Multi-Sport Standouts Again Helping Watervliet Diamond Teams Shine
May 22, 2023
Watervliet has two seniors who have made a positive impression in the classroom, on the athletic playing fields, and in the community over the past four years – and this spring, they’ve helped their respective teams to back-to-back-to-back baseball and softball league championships.
Tyson Williams and Samantha Dietz have been a great example of scholar-athletes at Watervliet High School over the past four years. Williams will earn his 11th varsity letter this spring, and Dietz will earn her 12th. Both are outstanding students as well; Williams has a 3.98 GPA, while Dietz has a 4.13 as they rank ninth and third, respectively, in their senior class.
Both have been exceptional role models for future Panthers; they both spend many days and hours at the elementary schools having lunch, reading, or just hanging out with the elementary students at recess. Both student-athletes are National Honor Society and student council members.
Their teams have achieved plenty during their four years at Watervliet, including combining on a couple of memorable accomplishments – notably, the baseball and softball teams went a combined 73-1 in league play over the last three seasons, and this winter saw the girls and boys basketball varsities both win 20 games for the first time.
Williams is headed to Hope College in the fall to play football. As the quarterback at Watervliet for four years, He threw for more than 5,000 yards and 52 touchdowns. He also led the team in scoring and rebounds this past basketball season and helped the team to a 20-win season after last year's 19-win campaign. Williams was named first-team all-state by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan.
In baseball, the Panthers recently clinched the Southwestern Athletic Conference Lakeshore title for the third-consecutive season, and the team has gone undefeated in league play during his 10th, 11th and 12th-grade seasons (with his freshman season canceled due to COVID-19. As of May 15, Williams had pitched a total of 132 career innings and tallied 188 strikeouts, with a 24-6 record, three saves and a 1.77 ERA.
Dietz will continue at Arizona State University this fall. She was a member of the volleyball team which won two SAC division titles, two District titles, and a Regional championship. during her volleyball career, she tallied 1,433 kills and earned all-state honorable mention as a sophomore and made the first team as a junior and senior. During basketball season, Samantha was a part of a back-to-back-to-back SAC Lakeshore championship teams that finished a combined 25-1 in league play and won the program’s first District title since 2006. Dietz scored 1,279 career points and grabbed 1,009 career rebounds. She earned honorable mention all-state twice, and made the first team once.
In softball, Dietz has been a part of the SAC Lakeshore championship team for three seasons (with her freshman season also canceled due to COVID). She is in the MHSAA record book for stolen bases, with 74 in 2022 and 62 in 2021. Her teams also have won back-to-back District titles.
PHOTOS From left, Samantha Dietz and Tyson Williams. (Photos courtesy of the Watervliet athletic department.)
FHE Completes Season-Long 'Response' with Title-Clinching 41st-Straight Win
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
June 14, 2025
EAST LANSING – The Ada Forest Hills Eastern baseball team didn’t panic when it fell behind by two runs in Saturday’s Division 2 Final.
The Hawks simply did what they’ve done all season – they responded.
FHE overcame the early deficit and emerged with a 5-2 win over Standish-Sterling at McLane Stadium.
“Respond has been our word this year, and we’ve lived by that,” said Hawks senior Max Ferrick, who went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.
“Any time we get down, we’re like, ‘All right, it's time to respond, it’s time to get back and do our thing.’ We know we’re better, we just have to do it.”
The top-ranked Hawks (42-1) captured their second Final over the last four years after also winning in 2022.
They also ended this season on an incredible 41-game winning streak.
“They’ve been together for a long time, and it’s a great group,” FHE coach Ian Hearn said. “We have very dedicated players that are super passionate about the game, and they can’t get enough of it. It was fantastic to win a state title with this group and all the time and effort they’ve put in.”
Second-ranked Standish-Sterling, playing in its first Final, tallied a pair of runs in the first inning to snag a 2-0 lead.
However, the Hawks countered with five unanswered runs the remainder of the game.
“The word ‘respond’ is a big word for us,” Hearn said. “Each year we have a building block and this year it was ‘respond’ for our program, and that will continue. They embraced it right away and believed in it and went all in on it. They have so much fight, and they constantly respond.”
FHE scored once in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI single from James Dempsey and three times in the third inning to grab its first lead.
Ferrick roped a shot to the gap for a double that tied it 2-2. Then a throwing error by the Panthers allowed two more runs to score to put the Hawks ahead 4-2.
Ferrick added a two-out double in the fourth inning.
“It’s kind of full circle for me,” said Ferrick, who played on the 2022 team as a freshman. “But this year my brother is on the team and some of my best friends that I’ve played with my whole life. I felt like I had to do it today for my family because this team is like a family, and it really felt great today.”
FHE junior Colton Brinks was brilliant in relief of starter Landen Lindley.
Brinks allowed only two hits in 4 ⅔ innings pitched and struck out the final three batters in the top of the seventh after walking the lead-off hitter.
“I was a little nervous there with everyone on their feet and excited, but I trusted I could throw my pitches and (in) the defense behind me,” Brinks said. “I’ve been playing with them since I was little, and I guess the adrenaline kicked in and I locked in and got the last three strikeouts.
“I was in eighth grade the last time they won, and I came to that game. I’ve always dreamed of being able to do it one day, and actually being able to accomplish it is an amazing feeling.”
Panthers coach Ryan Raymond was thrilled with the game’s start, but his team was unable to manufacture quality chances the rest of the way.
“That was the only rally we really got going early, and it seemed like all our other rallies started after two outs,” Raymond said. “We were excited, ready to play and I thought our effort was excellent today. I couldn’t be more proud, and these kids battled and they fought for themselves while making school history.”
Sterling-Standish managed only five hits and left nine runners on base.
PHOTOS (Top) Colton Brinks (15) makes his move toward the plate during Forest Hills Eastern’s championship-clinching win Saturday. (Middle) FHE’s Max Ferrick (2) waits on a Standish-Sterling pitch.