they can come by and lift weights. And what we always tell them, if you’re tired let us know. You can take a break.”
Zdebski – whose team finished 12-1 last fall – was quick to point out some excellent athletes in the past, like former Kansas City Royals outfielder/Oakland Raiders running back Bo Jackson, who were multiple-sport athletes. And, more recently, there’s Luke Glendenning of the Detroit Red Wings. Glendenning was an all-state running back at East Grand Rapids.
When his high school career is done, White will play football in college. Two months ago he committed to sign with Michigan State this winter. At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, White played receiver, defensive back and also returned kicks last fall. He played a big role in Western’s run to the Division 2 Semifinals.
During baseball season, White pitches and plays middle infield and right field. He plays the wing and shooting guard in basketball.
His interest in playing a variety of sports came at an early age and, as is the case with most children, a family member was the one who introduced White to athletics. Former NFL player and Detroit Lions executive Sheldon White is his father, but the first sport White played, at age 3, was baseball. Two years later he began playing football and basketball.
Sheldon White also played three sports at his high school in Dayton, Ohio, (Meadowdale High) and helps his son manage his busy schedule, particularly during the offseason.
“Growing up was a little different (for me) than the usual kid,” Cody White said. “Going to Lions games and just being around football all the time. I think I love the game more because I was around it so much.
“But I think playing three sports helped me, too. The twisting of your hips in baseball, when you swing the bat, you’re using different muscles. And all the jumping you do in basketball. You have to move in tight spaces.
“With football, you’re with the football guys. By doing all three you meet different people.”
Playing multiple sports has definitely been the right road for White to follow. And his busy schedule hasn’t hindered his work in the classroom.
White has a 3.54 grade-point average pending his grades for this semester.
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) Cody White (right) runs away from a Midland Dow defender during their Regional Final this fall. (Middle) White works for a shot against Milford. (Photos by Teresa Presty.)
Airport Graduate Villarreal Hoping to Receive Call on WPBL Draft Day
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
November 19, 2025
It hasn't always been the smoothest of paths for Bella Villarreal – but considering the trail-breaking nature of her quest, she refuses to second guess her choices.
Which is how it goes for someone trying to make the leap from a high school of fewer than 800 students to becoming the first Michigan native to play in the new Women's Professional Baseball League.
A graduate of Carleton Airport High School and presently a freshman at Eastern Michigan, Villarreal's journey includes overcoming her own doubts, ignoring skeptics, poking a hole in a sport universally reserved for males and traveling hundreds of miles to find suitable competition. It's a long and continuing fight she's hoping will culminate in her being among the players taken in the inaugural WPBL draft Thursday.
While Villarreal describes herself as a football fan and someone who could never get into softball, dabbled in basketball and pushed thoughts of playing volleyball to the back of her mind, her first love has always been baseball. It's been that way since before she stepped into her kindergarten classroom and peaked after shining in a WPBL tryout in Washington, D.C., in August.
"I've been drawn to baseball since I was a 4-year-old playing T-ball," Villarreal said. "I've always wanted to play baseball. It's inspirational to me and was always a goal for me to play. I never wanted to stop something that made me feel so good."
While she harbors a deep love of baseball, the sport, however, hasn't always returned that affection. After playing in local boys leagues growing up, Villarreal – a pitcher and second baseman – made the Detroit Bees boys travel team as a 9-year-old. From there she graduated to the Indians Baseball Club as an 11-year-old and then finally more travel ball with the Cubs club as a 15-year-old. She's played in three Baseball For All events, the largest girls baseball tournament in the country.
Along the way Villarreal has encountered support, but also a prevalent attitude that girls who favor a sport with a bat and ball should be playing softball, not baseball. By the time she was 16, Villarreal, by then long committed to a future on the baseball diamond, was having to travel all over the Midwest to find baseball tournaments.
What she found was scattered acceptance among some male teammates, but also a frustration with traveling around a half-dozen states to play the sport she loved.
One of the turning points of Villarreal's fledging baseball career came at Airport High School. After her extensive inclusion in travel leagues, Villarreal made the school's junior varsity baseball team as a freshman and sophomore. While there were bumps along the way, the foremost lesson Villarreal took from that school's baseball program was that she could indeed succeed playing against the boys. She also honed fundamentals and learned the value of everyone pulling in the same direction.
According to the National Federation of State High Schools Association (NFHS), there are no states with girls baseball as a sanctioned sport – but the organization counted 1,372 girls who played baseball on high school boys teams this spring. While Major League Baseball estimates 46 percent of all baseball fans are women, only nine women played on NCAA men's baseball teams in 2024.
None of which has deterred Villarreal's love of the game.
"I worked hard and wanted to be part of the team. I learned that there is no "I" in team," Villarreal said of her time at Airport. "And I think it also confirmed my ability. I knew if I did well in high school, I could do it any place."
Armed with the confidence that she could carve a space in the sport, Villarreal, now 19, has tried to improve her game with twice-a-week hitting workouts and four days of work designed to improve her strength and speed.
The work has paid off. She came away from the first WPBL tryout in Washington, D.C., with hopes of being taken in the draft. The tryout included players from 10 countries, including a dozen from Japan, which has the top-ranked women's team in the world by the World Baseball and Softball Federation. In all, the first day of tryouts included 600 players from across the country and as far away as Australia, Mexico, South Korea, the United Kingdom and France. Cuts were made after each of the four days, with Villarreal surviving all of them. That's a hopeful sign she will be taken in the draft by one of the league's four franchises.
Villarreal admits the tryouts, which concluded with inter-squad games, were high stress.
"Of course I was nervous," she said. "But I made some friends there who helped me stay motivated that I could get through it. It was serious, but everyone had fun, which was a big thing. There were jitters the first day, but then I was good at becoming myself. To make the second and third days, you knew you must be doing something right. I started becoming confident with the things I knew I could do."
Originally slated to include six teams, the league will start play in May with teams in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Teams will have 15-player rosters which will play a seven-week regular season. It's not the first attempt at forming a professional women's baseball league. There have been four previous attempts beginning with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II and the most recent with Ladies League Baseball in 1997-98.
Villarreal believes given time and enough resources, women's professional baseball can thrive. She would love to look back on her time as being among the trailblazers in that progress.
"Absolutely, there is interest," she said. "I know there have been attempts before, and some really haven't stuck. But I think we can build it up to a place where girls have more of an opportunity."
For those girls who would someday wish to join that quest, Villarreal has advice.
"You should know where you're supposed to be," she said. "Do what you love as a challenge, and just be who you are. It doesn't matter what sport you play – know that you are capable."
Editor's note: Villarreal was drafted in the fifth round of the WPBL Draft by Los Angeles, the 82nd pick overall of 120. She was selected as a second baseman, and was one of two Michigan players drafted. Jordan Eyster of Royal Oak, a 21-year-old outfielder, was selected in the fourth round by San Francisco.
PHOTOS (Top) Airport grad Bella Villarreal watches from the dugout during a USA Baseball Development Program event. (Middle) Villarreal steps to the plate as a member of Carleton Airport’s junior varsity baseball team. (Below) Villarreal takes a photo while pointing toward her mother Tonya. (Photos provided by the Villarreal family.)