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High 5s: 5/22/12

May 22, 2012

None of this week's High 5s honorees knows much about losing. Ann Arbor Pioneer's Drake Johnson is unequaled in his best race, Decatur's Erika Southworth has averaged more than 25 wins pitching each season of high school, and the Remus Chippewa Hills girls track team hasn't lost during the regular season in nearly a decade.

Erika Southworth

Decatur senior

Softball

Southworth, a pitcher, is finishing her fourth varsity season after earning all-state honors after all of her previous three. She both won her 100th game and notched her 1,000th career strikeout last week, putting her in the MHSAA record book in both categories. Southworth is 24-3 this season with a 0.83 ERA and 199 strikeouts, and also leads her team with a .448 batting average and 35 RBI. She's signed to play next season at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and is considering a major in business. Decatur is ranked No. 7 in the state coaches Division 4 poll.

Celebrate good times: "My 100th win was at home, and they gave me a picture that said '100 wins.' It's really nice. ... My 1,000th strikeout was at Climax-Scotts, and my teammates were counting down in the dugout. I was batting one inning, and I could hear them whispering. After the strikeout, my catcher called timeout and came out and gave me a hug. Then the umpire (asked what had happened), called timeout, gave the ball to my coach and announced it to everyone on the field."

Commander-in-chief: Southworth is her class' president and has been part of the student council and National Honor Society. "I like being involved with my class. I've gotten to know a lot of people that I wouldn't usually talk to in a regular school day."

I learned the most about pitching from: One of my high school teammates from a couple of years ago (Kelsey Vliek), her dad (Jeff) got me into it. After that, I just played travel ball, and my coach would help. Then I just went to different pitching coaches." 

Competing with Cole: Southworth has a fun rivalry with little brother Cole, a freshman wrestler and baseball catcher. "We both take strength and conditioning at school, different hours but we do the same lifts. So we try to beat each other that way. ... This year is the first year I've ever pitched to him. I always told my mom it wasn't a good idea. I'd just aim for his face all the time."

The ball starts here: "I like that I start out every play. The pitcher kinda controls the game, controls the pace of the game. I like knowing where most of the balls are going to be hit. (And) I think it's more of a challenge. I always go for more of the challenging things."

(Click to read more.)

Drake Johnson

Ann Arbor Pioneer senior

Track and Field

Johnson, who has signed to play football this fall at the University of Michigan, is a two-time MHSAA Division 1 champion in the 110-meter hurdles, and won both that race (14.25) and the 300 hurdles (38.63) at Friday's Division 1 Regional at Saline. He also ran on the second-place and state-qualifying 1,600 relay and on the third-place 800 relay. Johnson owns the Pioneers' record in the 110 hurdles of 13.7 seconds. Last fall as a running back, he was tops in the state with 2,809 yards rushing, sixth in the MHSAA record book for one season. He also is interested in running track at U-M.

Loving both for different reasons: "I like the thrill of football. I love the games, the scoring, the hype around football. Track, it's just the competitiveness of one-on-one. It's your best effort against their best effort." 

I learned the most about running from: "I've always had my coaches at Pioneer, and my dad (Michael Johnson) has always been my hurdles coach. If I feel like I'm not running as well as I can, I can say, 'Hey dad,' and he'll say come to the track a couple times and we can fix it."

As a running back, I try to be like: "Not a single person, but a combination of Tyrone Wheatley and Eric Dickerson. Just watching videos with my dad, I got interested in seeing what (Dickerson) ran like. He really was amazing at what he did."

My favorite thing to do that isn't a sport is: "I love watching movies. Any movie I can find. I love the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movies, and I love the 'Oceans' (Eleven, Twelve, etc.) movies."

Up next: Johnson will major in philosophy and psychology, and eventually wants to be a psychiatrist. "Just knowing how people think. ... I always tried to see things from other people's points of view. I'm an open-minded person, and (I enjoy) the whole study of trying to see how people think."

(Click to read more.) 

Remus Chippewa Hills girls track and field

Heading into last week, the Warriors were riding a 74-dual meet win streak, and edged Mount Pleasant by 1.5 points to win their Division 2 Regional on Friday. Chippewa Hills, competing in the Central State Activities Association tonight, also won its 10th-straight league championship meet Tuesday. Most of the Warriors are underclassmen -- the team has only one senior.

(Click to read more.) 

This spring's previous honorees

Grass Lake's Emily Brown takes a powerful swing during her team's Semifinal win over Algonac.

