Hope Rained Eternal During 1978 Finals
May 31, 2018
By Ron Pesch
Special for Second Half
“If the weatherman is in a co-operative mood, Michigan’s high school athletes, both boys and girls, will wind up another competitive school year Saturday,” wrote Detroit’s premier high school sports scribe, Hal Schram, 40 years ago just prior to the staging of the 1978 MHSAA softball and baseball state finals weekend.
“Let’s hope we get them in on schedule”, said Bob James, director of athletics for the Warren Consolidated Schools and a member of the MHSAA Representative Council. “I’ve been in high school sports for 35 years, and can’t remember a spring with more postponements and cancellations.”
Despite highest hopes, weather would, again, be a factor on the final weekend of the prep season. Games were scheduled for eight locations around the Lower Peninsula, with rain postponing Class B and Class C contests in softball and Class B and Class D in baseball.
SOFTBALL
In the 1979 yearbook, Impressions, published by East Detroit High School, staff celebrated school’s past half-decade of accomplishment and history:
“Girls have been playing softball at East Detroit now for almost 50 years, although it was called the girls baseball team until the mid-sixties. The teams have always done very well, many of them went undefeated, but none of them ever did as well as the 1978 squad.”
Roxanne “Rocky” Szczesniak, who would later earn All-American honors at Wayne State University, tossed a four-hitter and smashed a three-run homer as the Shamrocks eliminated defending Class A champion Portage Central, 6-3, in the day’s opening Semifinal, played at East Detroit’s Memorial Park. It was only the second defeat in 52 games for Portage Central, coached by Tom Monroe.
Waterford Township slipped past Flint Carman, 1-0, in 10 innings in the day’s second Semifinal, then capitalized on six errors by East Detroit in the title game to grab the Class A softball championship, 4-0. In the first inning, Mari Latozas doubled home a run to open the scoring for the Skippers. Waterford then added unearned runs in the third and fifth to seal the win. Coached by Joe Alsup, the Skippers finished the year at 25-3. He would post a 197-39 record in nine seasons at the school before it closed following the 1982-83 school year. Twenty years later, Alsup’s Waterford Kettering team earned the 1998 Class A softball crown. Today, he ranks fourth in all-time softball coaching victories in Michigan.
In Class B, Fenton cruised to their first of three straight titles with an 8-5 win over South Haven at Belknap Park in Grand Rapids on Monday, June 19, the game rescheduled because of the weather. Pitcher Barb Barclay posted her 24th win without a loss and boosted Fenton’s season mark to 28-1. Barclay was instrumental in the win at the plate as well with a triple and a single, while scoring three runs for the Tigers. With two outs in the third inning, Fenton rallied with four straight hits to open up a 2-1 lead. South Haven again jumped in front, 4-2, in the fifth, but Fenton bounced right back, again rallying with two down to open up a 7-4 lead.
“This was our biggest challenge of the season,” said Fenton coach Dave Lazar. “For a young team, South Haven is pretty good. They’re scrappers.”
It was South Haven’s second consecutive trip to the Finals. In 1977, the Rams lost to Grosse Ile, 5-3. South Haven would return to the Finals for a third straight time in 1979, again falling to Fenton.
Earlene Seeley, who would later play college ball at Ferris State, reached first base on a bunt, stole second, then scored on an error to give Shepherd a 1-0 lead over New Lothrop before rain forced delay at Brookwood Park in Clare on Saturday. Pitcher Deb McAvoy, who had hurled three and a third innings of no-hit ball, completed the first no-hitter in MHSAA title game history as Shepherd grabbed a 2-0 victory in the Class C championship on Monday. It would be six more years before a second no-hitter was tossed in the Softball Finals. Since McAvoy’s gem, 14 additional no-nos have been thrown in the MHSAA softball title game.
At Robinson Park in Ionia, Laingsburg swept to a 6-1 win over Central Lake for the Class D softball title. Junior Robbin Sawyer, who upped her record to 17-0 on the season, tossed a two-hitter in the Wolfpack’s 15-2 Semifinal win over Owendale-Gagetown and then held Central Lake to a single hit in the title game. Sue Hurst went 3 for 3 at the plate in the championship game, including singling home a run before scoring on the front end of a double steal, all in the first inning. Carrie Kooster tripled twice in the Semifinal, driving in six runs to lead the Wolves.
BASEBALL
Boasting an outstanding pitching staff, coach Marv Rettenmund’s Flint Southwestern squad rolled through the regular season, then battled its way through the tournament before downing East Kentwood, 7-1, to win the first, and only, Class A baseball title in Flint-area history.
