Marathon, Redemption Make Franklin's 1986 Softball Run Eternally Unforgettable
By
Ron Pesch
MHSAA historian
May 14, 2026
Tracy Lectka is celebrating a victory.
In Steve Fecht’s image found on the front page of the June 1986 Observer newspaper’s sports section, she is riding on the shoulders of ecstatic Livonia Franklin fans. Lectka’s arms are raised, and teammate Maria Vasseliou grabs at her jersey. The shot radiates the postgame celebration that came with the Patriots’ 1986 MHSAA Class A softball state championship – an honor that had slipped away a year previous.
Just as powerful is a photograph from the Observer’s Dan Dean from the 1985 run to the title game. Within, Lectka’s father Ron embraced his daughter, comforting the pain of what might have been.
“My Dad was a huge part of my life and taught me everything I knew,” recalled Tracy. “He coached girls softball for Redford Thurston for years. … That was the most hits and runs I had given up all year. That picture speaks volumes to say the least.
“The woman next to me was our outfielder Cherie Mascarello’s mom. She was a huge supporter of the team. Never missed a game, like my mom.”
The Spring of 1985
In just his second year of coaching Livonia Franklin, Joe Epstein had built confidence among his players stressing focus and fundamentals. Lectka, a junior, emerged as an outstanding pitcher, and Epstein featured her constantly as she tossed more than 200 innings. Among Franklin’s victories were three over cross-town rival Livonia Stevenson and the state’s top pitcher, all-state senior Lisa Bokovoy. Franklin finished fourth in the Michigan High School Softball Coaches Association (MHSSCA) weekly Class A regular-season rankings.
During the tournament, Lectka tossed three consecutive four-hit shutouts, but, according to Observer staff writer Brad Emons, “was roughed up for 11 hits” in a 5-0 loss to Mount Clemens L’Anse Creuse North in the 1985 state title game. Played at Lansing’s Ranney Park, North’s star pitcher – right-hander Chris Harms (21-5) – twirled her sixth shutout of the tournament. During that Saturday lockdown, she had allowed seven hits but was “tough in pressure situations.” The Patriots had loaded the bases in the second and fifth innings but could not score.
“We just didn’t hit in the clutch,” Epstein told the Observer, “and they made it count when they had people on.”
North, 22-6 on the year, had opened the season among the state’s top-ranked teams. Harms earned second team all-state honors from MHSSCA, while Lectka was an honorable mention all-state selection. She finished the season with a 22-3 mark.
With an impressive 25-4 record, and one of the state’s top pitchers returning the following spring, Epstein vowed the team would be back.
A Shot at Redemption
With Lectka – one of three seniors – and top players Vasseliou, Cherie Mascarello, Rose Obey, Sue Ritz, Patty Wixson and Karen Schoeninger, the team was the MHSSCA’s Class A preseason favorite entering 1986. That quickly changed within the rankings when the Patriots lost their second game, 12-3, to Walled Lake Central, then dropped a double header to Garden City. A year earlier, Franklin had defeated the Cougars three times, including in a 21-inning pitching duel between Lectka and sophomore Shelly Malone, which Franklin won 1–0.
After some experimenting with the lineup, Epstein was able to right the ship. From there, things progressed with relative ease, as his team dropped just two more games against quality opponents, splitting a double header with Westland John Glenn, then dropping one of three games with a solid Plymouth Salem squad, a conference rival. The Patriots finished the regular season fifth in the final Class A rankings and eased their way through the District. They shut out both John Glenn and Belleville in the Regional to earn a trip back to Lansing for the final rounds.
Speaking just prior to their MHSAA Semifinal game with South Lyon, Coach Epstein was asked by the Observer about his squad’s chances.
The Lions, one of nine teams earning honorable mention in the MHSSCA’s rankings, were led by junior ace Andrea Nelson. They had trounced Salem, 19-4, beneath sweltering heat in their District Final. Following that win, Franklin upset fourth-ranked East Kentwood and then downed Lansing Eastern to continue the postseason run.
