Today in the MHSAA: 6/9/16

June 9, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The Girls and Boys Lacrosse Semifinals gave us our championship contenders for Saturday's games, and they were joined as well Wednesday by key soccer wins and a pair of baseball milestones.

Boys Lacrosse

Birmingham Brother Rice will play for its 12th straight Division 1 championship after downing Detroit U-D Jesuit 17-4 in a Semifinal – Oakland Press

Detroit Catholic Central held Detroit County Day scoreless during the second half to advance in Division 1 with a 13-5 Semifinal win – Oakland Press

East Grand Rapids downed Okemos 16-15 in double overtime to get back to the Division 2 Final – Grand Rapids Press

After falling to Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood in the postseason the last three years, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central earned a championship game berth with a 17-7 win over the Cranes – Grand Rapids Press

Girls Lacrosse

Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood started on a 7-0 run in downing Farmington Hills Mercy 22-4 in a Division 2 Semifinal – Oakland Press

Four-time reigning Division 2 champion East Grand Rapids will play for a fifth straight title after downing Okemos 14-7 in a Semifinal – Grand Rapids Press

Three-time reigning Division 1 champion Rockford earned another trip to the Finals with a 23-7 win over Hartland – Livingston Daily

Birmingham United advanced to its first MHSAA lacrosse championship game since 2012 with a 16-4 win over Ann Arbor Pioneer in Division 1.

Girls soccer

The closest of four Regional games across the state came in Division 4, where Montrose got past Harbor Springs 2-0 – Petoskey News

Baseball

Shepherd baseball coach Jack Nartker retired after 27 seasons and a final 5-4 win over Beal City; his record is 647-288-7 – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Grand Ledge avenged a District loss to Holt with a comeback win to claim the Capital Area Diamond Classic championship 7-3 and finish 31-4 – Lansing State Journal

Today in the MHSAA: 5/23/16

May 23, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

It’s been an exciting few days especially for our track & field and girls tennis teams, which competed in Regionals over the weekend – with some of the many highlights among those linked below.

Baseball

Battle Creek Lakeview’s Ethan Eldridge threw a shutout to lead his team over Harper Creek for their all-city championship, 3-0 – Battle Creek Enquirer

Division 1 No. 4 Rockford swept Division 3 No. 1 Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett 4-1 and 4-2 – Detroit Free Press

Girls Soccer

Pontiac Notre Dame Prep won its first Detroit Catholic League A-B championship in this sport, downing Warren Regina in an overtime shootout – Oakland Press

Softball

Sierra Stoepker drilled a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 14th inning to lead Lake Odessa Lakewood to a 10-9 win over DeWitt in the championship game of the Lansing Softball Classic – Lansing State Journal

Napoleon (32-1) outscored its opponents 32-5 to win a second straight Al Glick Tournament championship, beating Parma Western 3-0 in the final – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Petoskey won the Lansing Waverly Invitational, opening with a 5-4 win over two-loss Grand Ledge – Petoskey News

Division 3 No. 4 Clinton beat Division 2 No. 7 Muskegon Oakridge and later Division 3 No. 9 Reese for the Best of Michigan Tournament title at Byron Center – Adrian Dailey Telegram

Girls Tennis

Bay City All Saints won its first Regional and qualified for the MHSAA Finals for the first time since 1992 – Bay City Times

Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern edged East Grand Rapids by three points to win its 15th straight Regional, in Division 2 – Grand Rapids Press

Edwardsburg claimed its first Regional title as well, dominating the field to finish six points ahead of the rest in Division 3 – Kalamazoo Gazette

Ludington shared its Division 3 Regional title with Whitehall, and in the process No. 1 doubles pair Julia Flewelling and Claire Maltbie won their 100th match to break the school’s doubles record – Muskegon Chronicle

Division 4 No. 3 Kalamazoo Hackett swept singles to finish ahead of No. 5 Kalamazoo Christian in their Regional – Kalamazoo Gazette

Track & Field

Lake Linden-Hubbell swept boys and girls Regionals for the first time since 1998 – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

The Reese girls edged Frankenmuth 122-121 to win their first Regional title in 22 years – Saginaw News

The Addison boys won their first Regional since 1995, beating Petersburg Summerfield by 12 points, 124-112 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

The Blanchard Montabella girls won their first Regional title, with the Division 4 victory also the school's first at that level of tournament competition in any sport since 2003 – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Good Read

The Grandville Calvin Christian baseball team will take part this week in fundraising for the medical care of Kyle Petrlich, who is awaiting a second heart transplant and in December required CPR from her brother Griffin, a player on the Calvin Christian baseball team – Grand Rapids Press