Today in the MHSAA: 5/24/16

May 24, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The final week of the 2016 spring regular season kicked off with league championships won in multiple sports and the setup of an intriguing one-inning title clincher to come Wednesday.

Baseball

On one side of the Saginaw Valley League title race, Division 1 No. 7 Bay City Western swept Bay City Central to set up a one-inning championship finale Wednesday against No. 9 Mount Pleasant – the two had a prior game suspended with the score 1-1 in the seventh inning, and the winner claims the league title – Bay City Times

On the other side of the SVL race, Mount Pleasant split with No. 6 Saginaw Heritage, winning the first game and losing the second, to set up the title-deciding inning – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Holland Christian’s Mike Mokma was perfect over his game’s five innings and also hit two home runs in a 14-0 win over Grandville Calvin Christian – Holland Sentinel

Golf

Manton shot its lowest score in 16 years, 157, to win a three-team match by 21 strokes – Cadillac News

Boys Lacrosse

Grand Rapids Northview hung on for an 11-8 win over Caledonia in the second round of their Regional – Grand Rapids Press

Girls Soccer

Hemlock’s seventh shutout this season led to its first league title in girls soccer with a 2-0 win over reigning champion Ovid-Elsie in the Tri-Valley Conference West – Midland Daily News

Madison Enderle scored eight goals and keeper Kalyn Breckenridge finished a school-record 17th shutout this season as Birch Run finished a perfect run in the TVC Central with a 12-0 win over Otisville-LakeVille – Saginaw News

Softball

Farmington Hills Mercy and Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard claimed Detroit Catholic League championships, Mercy in the A-B division and Gabriel Richard in C-D – Detroit Free Press

Norway won the Mid-Peninsula Conference championship with a 13-3 victory over Manistique thanks in part to two home runs by Bobbi Hulce – Iron Mountain Daily News

Today in the MHSAA: 10/16/15

October 16, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

First-time champions are always worth noting, and we found a few in checking out today’s media reports of Thursday action statewide.

Cross Country

The Calumet girls, ranked No. 4 in Upper Peninsula Division 1, and the unranked Houghton boys won the Western Peninsula Athletic Conference finals at Chassell – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Boys Soccer

Grand Rapids Union clinched its first league title since moving from the Grand Rapids City League to the Ottawa-Kent Conference, downing Muskegon 3-0 – Grand Rapids Press

Manchester edged Hillsdale Academy 2-1 to claim its first Independent Soccer League championship after winning only one league game in 2014 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Volleyball

Class B honorable mention Buchanan downed Class C’s top-ranked team, Bronson, in five sets, and also Class D No. 6 Mendon in five – Niles Daily Star

Class B No. 6 Mount Morris avenged a five-set loss to No. 5 Goodrich in September by sweeping the Martians to improve to 55-5-1 – Flint Journal

Zeeland West claimed its first conference title in this sport, defeating Holland Christian in five sets to claim a share of the O-K Green championship – Holland Sentinel

Good Reads

Longtime Burton Atherton leader Mary Down will become the third volleyball coach inducted into the Greater Flint Area Hall of Fame, having impacted a generation of players and more as a number of former players went on to coach as well – Flint Journal