Today in the MHSAA: Softball Quarterfinals

June 13, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The Girls Softball Finals will be played Thursday and Friday at Michigan State University’s Secchia Stadium. Below is a sampling of coverage of how the 16 qualifiers advanced.

Division 1: No. 2 Clarkston downed No. 1 Hartland 11-3 to advance – Livingston Daily Press & Argus 

Division 1: No. 3 Howell earned a return to Secchia Stadium with a big win over honorable mention Canton – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

Division 1: No. 6 Warren Regina will play for another Division 1 championship after downing Garden City – Detroit News 

Division 1: No. 7 Bay City Western got past Lowell 4-1 to earn a return to East Lansing – Midland Daily News

Division 2: No. 3 Eaton Rapids shut out Ida to move on, 2-0 – Lansing State Journal

Division 2: A freshman and junior pitched No. 4 Stevensville Lakeshore past No. 6 Spring Lake, 3-1 – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium

Division 2: Top-ranked Escanaba earned an opportunity to repeat as champion with a 2-0 win over honorable mention Freeland – Escanaba Daily Press

Division 2: Reese Ruhlman hit three home runs to lead North Branch past St. Clair Shores South Lake – Detroit News

Division 3: No. 7 Standish-Sterling hit a pair of home runs to get past No. 10 Negaunee – Iron Mountain Daily News

Division 3: A big sixth inning pushed No. 2 Dundee past Riverview Gabriel Richard 8-3 – Monroe News

Division 3: Honorable mention Schoolcraft won a high-scoring Quarterfinal over Grandville Calvin Christian 14-6 – Three Rivers Commercial News

Division 3: Top-ranked Millington booked its return to the Semifinals with a big win over Marine City – High School Sports Scene

Division 4: No. 1 Coleman earned another Semifinals trip with a big win over No. 7 Holton – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Division 4: No. 4 Rogers City edged Rudyard 2-1 to also return to the Semifinals – Alpena News

Division 4: No. 2 Kalamazoo Christian won big over Hudson to advance – Kalamazoo Gazette

Division 4: No. 9 Unionville-Sebewaing earned its 13th trip to the Semifinals over the last 14 seasons with a big win over honorable mention Allen Park Inter-City Baptist – Huron Daily Tribune

Today in the MHSAA: 10/19/16

October 19, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

District soccer continued Tuesday and league champions were crowned in volleyball and cross country all over the Lower Peninsula – but the must-see stories are a pair of “good reads” coming out of the Jackson and Alpena 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.

Cross Country

The Caro boys – No. 4 in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – and the No. 6 Shepherd girls won championships at the Tri-Valley Conference all-division final – Saginaw News

The Ubly girls and boys teams repeated as East champions at the Greater Thumb Conference championship race (Ubly's girls are No. 9 in LPD4), and the Reese girls and LPD4 honorable mention Cass City boys repeated as West winners – Huron Daily Tribune

Traverse City West swept the final Big North Conference jamborees, the West boys earning the league title and the Central girls finishing as overall league champion for the 14th straight season. The Central girls are No. 4 in LPD1 and the West girls are an honorable mention – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Harbor Springs’ boys (No. 2 LPD4) kept their undefeated season going with a third straight Lake Michigan Conference final championship, and Traverse City St. Francis (No. 2 LPD3) clinched the girls title – Petoskey News-Review

Boys Soccer

Division 1 No. 2 Portage Northern moved on with a 4-1 District win over Lansing Everett thanks to three goals by Ryan Melgar – Kalamazoo Gazette

Adrian Lenawee Christian freshman Zach Riordan set his school’s scoring record of 36 goals in an 8-0 Division 4 win over Clinton – Adrian Daily Telegram

Girls Swimming & Diving

LPD1 No. 2 Saline got past No. 10 Brighton 112-74 in a matchup of top Division 1 teams – Saline Post

Volleyball

Walled Lake Central repeated as Lakes champion in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association with a five-set win over Brighton – Livingston Daily Argus & Press

Class A top-ranked Novi swept Canton to win its fourth straight KLAA Kensington championship – Oakland Press

Marine City improved to 8-1 in the Macomb Area Conference Gold and clinched a share of the league title with a three-set win over Warren Mott – Port Huron Times Herald

Good Reads

The story of Brooklyn Columbia Central standout running back Micah Raby is captivating, if not from this passage alone about how his adopted parents found him: “Inside the missionary’s hut, on an ordinary table lay an ordinary bible box containing an extraordinary sight, and it caught Doug and Sandy Raby’s eyes and hearts immediately. Inside that bible box – no bigger than a size 10 shoebox – was a 1-month-old boy named Joseph, one of two surviving triplets. His brother did not survive the birth and the birth parents decided to keep the other one, believed to be a girl, because it was the biggest and had the greatest chance of surviving.” – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Lincoln Alcona announcer Don Franklin first gave voice to the school’s athletic events in 1967, and will retire at the end of this school year with 50 years on the microphone announcing football and a number of other sports over a half century – Alpena News