Today in the MHSAA: 6/1/16

June 1, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Softball, baseball, and girls soccer MHSAA tournaments kicked off Tuesday and were filled with exciting matchups – but highlights were hardly reserved for just those three sports during one of our busiest days of competition each school year.

Baseball

Division 1 No. 5 Bay City Western got past rival Mount Pleasant for the final time this season, downing the No. 6 Oilers 7-3 to open their District – Bay City Times

Boys Lacrosse

No. 3 Okemos downed No. 7 Vicksburg 19-10 in a Division 2 Regional Semifinal at DeWitt – Lansing State Journal

Girls Soccer

Division 2 No. 3 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep downed Catholic League rival and No. 8 Warren Regina in the first round of their District – Oakland Press

Libby Amley assisted on the first goal and scored the game winner with 50 seconds to play at Bay City John Glenn came back to beat Bay City Central 2-1 in Division 2 – Bay City Times

Goodrich scored its game’s only goal in overtime to get past St. Clair 1-0 in Division 3 – Flint Journal

Softball

Bay City Western opened the postseason with a 1-0 win over Mount Pleasant in a matchup of teams earning honorable mentions in Division 1 – Bay City Times

Flat Rock’s Lauren Hoffman drove in the tying run in the seventh inning and the winner in the ninth to lead her team past New Boston Huron 5-4 – Monroe Evening News

Track & Field

Jackson’s Anthony Owens is on his way to perhaps graduating as the top long jumper in MHSAA history after breaking the 39-year-old record at the Selby Track & Field Classic with a leap of 24 feet, 8 inches – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Clare’s Kasey Staley tied the pole vault record of 11-6 at the Morning Sun Meet of Champions, matching the best by former Remus Chippewa Hills star and potential Olympian Kristen Hixson – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Today in the MHSAA: 6/6/16

June 6, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Another busiest week – and busiest day – in MHSAA sports is in the books. So too are Finals champions in track & field and girls tennis, and hundreds of District champions in baseball, softball and girls soccer and Regional champions in girls and boys lacrosse.

We touch on the statewide media coverage of just some of the highlights below.

Baseball

Top-ranked Coldwater won its fifth straight District title, downing No. 10 Marshall 8-4 in the championship game in Division 2 – Battle Creek Enquirer

Unranked Beaverton emerged from a Division 3 District that included No. 2 Sanford Meridian and No. 3 Clare – Midland Daily News

Birmingham Groves got past Birmingham Brother Rice 8-6 in Division 1 to win its first District championship since 2005 – Oakland Press

Boys Lacrosse

Birmingham Brother Rice received a rare scare before downing Clarkston 9-6 in Division 1 – Observer & Eccentric

Okemos won its second straight Division 2 Regional title by surviving Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 9-8 – Lansing State Journal

Girls Lacrosse

Reigning Division 2 champion East Grand Rapids needed overtime to survive, 11-9, against Grand Rapids Catholic Central – Fox17

Rockford just edged Grand Rapids Forest Hills United 9-8 to move on in Division 1 – Grand Rapids Press

Girls Soccer

Division 3 No. 6 Freeland won its seventh straight District title, this time with a 4-1 championship game clincher over Alma – Midland Daily News

Division 4 No. 2 Elk Rapids moved to 21-0 this season with an 8-0 championship game win over No. 14 Leland – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Softball

Blissfield downed No. 6 Dundee to start Saturday, but top-ranked Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central beat Blissfield 4-1 in 10 innings in the Division 3 championship game – Adrian Daily Telegram

After seeing a 10-year District streak snapped in 2015, New Baltimore Anchor Bay made it 11 in 12 seasons with a 2-1 avenging of last year’s loss to Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse in Division 1 – Macomb Daily

Fulton won its first District title in this sport, downing rival Fowler 8-3 in the Division 4 championship game – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Girls Tennis

Four MHSAA Lower Peninsula tennis teams won championships: Midland Dow in Division 1 after finishing runner-up in 2015, Bloomfield Hills Marian in Division 2 for the first time since 2013, Detroit County Day in Division 3 breaking a five-year hold on the title by Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, and Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart in a repeat in Division 4 – Second Half

Girls Track & Field

We covered all seven championship meets across both peninsulas, with the following teams winning titles: Oak Park, Lansing Waverly, Ithaca, Fowler, Marquette, Ishpeming and Ontonagon. Ithaca and Lansing Waverly's titles were their first, and Ontonagon’s its first since 1974 – Second Half

Boys Track & Field

We also covered all seven boys meets, with the following champions: Oak Park, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Sanford Meridian, Saugatuck, Marquette, Ishpeming and Rapid River. Oak Park’s title was its first in the sport – Second Half