Today in the MHSAA: 6/3/16

June 3, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Nine Upper Peninsula teams won the first MHSAA Finals championships awarded this spring season Thursday, while a number of Lower Peninsula teams positioned themselves for trophy hunts this weekend and beyond.

Girls Golf

Escanaba, Cedarville and Iron Mountain provided some surprises and streak breakers in winning MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals – Second Half

Boys Golf

The top three ranked teams in Lower Peninsula Division 2 played in the same Regional on Thursday – with top ranked Ada Forest Hills Eastern finishing two strokes ahead of No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern and four ahead of No. 3 St. Johns as all three advanced to next weekend – Grand Rapids Press

Jackson Lumen Christi, No. 2 in LP Division 3, won its 11th straight Regional title – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Houghton won its third straight MHSAA title, Carney-Nadeau repeated and St. Ignace also won a championship at Upper Peninsula Finals – Second Half

Girls Soccer

Bay City Western avenged an earlier 5-0 loss with a 1-0 win over Midland in a Division 1 District Semifinal – Bay City Times

Traverse City West downed rival Traverse City Central 1-0 with the lone goal coming in overtime – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Division 1 No. 6 Bloomfield Hills needed a shootout to get past Waterford Mott, 1-0 – Oakland Press

Fennville downed Dowagiac 1-0 in Division 3 to advance to a District Final for the first time – Holland Sentinel

Boys Tennis

Ishpeming Westwood ran its MHSAA title streak to three straight, while a pair of powers shared the Division 1 title – Second Half

Good Read

We’re big fans of playing more than one high school sport, and so we’re big fans of the work of Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills senior Alexis Baskin, who recently received the Michigan High School Coaches Association Rich Tompkins Multi-Sport Athlete Award after earning a combined 12 letters in volleyball, basketball and track & field – Grand Rapids Press

Today in the MHSAA: 4/27/16

April 27, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A southwest Michigan pitcher threw a second straight no-hitter Tuesday, but balls were flying out of the park in that corner of the state’s softball diamonds.

Baseball

Morley Stanwood came back from six runs down to beat Holton and stay atop its division in the Central State Activities Association – Big Rapids News

Maple City Glen Lake improved to 11-1 with a sweep of Frankfort including a walk-off bunt in the second game – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Coldwater’s Nick Shaw threw his second straight no-hitter, this time against Parma Western – Coldwater Daily News

Zeeland East’s Ben Martin struck out nine in a five-inning no-hitter against Muskegon – Holland Sentinel

Softball

Utica Eisenhower handed Utica Ford its first loss this season in a bit of a surprise given last year's results – Macomb Daily

Three Rivers won the first game 15-5 and Sturgis the second 18-11, and together they hit nine home runs over the doubleheader – Sturgis Journal

Stevensville Lakeshore and St. Joseph combined for three grand slams during their doubleheader – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium

From Saturday, Escanaba’s Katie Ross threw a no-hitter to beat Norway in the title game of the inaugural Yooper Tournament at Gladstone – Iron Mountain Daily News

Track & Field

The Cadillac girls picked up two more Big North Conference wins over Traverse City West and Gaylord after beating Traverse City Central last week for the first time in program history – Cadillac News

Grand Haven freshman Gabby Hentemann is quickly making a name for herself after adding her school’s freshman records in the 1,600 and 800 to her previous 3,200 record in a loss to Hudsonville; all three times are second-fastest in school history regardless of class – Grand Haven Tribune