"Sometimes, you have pretty good players, and when you have them, you'd better cash in," Rettenmund told the Flint Journal 30 years later.
Blessed with a “1-2 punch of senior left-hander Ruben Luna (14-0 with a 0.82 earned-run average) and senior right-hander Risto Nicevski (9-1, 0.72),” Southwestern dropped only three of 35 games, (all by a single run) before rolling to 16 straight victories. Tournament play was “capped by five close games,” including a scare in the Semifinal, before the championship matchup.
Luna and Nicevski combined for a one-hitter in the title contest, played at Memorial Field in Wyandotte. Earlier in the day, Luna fanned 12 batters in a three-hit, 1-0 shutout of Plymouth Canton. Third baseman Bob Cardenas singled home designated hitter Al Weatherford in the fifth inning for the game’s only run.
"That was one of the toughest teams we played," said Rettenmund. Plymouth Canton’s Russ Mandle led off the seventh inning with a booming double between the gap in left and centerfield, but was gunned down when trying to stretch it to a triple. “We made a perfect relay — (left fielder Dale) Bennis to (shortstop Matt) Diment to Cardenas.
"That was a once-in-a-lifetime ballclub."
Tom O’Dowd allowed a single hit in Jackson Lumen Christi’s 10-6 victory over Spring Lake in Class B, played at Aquinas College’s Kimble Field in Wyoming. The game, rescheduled to Monday after Saturday’s rain, saw six errors mar Spring Lake’s dreams of a title. Three of Lumen Christi’s first four batters reached base or advanced on errors, and all scored as the Titans jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead. Dave Schonhard notched the game’s only RBI, doubling in a pair of runs in the second inning to increase the lead to five. O’Dowd, selected in the 12th round of Major League Baseball’s amateur draft by the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in the spring, claimed 14 strikeouts, but dealt with control problems, walking 13. Trailing 10-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, the Lakers took advantage, gaining four walks and notching their only hit to pull within four before O’Dowd was relieved and the side was retired.
“We ran into a heckuva pitcher,” said Spring Lake coach Don Rohn following the game. “He throws the ball well. He’s probably the fastest right-hander we’ve seen all season.”
The win capped a stellar school year for the Titans, who won the Class B football crown in the fall and the Tier II hockey title in the winter.
Delayed by heavy rain, Bay City All Saints pounded out 13 hits including three singles by Ed Pawlaczyk, to down Addison, 8-0, in Class C championship play at Marshall High School. Dave Shooltz allowed seven hits in five innings for the win. Randy Morse, who went the distance in the team’s 2-0 Semifinal triumph over Allen Park Cabrini, earned the save. It was the first of seven final game appearances by All Saints and their first of four state baseball titles. The seven visits to the championship game has been equaled by Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett and exceeded by Harper Woods Bishop Gallagher, with eight. Blissfield leads the list with nine trips to championship games, and tops all schools for baseball state titles with seven.
With two outs in the top of the 10th inning, Saranac’s Steve Metternick doubled in two runs to break a 1-1 deadlock as the Redskins topped Frankfort 4-1 in the Class D title showdown. The game, played at Alumni Field on the campus of Central Michigan University, had been interrupted on Saturday at the top of the third, with Saranac leading 1-0. Southpaw Craig Coulson earned the win for the Cinderella squad, going all the way. The sophomore hurler allowed four hits, struck out eight and walked four on the afternoon. Saranac ended the season with 16 victories against 11 defeats.
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) Shepherd’s softball team poses with its 1978 Class C championship trophy. (Middle top) East Detroit’s Rocky Szczesniak unloads a pitch for the eventual Class A champ. (Middle below) Ruben Luna prepares to deliver for Flint Southwestern. (Below) Saranac’s “Cinderella” Class D champion celebrates.
St. Mary's Earns Another Saturday Return, Taking on History-Making Kenowa Hills
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
June 11, 2026
EAST LANSING – Death, taxes and Orchard Lake St. Mary's baseball team finding itself in another MHSAA Finals championship game.
The last of those three certainties was affirmed again Thursday when the torrid Eaglets blanked Dearborn Divine Child 8-0 in a Division 2 Semifinal at Michigan State.
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s used two productive innings to soar into Saturday's 9 a.m. title game against Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills. The spot in the Finals will be the program's 10th since 2007, with three titles won from 2019-2022 and six since 1998.
Despite the long track record of success, Eaglets coach Nick DiPonio said the winning never gets old or taken for granted. The program has averaged 33 victories per season since claiming the 2019 Division 2 title.
