Michel Finishes with Story to Tell
June 11, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Andrew Michel received the heart-breaking news only moments before leaving his golf team’s Regional on Friday to get ready for that night’s Brownstown-Woodhaven prom.
But missing making the MHSAA Finals by a stroke was not the first thing he shared with those who asked about his day at West Shore Golf and Country Club in Grosse Ile.
Instead, the graduating senior told of the 132-yard shot he dropped for a hole-in-one on the par-3 12th hole, his second ace but first in competition.
Michel finished with a season-best 76, missing the cut for this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final by a stroke despite firing another eagle during the final holes of his round.
“At the start of the day, I told myself don’t leave anything on the table. Go for it on every hole, make every shot and just have fun at your last tournament,” Michel said Tuesday afternoon as he readied for that night’s graduation ceremony. “Being a senior, I went for everything.”
The best part might’ve been how he came back from a disappointing previous hole.
Michel had just finished off a triple bogey on No. 11, and admitted he was down on himself. He stepped to the next tee with his pitching wedge, and “I didn’t really care what happened. I chose the club I like to hit on that hole, and in the air I was thinking it was really good,” he said.
The ball touched down on the green and spun back into the hole.
Michel also played golf and soccer at Brownstown-Woodhaven. He’ll attend Grand Valley State University in the fall, study engineering, and will try to walk-on the Lakers’ golf team.
“Deep down inside,” he said he’s disappointed he won’t be playing at Michigan State’s Forest Akers West on Friday. But he’s got a quite a highlight to take with him from his final high school round.
“It was very bittersweet. I really wanted to go to state,” Michel said. “But the hole-in-one balanced it out a bit.”
Eye on the official
Hopefully you caught our MHSAA benchmarks piece (also published on Second Half) on longtime official Lamont Simpson, who has worked not only MHSAA Finals but NCAA tournaments and is one of 32 officials in the WNBA. (Here’s the link in case you missed it.)
He also became that league’s first to wear the referee cam, debuting the new gear during a recent game between the Phoenix Mercury and Indiana Fever.
The camera provides plenty of ref’s-eye views. Click the video below to check it out.
Wheels of Steele
We’ve been watching the inspiring progress of Frankenmuth runner Bobby Steele especially over the last few years as his story became known across the Lower Peninsula.
Steele, who is visually impaired, has run cross country and track for the Eagles, thanks to the help of guides who ran with him to help him stay on course.
If you haven’t heard Steele’s awesome story, check out this 8-minute video. Not only did Steele run, but he cut roughly 12 minutes off his first cross country times over the course of his career.
South Lyon, Allen Park Set to Provide 1st-Time Champ
By
Jason Schmitt
Special for MHSAA.com
June 17, 2021
EAST LANSING — Coming up clutch is nothing new for the South Lyon softball team.
So when the Lions came up big on the sport’s biggest stage Thursday afternoon, it really should have come as no surprise to anyone at Secchia Stadium — least of all to head coach Dan DePaulis.
South Lyon rallied from two runs down, pulling away down the stretch en route to an 8-4 win over Grandville in a Division 1 Semifinal played at Michigan State University.
“Everyone contributed at the plate today,” said DePaulis, whose team will be making its first appearance in a Division 1 championship game. “It was awesome. We’ve come from behind before and played a tough schedule. We’ve been in a lot of tough games and played some tough teams. I think that prepared them. Nothing surprised them today.”
The Lions fell behind twice early. Grandville scored the first two runs of the game in the first inning, courtesy of an RBI double by senior Jamie Vander Meer and an RBI single by senior Kylee Dillard. South Lyon got two right back, one on an RBI single from senior Ella Vitale.
The Bulldogs then retook the lead, 4-2, in the third inning. Senior Maddie Gkekas scored on a wild pitch, with senior Brook Bernt then scoring on an RBI single by Dillard.
That’s the last run Grandville would score. South Lyon put two runs up in the fourth inning to tie the game, the first when Vitale singled in junior Julia Duncan, who crossed ahead of a tag at the plate.
“That’s a huge momentum shift,” Grandville head coach Troy Ungrey said. “I mean, we get that out right there, it’s the third out. It’s 4-2, we still have momentum. We’ve got the top of our lineup coming up.”
The Lions would add another run in the inning on an RBI single by senior Riley Bourlier, scoring Vitale. South Lyon then took a 5-4 lead in the fifth inning, when Duncan’s single scored senior Tierny Donnelley.