Grass Lake, Clare Do Double Damage to Earn Spots on Championship Day

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

June 13, 2025

EAST LANSING — Hitting balls to the gaps has been the backbone of Grass Lake’s offense all season.

So it was fitting that was the case again during the first MHSAA Division 3 Semifinal on Friday. 

The Warriors hit a pair of gap shots that ended up producing three runs in a 4-2 triumph over Algonac in a matchup of teams both looking to make their first championship game appearance.

Grass Lake entered the game with 93 doubles on the season, tied for 23rd most in state history. 

“They are so comfortable taking those short, compact swings and finding the gaps,” Grass Lake head coach Roger Cook said of his players. “I think that has helped us a lot with the doubles.”

The first big hit to the gap came in the third inning courtesy of senior Nadene Hubbard, who laced a 2-run double to right-center that drove in two runs and made it 2-1 Grass Lake. 

The Warriors took a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Bree Salts, and then with a runner on first and two outs in the sixth, junior Leilah Smith hit a line drive to the gap in right-center that ended up scoring senior Emily Brown from first base. 

Grass Lake (40-4) also got a good pitching performance from junior Morgan Conrad, who allowed single runs in the first and seventh innings, but nothing in between. Conrad struck out 11, walked two and allowed four hits, saying her curve ball and rise ball were on point. 

“Just keeping (their lineup) off-balance, trying to go out and then try and bring it back up,” she said. 

Things did get a little uncomfortable for Conrad and Grass Lake in the bottom of the seventh inning. 

The Muskrats (24-15-1) made things interesting by scoring a run on a wild pitch to make it a 4-2 game, then putting runners on first and second base with one out.

But Conrad got out of the jam with a strikeout and a popup to end it. 

“I just kept taking deep breaths and telling myself, ‘Have fun. It’s OK,’” Conrad said. “I just knew my team had my back and would get the outs. I was just trying to stay confident.”

Algonac took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by junior Ava Murray. The Muskrats couldn’t get anything going after that until the seventh inning when they nearly pulled off a rally.

“I feel like that’s kind of how our season has been going,” Algonac head coach Natalie Heim said. “We’ve been coming from behind, and we had the top of our lineup coming up. At the end of the day, somebody had to lose. Unfortunately it was us.”

Grass Lake finished with 10 hits.

Click for the full box score.

Clare 2, Ravenna 1

Clare senior Morgan Campbell and head coach Shane Kelly disagree on whether Campbell was in a slump entering their team’s Semifinal against Ravenna. 

But what can be agreed upon is that Campbell might have delivered the biggest hit in school history for Clare. 

With two outs and a runner on first base following an error in the bottom of the sixth inning, Campbell blasted a double to left field to drive in what turned out to be the game-winning run. 

Ranked No. 1 going into the MHSAA Tournament, Clare (39-2) advanced to its first championship game. 

Clare's Kyley Wyman (2) drives a pitch Friday.“I’ve been going through a slump, and that was my time to come out of it,” Campbell said. 

Kelly feels a bit differently about Campbell’s “slump.”

“Morgan has never been in a slump,” he said. “She’s been hitting the ball hard, doing all the right things in practice and listening to the coaches. When she got up there, I said, ‘Morgan, she’s going to throw you a strike on that first pitch. Don’t miss it.’ She didn’t miss it.”

Campbell’s hit was the difference in a nice pitchers’ duel between Clare junior Kyley Wyman and Ravenna sophomore Natalie Rosel.

Wyman threw a three-hitter, striking out 11 and walking one. Rosel allowed just four hits, striking out four and walking one. 

No. 4 Ravenna broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning when junior Riley Homoly walked with the bases loaded. But Wyman kept the score at 1-0 by getting out of the inning via a popout and a strikeout. 

In the fifth, Clare tied the game at 1-1 on a 2-out single to right by senior Alissa Brandon. That ended up setting the stage for Campbell’s heroics in the sixth. 

Wyman pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to secure the victory. 

Ravenna finished 34-5, but has a bright future with just two seniors on the roster. 

“I feel good about this team,” Ravenna head coach Dave Sherman said. “Yeah, we lost this game. But they battled all season long and it was a great season. There are great kids on this team, and I love them all. We’ll be back.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Grass Lake's Emily Brown takes a powerful swing during her team's Semifinal win over Algonac. (Middle) Clare's Kyley Wyman (2) drives a pitch Friday.