“I feel confident that if we beat South Lyon, we can go all the way,” said Epstein, “and I don’t go on a limb very often. … I understand there were a bunch of walks and errors (in Salem’s game with the Lions). I’ve seen some good teams have bad days.”
On the opposite side of the Class A bracket stood Waterford Kettering, a scrappy unranked squad Franklin had beat, “in an invitational tournament, 10-5,” and Grosse Pointe South, which, behind the pitching of University of Michigan-bound Lynn Vismara, had shocked both top-ranked Utica Ford and No. 2-ranked Fraser in Regional play.
“(We’re) a better hitting team than last year,” said Epstein, convinced strong pitching from other teams would not deter his crew from their quest. “And I’ve got some other kids who can swing the bat.”
Epstein’s belief would be severely tested.
The Marathon
“The game began innocently enough at 5:30 p.m.,” wrote the Observer’s Chris McCosky about Franklin’s battle with the Lions. “At 8:30 p.m. in the 17th inning, it was still scoreless. Despite the run shortage, the game (had) produced high drama. South Lyon loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 12th. The Lions put together back-to-back hits in the 13th, but the lead runner was thrown out at third …
“Franklin had its chances, too,” continued McCosky. “The Pats put together three hits in the fifth, but a potential run was tagged out at third. They put runners on first and third in both the fifth and 17th and came away empty.”
Drew Sharp, writing for the Detroit Free Press, covered what happened next.
“… Amid growing darkness at Michigan State, the umpires asked South Lyon coach Jeff Gale and Franklin coach Joe Epstein whether they wanted to continue playing at nearby Ranney Park, which (had) lights or wait until 10 a.m. Saturday.”
Epstein stated he had three players scheduled to take the ACT college entrance exam the next morning and requested the game be moved and continued. Gale wanted to wait. Because the coaches couldn’t come to a solution, the umpires were put on the spot. While the choice wasn’t an easy one, they decided play would resume at MSU in the morning.
Earlier in the day, Kettering sophomore Julie Vachon ripped a long line drive just beyond the reach of the left fielder for a game-winning grand slam, sealing a 4-3 comeback win over Grosse Pointe South.
Title Time
Come daylight, all three test-takers were ready, having skipped their scheduled appointment back home. With two outs in the top of the 20th inning, Vasseliou, the Patriots’ junior shortstop. tripled in a pair of runs to end the deadlock, sealing a 2-0 victory and sending Franklin back to the title game played later in the day at Ranney.
The Lansing State Journal’s Tom Gantert beautifully summarized the Patriots’ weekend in the paper’s Sunday edition. “Livonia Franklin High softball pitcher Tracy Lectka doesn’t ask much from her teammates. Just that they score …”
Kettering’s Vachon allowed two walks, struck out a pair, and gave up just three hits during the championship game. But Vasseliou, again facing two outs, drove in Kris Roman who had led off the first inning with a single. That gave the Patriots a 1-0 lead they would not increase or relinquish.
Lectka notched just a single strikeout, but, defensively, her teammates were nearly perfect. Outside a single error, her infield scooped up everything it faced from the Captains. Only three balls tossed by the senior left the infield during the title game. She finished the day with a no-hitter, extending her streak of scoreless innings allowed to 44. Franklin ended the season with a 31-5 record and the school’s second MHSAA state championship in any sport. Ten years previous, the Patriots had won the 1975 Class A football trophy.
“‘We played awesome. I love it,” a teary-eyed Lectka told the Observer. “This is it.” It was her final game on the diamond. A year earlier, she had accepted a college scholarship to play basketball – not softball – at Wayne State.
Soon after, Sports Illustrated visited the family to snap a photo of Tracy for publication in their weekly sidebar, “Faces in the Crowd.” Over 35 years later, in mid-September 2023, the softball squad, along with that football team, were inducted into Franklin’s inaugural Athletics Hall of Fame.
Epstein, who had passed away in 2012, was also honored individually that evening. He had taught in the Detroit Public Schools from 1957 to 1966 before moving to Franklin. A long-time physical education teacher, he also led Franklin’s softball team to a runner-up finish in 1990. His wife Linda joined three others to cut the honorary ribbon for the Hall.
