Today in the MHSAA: 5/31/17

May 31, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

This spring’s first night of baseball, softball and girls soccer Districts enjoyed more drama than usual, with a number of upsets changing how brackets were expected to look this weekend – especially in the Bay City and Oakland County areas.

Each weekday during the school year, we’ll gather and post media links covering the most significant and intriguing high school events from all over the state.

Baseball

Bay City Central scored two runs in the seventh inning to upset Bay City Western 3-2 in Division 1 – Bay City Times

Also in Division 1, Ann Arbor Skyline upset No. 10 Brighton 1-0 in nine innings – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

No. 14 Holt downed Battle Creek Lakeview 7-1 in a matchup of teams currently or formerly ranked in Division 1 – Battle Creek Enquirer

Battle Creek Harper Creek got past Marshall 2-1 in nine innings in Division 2 – Battle Creek Enquirer

Bloomfield Hills earned a stunning 5-2 win over No. 3 Birmingham Groves in Division 1 – Oakland Press

In Flint Southwestern’s final regular-season doubleheader ever, Chris Jones broke the school’s single-season stolen base record with his 50th in 54 tries – Flint Journal

Boys Lacrosse

Canton followed a seven-goal comeback against Saline with a five-goal comeback to beat Plymouth 8-7 in overtime in a Division 1 Regional – Observer & Eccentric

Girls Soccer

No. 9 Middleville Thornapple Kellogg opened with perhaps the most stunning win on the first night of the soccer tournament, taking down No. 5 Richland Gull Lake 4-1 in Division 2 – Grand Rapids Press

After the teams split during the regular season, No. 17 Portage Central won the Division 1 District game 1-0 over Mattawan – Kalamazoo Gazette

Saginaw Heritage downed Bay City Western 2-1 in overtime in Division 1 after falling to the Warriors 5-1 earlier this spring – Saginaw News

After seeing a two-goal lead dissolve late, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian downed No. 9 North Muskegon 3-2 with a shootout in Division 4 – Muskegon Chronicle

After falling to Marine City in the District the last two seasons, Richmond downed the No. 18 Mariners 1-0 in overtime in Division 3 – Clinton Township Voice

Division 2 No. 16 Stevensville Lakeshore came back from two goals down to beat Vicksburg 3-2 – St. Joseph Herald Palladium

Softball

Barely a week after being swept by Bay City Western, Bay City Central upset the Warriors 7-4 in Division 1 – Bay City Times

Holland scored in the seventh inning to down Grand Haven 5-4, also in Division 1 – Grand Haven Tribune

No. 3 Escanaba jumped to a 7-0 lead on honorable mention Petoskey in Division 2 and finished with an 8-2 victory – Petoskey News-Review

Today in the MHSAA: 6/7/16

June 7, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Action was light as the second-to-last week of 2015-16 began Monday. But that allowed us the opportunity to catch up on some of the incredible District title streaks extended or ended over the weekend, including one stretching three decades.

Baseball

Holt continued to ride its wave after beating rival Grand Ledge in their Division 1 District by beating Mason in a Capital Area Diamond Classic semifinal to earn a championship game matchup with the Comets on Wednesday – Lansing State Journal

From Saturday, Rudyard clinched its seventh straight District title with a 7-1 win over St. Ignace in Division 4 – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News

Girls Soccer

From Saturday, Pinconning won its first District title, downing Roscommon 2-1 in Division 3 – Bay City Times

From Saturday, Montrose, in Division 4, won its first District title since 2001 and in doing so ended Saginaw Nouvel’s 18-year run of District championships – Saginaw News

Softball

From Friday, Custer Mason County Eastern nearly saw a 30-season District streak end while trailing Brethren in the seventh inning of the championship game, but won 5-4 in eight innings to extend the streak to 31 – Ludington Daily News

Gladstone extended its streak of District titles to 14 with a win over Ishpeming Westwood in their championship game – Escanaba Daily Press

Good Read

It’s hard to tell what’s most intriguing about Monroe baseball standout Naruki Okamoto; that’s he’s moved back and forth between Japan and the U.S. three times, that he’ll graduate this week as a junior because he has that many credits, or that he almost didn’t make the team but has hit .343 as the starting second baseman – Monroe Evening News