Highlight Reel: Division 1-2 Baseball Semifinals

June 12, 2015

By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director

The first sessions of MHSAA Baseball Semifinals were played Thursday at McLane Stadium at Michigan State University. Hartland and Portage Northern in Division 1 and Mount Pleasant and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in Division 2 advanced to Saturday’s championship games.

Click the headings below for highlights from all four Semifinals broadcasts on MHSAA.tv.

Division 1 

Hartland 5, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills 0

Hartland Scores Twice In First The Eagles got two runs in the first inning against Kenowa Hills when Gary Turnbull singled to drive in Zach Behnke and Alex Vydick scored on an error.

Hendricks RBI Single Hartland added its final run in the fifth against Kenowa Hills when Max Hendricks singled down the third base line to plate John Baker.

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.

Portage Northern 8, Grosse Pointe South 0

Hall's RBI Single Portage Northern scored six runs in the first two innings, with this RBI single by Collin Hall the lone hit.

Henry Safe At Home Tommy Henry scores for Portage Northern in the fourth inning on a close play at the plate. 

Young's Second Scoring Hit Brady Young paced Portage Northern with two hits and two RBI against Grosse Pointe South. Here's his second run-scoring hit in the sixth inning. 

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.

Division 2

Mount Pleasant 9, Adrian 0

Keep On Trucksin' A based-loaded single through the box by Max Trucks delivers Mount Pleasant's first run against Adrian. Trucks had two hits in the game for the Oilers. 

Suicide Squeeze Is Painless With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, Mount Pleasant tries a suicide squeeze bunt. Dan Keller pushes the run home, is safe at first and a second run scores on an error. 

Sixth Inning Oiler Score Kalebb Perry drops a single into right field to score the final run of the game for Mount Pleasant against Adrian. 

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 9, Mattawan 1

Boyd Plates Two Drew Boyd gets things started for Orchard Lake St. Mary's against Vicksburg with this two-run single in the first inning. The Eaglets scored five times in the first frame. 

Two More Eaglet Runs Orchard Lake St. Mary's got two more runs in the third inning when Drake Titus had an RBI single, and a throwing error brought home one more.

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.

Montrose Junior Named NFHS Network's Best

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director emeritus

April 26, 2017

Eric Vandefifer, a junior at Montrose High School, was named today the Best Student Broadcaster nationally in the NFHS Network School Broadcast Program Awards. 

For the second straight year, James Kitts, the coordinator of the School Broadcast Program at Montrose, was a finalist in the Teacher of the Year category.

Just last week, Montrose was named the “Program of the Year” in the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards for 2016-17, claiming the top honor for the fourth straight year.  Montrose took first place in four categories.

Vandefifer also was honored recently by the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association as the top Student Broadcaster in Division 3. Vandefifer and his broadcast partner David Sackrider placed second in the Play-By-Play Category in the MHSAA SBP awards and first in the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Foundation Sports Announcing Team category this year.

In its eighth year, the School Broadcast Program gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events, with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. 

The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.  

All sporting events – live or delayed – are available on a subscription basis only for their first 72 hours online. They become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion.

Here’s this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of live video streams being produced by SBP members (All times Eastern):

Wednesday, April 26

Thursday, April 27

Monday, May 1

Tuesday, May 2

Be sure to check the Upcoming Events page at MHSAA.tv for schedule additions every day.

The NFHS Network has announced new pricing for 2016-17, eliminating the Day Pass and lowering the cost of a Month Pass to $9.95. Subscribers will have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. All content becomes available for free, on-demand viewing 72 hours after being shown live. A portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.

A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA website.

PHOTO: Montrose's Eric Vandefifer (left) and Conner Pyrc call an MHSAA Girls Soccer Semifinal last season for the NFHS Network. (Photo courtesy of Montrose High School digital media.)