Today in the MHSAA: 6/15/16
June 15, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The first four girls soccer finalists and the 32 baseball and softball semifinalists were determined Tuesday across the state, with links below from all four soccer semifinals and some of the most dramatic diamond Quarterfinal finishes.
Baseball
New Lothrop scored six runs in the seventh inning to come all the way back and down Standish-Sterling 6-5 in Division 3 – Flint Journal
Gaylord St. Mary will play in a Semifinal for the first time since 1989 after downing Norway 6-2 – Traverse City Record-Eagle
Linden will be back in the MHSAA Semifinals for the first time since 2004 thanks to a 2-0 extra-inning win over Gaylord – Flint Journal
Dearborn Divine Child also needed extra innings to eliminate Detroit Country Day 4-3 in Division 2 – Oakland Press
Portland St. Patrick eliminated reigning Division 4 champion Muskegon Catholic Central 3-2 – Ionia Sentinel-Standard
Girls Soccer
Rochester Hills Stoney Creek dominated a 4-1 overtime shootout to come away with a 2-1 Semifinal win over Novi in Division 1 – Oakland Press
Canton dealt the first and only loss this season to Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central – Grand Rapids Press
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett returned to the MHSAA Finals for the first time since 2005 with a 1-0 win over top-ranked Lansing Christian – MLive-Detroit
Montrose will play in its first MHSAA Final in girls soccer thanks to a 3-0 win over Muskegon Western Michigan Christian in Division 4 – Flint Journal
Softball
Vicksburg scored five runs in the first inning on the way to downing reigning Division 2 champion Wayland 14-2 – Grand Rapids Press
Macomb Dakota added to this season’s firsts with its first Semifinal berth, downing Garden City 6-0 in Division 1 – Macomb Daily
Midland made its first MHSAA Semifinals in 28 years with an 8-1 win over Rockford in Division 1 – Midland Daily News
Division 4 top-ranked Coleman fell to Holton in the Quarterfinals for the second straight season, this time 6-3 – Muskegon Chronicle
Farmington Hills Mercy got past Lake Orion 11-7 in Division 1 as the teams combined for 19 hits – Oakland Press
In Division 3, 42-1 Millington earned its first Semifinal berth with a 1-0 win over Shepherd – Saginaw News
Today in the MHSAA: 8/24/15
August 24, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
All MHSAA fall sports but football kicked off competition last week, with cross country, boys soccer, girls swimming and diving and volleyball starting Saturday.
Below are some notable headlines from the first weekend of this season, plus links to coverage.
Cross Country
St. Johns hosted its second “Under the Lights” meets Friday; Ithaca’s girls and Saugatuck’s boys bested fields loaded with much larger opponents – Lansing State Journal
The St. Joseph girls and Bridgman boys won championships at the Niles Stampede – the St. Joseph girls, who finished fourth in Lower Peninsula Division 2 last season, by a large margin – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
Girls Golf
Maple City Glen Lake’s Nichole Cox, last season’s LP Division 4 individual champion, came back to defeat Brighton freshman Annie Pietila at the two-day Lober Invitational at Grand Traverse Resort – Traverse City Record-Eagle
Boys Soccer
Two of the state’s powers met in the championship game of the Detroit Country Day Tournament on Saturday – with 2013 Division 1 runner-up Bloomfield Hills downing the host Yellowjackets 1-0 in a shootout – Oakland Press
Girls Swimming & Diving
Howell won its Kenzie Klassic, which honors swimmer Mackenize Watts, who died in 2005 at age 15. The school also raised enough money to award three scholarships and begin funding cardiac-related causes – Livingston Daily
Volleyball
Novi won the Lakeshore Classic by coming back after losing the first two games to beat Grand Haven 3-2 in a rematch of a 2014 Class A Semifinal – Muskegon Chronicle
Battle Creek Harper Creek, for the first time, won the gold championship at the long-running Carrie Adams Memorial Tournament hosted by reigning Class D champion Battle Creek St. Philip – Battle Creek Enquirer
Good Read
Mike Steele, a Midland Dow grad and now pitching coach at Long Beach State in California, argues that parents need to raise their athletes to compete instead of providing specific training in one sport – Midland Daily News