The induction celebration brought back wonderful memories. But it was noted that a few of the team’s achievements during their runs to the Finals were missing from the MHSAA state record book.
Happily, that has now been corrected.
PHOTOS (Top) The Observer reported on Livonia Franklin’s 1986 Class A championship, including a memorable photo. (2) Ron Lectka, far left, comforts his daughter Tracy after her team’s 1985 title game loss. (3) The cover of the 1986 MHSAA Softball Finals program sets the scene for the weekend to come. (4) The Patriots celebrate. (5) Franklin poses for a team photo after the 1986 win. (Photos gathered by Ron Pesch from Observer archives and Tracy Lectka.)
Neighbors, Friends & Coaching Legends
April 26, 2018
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
When Kris Hubbard was asked to coach the fledgling Ottawa Lake Whiteford softball team in the late 1970s, the first person she went to for advice was her neighbor, Kay Johnson.
Johnson, who already had been coaching the Morenci softball team for about five years, wrote down a couple of pages worth of tips, from offensive situations for practice to drills for outfielders. Those golden rules given from one friend to another helped build the foundation for Hubbard’s career that has spanned 40 years, more than 800 wins and three MHSAA Finals championships.
“I wanted to start a softball program and I said to her, ‘Okay, what do I need to do?’” Hubbard recalls. “I think I still have it. It was a pretty good list.”
“I got her started,” Johnson said. “I don’t know that I taught her a lot.”
Johnson graduated from Whitmer High School in Toledo in 1968 and Adrian College in 1972. She lived in Sylvania, Ohio, only a couple of miles from Whiteford High School, and accepted a teaching and coaching job at Morenci. She coached volleyball, basketball, softball and track. Her 1976 Bulldogs track & field team won the Lower Peninsula Class D championship.
Hubbard grew up in Blissfield and played college basketball at Western Michigan University, graduating in 1973. After college she accepted a teaching job at Whiteford and early on was coaching track, volleyball and basketball for the Bobcats. After the 1978 track season, Hubbard stepped down as head coach for that team. It was then that some of the Whiteford girls came to her and asked if she would be interested in coaching them in a new sport at the school – softball.
“I had played fast-pitch softball, but I didn’t know all of the little things kids needed to know,” Hubbard said. “That’s why I went to her.”
Johnson and Hubbard had met a few years earlier when Johnson was playing on a Toledo city league recreation basketball team. Her team needed more players and her uncle told her about Hubbard, who, come to find out, was a distant relative. The two didn’t know each other, but they lived about a long fly ball from each other at the Michigan-Ohio border.
“My mom’s brother was married to her grandma’s sister,” Johnson said. “We didn’t know each other. I was at Thanksgiving and my uncle said I should call her for the basketball team.”
“So, I talked with her and I thought maybe we could ride together,” Hubbard recalls. “I asked where she lived. Turns out, she lived on the first street into Ohio (across the state line) and I lived on the first street in Michigan. … We have a lot in common. Both of us like sports and have similar interests. We’ve been friends ever since.”
They’ve been more than just rivals in different dugouts. When Hubbard was getting married in the 1980s, she moved in with Johnson after her house sold. For years they have traveled to softball coaching clinics together, even making a presentation on softball drills at least once. This past winter they vacationed together.
“She’s been a good friend,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard had never coached softball but was a fast learner. Her first three Bobcats teams won Tri-County Conference championships from 1979-81. In 1984, the Bobcats won their first of three Class D championships over the next four years.
Ironically, only one of those state title teams won a league championship. That’s because Tri-County Conference opponent Summerfield won the Class C title in 1984 and Johnson’s Morenci team won Class C titles in 1985 and 1986.
The league has been a softball powerhouse from the start. Since 1984, Summerfield and Whiteford have three MHSAA Finals titles each and Morenci and Clinton two apiece. Numerous TCC teams have reached the Semifinals or played in championship games. Whiteford, for example, played in the 2017 Division 4 Final and Morenci in the 2016 Semifinals.