"This was definitely not just another game," said DiPonio, whose No. 1-ranked team upped its winning streak to 26 games. "We're battle-tested. We play in a great league with great players, and we're used to competition. We've become good at blocking out all the extraneous noise."
Orchard Lake St. Mary's sent 12 batters to the plate to score five runs in the third inning and added three more runs in the fifth. The third inning barrage included three triples, including one by Hudson Brzustewicz with the bases loaded. Luke Crighton drove in a run with another triple.
The trio of runs in the fifth included an RBI single by Zach Essig, one of three current Eaglets who had older brothers play on previous state champions. Essig said his current teammates are well-aware of the program's previous success.
"It's crazy," said Essig, who has two older brothers on former champs. "I'm the only one without a ring; we haven't won anything yet. Those guys were role models for us. Our older brothers pushed us. We've got a lot of good guys on this team, and we're capable of beating anyone when we play well."
Crighton, who scattered four hits and faced only three batters over the minimum, thought he did a quality job of wading through a Divine Child lineup which scored 30 runs over the Regionals and Quarterfinal.
"I threw strikes and felt strong, and overall I thought I did okay," he said. "I was able to trust the defense to make the plays.
DiPonio said Crighton is a big-game pitcher.
"I expected him to go out and do this, the last two years, really," DiPonio said. "He always gives us a good chance to win. He throws strikes with multiple pitches."
Brzustewicz said there is no doubt one of the team's foremost goals is to carry on the long history of success in June. That success is felt by virtually all the players, he said.
"There is a brotherhood; we're going out there for our brothers,” he added. “We like to have fun and win, and we're right there this year. We've won like 26 in a row, but I don't know if we're at the same level yet as some of those teams. A couple won 40-some games."
Dearborn Divine Child coach Jeremy Shay, who has seen plenty of talented Eaglets teams in his four years, says the current club is a good one because it covers all parts of the game.
"They're very good," he said. "They obviously can hit and have very good pitching and play well defensively. They're tough to beat.”
Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills 9, Vicksburg 6
While Kenowa Hills may be known for an outstanding pitching staff, it was a pair of clutch seventh-inning hits that propelled the Knights into their first MHSAA Baseball Final.
Trailing 6-5 entering their final at-bats and having blown a 5-0 lead earlier, the Knights got a two-run triple from senior outfielder Andrew Lake and run-scoring single by Jack Stoddard to up their winning streak to 20 games.
"I was looking fastball and I choked up on the bat, and (the pitcher) hung a curve and I turned on it," Lake said. "You dream for this moment."
The clutch hits aside, Kenowa Hills (36-2) entered the game with a remarkable pitching staff which included three pitchers who had combined for a 26-1 record and ERA of under two runs a game. Kenowa Hills pitchers have 13 shutouts this season and 28 games where they have held teams to three runs or fewer.
"That's been our team all year – we battle," Stoddard said. "We come together as a team and have stayed motivated."
Kenowa Hills led 5-0 in the third inning with Hudson Drake driving in one run on a sacrifice fly and Brennan Gustinis adding an RBI triple.
But Vicksburg (30-8) cut the margin to 5-2 in the bottom of the third and then took a 6-5 lead into the seventh. Bulldogs junior outfielder Maguire Bowles drove in three runs with a single, bases loaded walk and triple. Graham Kubiak also drove in a pair of runs.
Despite the eye-popping numbers posted by the pitchers, first-year Kenowa Hills coach Todd VandenHeuvel said his club can hit and score clutch runs. The team entered Thursday with a .380 team batting average and come-from-behind wins over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central and East Grand Rapids that proved to players that despite being unranked to start the season, they could be a power.
"Can we be really good or great?" he asked players earlier this season. "I think we've moved the needle toward being great. We've played from behind late before. It was an unusual situation, but I think it allowed us to play an aggressive game. That doesn't surprise me; that's what great teams do.
"I think we have a perfect balance of both (hitting and pitching). We like getting a run every inning; we don't do a lot of three or four-run innings."
Vicksburg coach Brian Deal, who is retiring after 28 years and 487 wins, said a team from a small town like Vicksburg making a Semifinal is a major feat.
"It's great for all the small towns," he said. "We did this for all those small towns. We think we can go toe-to-toe with any team. We had our chances to put more runs on the board."
PHOTOS (Top) An Orchard Lake St. Mary’s runner crosses the plate during the Eaglets’ Division 2 Semifinal win Thursday at McLane Stadium. (Middle) Kenowa Hills’ Bobby Haisma (19) applies a tag on Vicksburg’s Maddox Rosalin a few steps in front of first base.