“We’ve been doing that all year, just having really good at bats,” DePaulis said. “They’re putting the ball in play, hard ground balls, getting the run in, productive outs. The seniors really stepped up for us today at the bottom of our order. They had some big hits to get us going early.”
Vitale, Madison Seymour and Bourlier combined for three runs, three hits and three RBI in their team’s victory.
“It’s kind of fun, we (seniors) are all like stacked at the bottom together so we can cheer each other on,” Vitale said. “I feel like our whole lineup can get hits. No one end is stronger than the other. One of our sayings is like, ‘Ground balls win softball games.’ When we have a runner on third, we try to hit it hard on the ground so they can score.”
South Lyon scored seven of its eight runs with two outs.
“We had a team meeting the other day, and we talked about how we were doing it with two outs,” said DePaulis, who’s in his seventh year at South Lyon. “Those kids just come up clutch. Nothing phases them. They’re just really battling. At this point in the tournament, it’s more about what you’ve got between the ears than the talent. They really focused, they were mentally tough and they had really good at bats with two outs.”
Sophomore Emily Johnson had a team-high three hits and starting pitcher Ava Bradshaw went the distance, striking out 12 for the Lions (29-6-2), who advanced to Saturday’s Division 2 Final, where they’ll face Allen Park.
Grandville finished the season 36-6.
“We set a school record for wins this year,” Ungrey said. “Grace (Connelly) set a record for wins in the circle. Maddie (Gkekas) set the stolen base record. There are just so many good things to think about, all the way through. We brought up some sophomores at the end. They had a chance to taste this. I think in a couple years we’ve got a real good chance of coming back here.”
Allen Park 9, Farmington Hills Mercy 5
Allen Park played the patience game Thursday in its Division 1 Semifinal game against Farmington Hills Mercy. That’s not always an easy thing to do when your team boasts just one senior on the roster.
But it paid off for the Jaguars, who scored seven runs in the fourth inning to pull away from the Marlins en route to a 9-5 victory that clinched a spot in Saturday’s championship game at Michigan State University.
Junior Madilynn Ramey highlighted the inning with a grand slam, which broke a 1-1 tie and gave her team all the momentum it would need.
“The bases were loaded, and I knew I had to capitalize. I knew I had to come through for my team,” said Ramey, who finished the day 2-for-3 with her home run, a triple and a walk. “We’re the underdogs. We know we have to come out here and prove ourselves.”
Her head coach, Mike Kish, knew it was just a matter of time before his young Jaguars would break through.
“I believed. I absolutely believed,” he said. “We knew we had the talent. If we could just keep it close, long enough for us to take a deep breath and relax. And once we did that, this is what we do.
“(Madilynn) is our leader. She’s our shortstop. She’s our heart and soul. You know she’s going to come through. And sure enough she did.”
Allen Park batted around in the fourth inning. Sophomore Molly Hool singled to right-center to get things going. Junior Riley Kish and junior Autumn Bridges had a double and single, respectively, to load the bases for Ramey — who proceeded to clear them. The Jaguars added two more runs on an RBI double by sophomore Morgan Sizemore and an RBI single by sophomore Mia Hool.
The Hool sisters, along with Ramey and freshman Avery Garden, all finished with two hits. Allen Park (32-10) has a young roster which includes four juniors, five sophomores and five freshmen.
“We knew for a couple years that this talent was coming,” Kish said. “We only had three girls on the team who had played a varsity game before the season had started. We knew our pitchers were young, inexperienced. But we knew the talent was there. It comes out of potential.”
Mercy senior Grace Nieto finished 3-for-4 with four stolen bases for her Marlins, who finished the season 32-5. Senior Maggie Murphy and junior Kendall Spivey each drove in two runs in their team’s loss.
“They went to work with their bats. We knew their bats were coming. We didn’t do enough to mitigate them hitting it,” Mercy head coach Corey Burras said. “It was not a surprise. I thought the score would be 12-11. It wasn’t going to be 2-1. It wasn’t going to be a pitching duel.
“They moved on the ball. We moved on the ball. But they moved on the ball a little bit better than us today.”
PHOTOS: (Top) South Lyon’s Julia Duncan is moments from connecting with a pitch during her team’s Division 1 Semifinal win Thursday. (Middle) An Allen Park runner gets to third base head first as Mercy’s Kendall Spivey gathers the ball for a possible tag.