Did you see that?
June 4, 2012
Saturday annually is the busiest high school sports day on the MHSAA calendar.
The Spring Finals match began with Girls and Boys Track and Field and Girls Tennis Finals at sites all over both peninsulas. There were Regionals for both boys and girls lacrosse, which finish up this weekend. And, of course, there were Districts galore for softball, baseball and girls soccer.
Here's our sampling of some of the highlights:
Girls Track and Field
19 records fall: It was quite day across the seven MHSAA Girls Track and Field Finals, with 19 records broken, and two athletes – Reed City’s Sami Michell and Norway’s Dani Gagne – winning four individual events apiece. (Second Half)
Coast to coast: The Grosse Pointe South 3,200 relay was responsible for one of two all-Finals records, and ran a time of 8:48.29 that also surpassed the national record for that event (but may or may not stand as the national record, depending on what other times were run and will be submitted after this spring.) (Detroit Free Press)
Boys Track and Field
LP filled with first-time champs: Lake Orion in Division 1, Auburn Hills Avondale in Division 2 and Lansing Catholic in Division 3 won their first MHSAA team championships. Also, nine records fell across the state. (Second Half)
Quite a comeback: Marquette trailed Gladstone by 27 points at the Upper Peninsula Division 1 Final with four events to run. But the Redmen outscored Gladstone 42-0 over those events to win their third straight championship. (Marquette Mining Journal)
Girls Tennis
Southeast sweep: Detroit suburban schools claimed all four MHSAA Lower Peninsula team championships – Grosse Pointe South in Division 1, Birmingham Seaholm in Division 2, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood in Division 3 and Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart in Division 4. (Second Half)
Freshman reigns: Utica freshman Davina Nguyen beat both the first and second seeds on her way to claiming the individual championship at No. 1 singles in Division 1. Nguyen was seeded fifth. (Macomb Daily)
Boys lacrosse
Cranbrook comes out on top: Cranbrook-Kingswood, ranked No. 3 in Division 2, emerged from a Regional that also included No. 4 Haslett/Williamston and No. 5 East Grand Rapids, beating the latter 8-4 in the Final. (Bloomfield Patch)
Girls lacrosse
EGR plays to top ranking, again: Rivals East Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Catholic Central met in one of the multiple close Regional Finals, with the top-ranked Pioneers downing No. 2 GRCC one more time, 11-9. (Grand Rapids Press)
Baseball
It’s Holt, again: The Rams claimed their second championship in a week over rival Grand Ledge – both have been ranked in Division 1 this season. Two weeks ago, Holt split with the Comets to win the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue. Standout Justin Alleman gave up two hits and struck out 18 as Holt also won Saturday to claim a District title. (Lansing State Journal)
Softball
In the end, it’s Mattawan: The season-long battle for statewide Division 1 and Kalamazoo-area supremacy was decided in part at Saturday’s District at Portage Central. Reigning MHSAA champion Mattawan emerged as the winner from a field that included top-ranked Portage Central – which was upset by Kalamazoo Loy Norrix in a semifinal. (Kalamazoo Gazette)
Soccer
AAGR moves on: Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, No. 8 in Division 3, shut out No. 7 Jackson Lumen Christi 3-0 in the Division 3 District final at Brooklyn Columbia Central (AnnArbor.com)
Moment: Decatur Earns Finals Return
April 28, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Cory Huston had allowed only one hit, two walks and an unearned run through eight innings of Decatur’s Division 3 Semifinal against Gladstone on June 13, 2014.
And in the bottom of that final inning, he did what’s often yelled from baseball dugouts when the pitcher comes up to the plate – he helped himself.
Huston’s lone hit in four at bats drove in Carter Smith and pushed Decatur past the Braves 2-1. Smith also had scored the game’s first run, unearned, in the fifth inning, before Gladstone tied things up in the seventh.
“I was having a little off day with the hitting. Right time to do it, I guess,” Huston said that day. “I thought it was just my time to step up and help my team out. They had my back the whole game. It was my turn to step up and show them what it was all about.”
Huston struck out five over his eight innings to get the win on the mound. Gladstone pitcher Sam Pouliot gave up eight hits over his 7 2/3 before the game-winning hit, striking out nine while walking only two as well.
While Decatur went on to fall in the championship game to Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, that was the program’s sixth appearance in a Final and first in Division 3 after making five finales in Division 4.
Smith, who finished 2 for 4 from his lead-off spot, initially went on to play basketball at Concordia-Ann Arbor, then baseball at Kalamazoo Valley Community College and has signed to continue at Grand Valley State. Pouliot played at Grand Rapids Community College.
Click for coverage of the Semifinal from Second Half and watch the game-winning run score below from the NFHS Network.
PHOTO: Decatur players greet Carter Smith after he scores the game-winning run against Gladstone in a 2014 Division 3 Semifinal.