“There have been some good coaches in the TCC, and I’m not talking about us,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard has 11 TCC titles to her credit, including the 2017 win. Robert Taylor (Summerfield) has eight league titles, Johnson seven and Al Roberts (Clinton) five.
The league has also been home to some tremendous talent. Summerfield’s Michelle Bolster played at Indiana University. Whiteford’s Leigh Ross was an All-American at the University of Toledo, later coached at Syracuse and is now a softball analyst for ESPN and the Big Ten Network. Morenci pitcher Renae Merillat was an All-American at Hillsdale College. Summerfield’s Melissa Taylor claimed the statewide Miss Softball Award as the top position player in 1997.
Johnson entered 2018 with 889 career victories, Hubbard with 813, putting them both near the top of the MHSAA softball coaching wins list. Johnson has more than any softball coach in Lenawee County history, while Hubbard passed Monroe’s Vince Rossi last year to become the winningest softball coach in Monroe County history. This year, both teams are in a loaded Division 4 District that includes Britton Deerfield, Summerfield and Sand Creek.
“There have been times where the District is tougher than Regional,” Hubbard said.
Johnson said both she and Hubbard have the same philosophy when it comes to the regular season – throw out the records and build a team that can contend for an MHSAA championship.
“Our league prepares us for the District tournament,” she said. “We both put teams on our schedule that are going to challenge us. I’d rather lose 3-1 then win 15-0. Winning 15-0 does nothing. It doesn’t teach anything.”
Morenci was a member of the Lenawee County Athletic Association before joining the TCC in the early 1980s. That meant the two friends would be coaching against each other at least twice a year.
“We’ve done it enough now that it’s just another league game,” Johnson said.
It’s no accident the two have similar coaching styles and strategy when it comes to developing pitchers, bunting at key situations in a game and advancing runners.
“We talk about softball a lot, just not about playing each other. That’s not exactly fun,” Hubbard said. “I think we are both pretty laid back. To coach as long as we have, you have to be.”
The game has changed over the years – the ball itself is much different than it was in the 1970s and 1980s. The home run was rare 20 years ago but is now part of the game, something Johnson isn’t thrilled about.
“I hate the home run in fast-pitch,” she said. “I want doubles, triples and relays from the outfield. I want action. You work your defense. I want them to be able to show off. The bats have really livened up the game.”
Hubbard wants to coach the Bobcats at least one more year after this season. This spring her team has seven players back, including its top pitcher, from last year’s runner-up finish. Most are only juniors. She smiles easily when talking about ex-players and their after-school successes.
“I love Facebook for one reason – you get to follow a lot of your former athletes,” she said. “There’s a whole lot of them who are really successful in life. That’s what it is all about. It’s a game. Softball is just a game. It’s (a small part) of your life. If you turn out all right, that’s what it is about.”
Johnson used to identify pitching prospects while teaching physical education at Morenci. She was later a principal and now is athletic director at Morenci along with softball coach.
“It’s sustained over the years,” Johnson said of the program. “We’ve had our low years. One year we only won five games. But, program-wise, year-in and year-out, we bring out the quality kids. They know the expectations. They have a high grade-point average. When you are getting those quality kids out, you know they are going to give you a good effort.”
Johnson and Hubbard will square off this season May 22 in a doubleheader at Whiteford. Before the game, which will be the 106th and 107th meetings between the two all-time, Hubbard will put a Snapple in the dugout for Johnson. Neither coach is interested in knowing who has the upper hand when it comes to the head-to-head series.
“You don’t get real fired up about it,” Hubbard said. “For those two hours I want to kick her butt and she wants to kick mine. We are going to be friends no matter what.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Morenci’s Kay Johnson encourages her next hitter as a runner reaches third base. (Middle) Ottawa Lake Whiteford’s Kris Hubbard surveys the field during Wednesday’s sweep of Petersburg Summerfield. (Photos by Mike Dickie and Angela Link, respectively.)