Paying Tribute with Diamond Donation
May 14, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Rochester Adams and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood baseball players and coaches both had loved ones on their minds when they took the field at Comerica Park earlier this month.
And they paid tribute to those loved ones over their hearts and across the backs of their jerseys.
Together, the teams raised more than $3,500 for the Coaches vs. Cancer research initiative.
Instead of its usual brown and yellow, Adams wore jerseys of light blue with a green ribbon as the middle “A” in its name across the front in honor of those suffering with lymphoma, including 2011 graduate and former standout Matt Williams.
Cranbrook-Kingswood wore dark blue jerseys with a pink ribbon as the “A” in Cranbrook and with lime green writing on the back as the Cranes remembered longtime coach Jack Sanders, who died in 2012 after also battling lymphoma.
Sanders’ was among names adorning the backs of jerseys, along with other cancer victims the players and coaches knew.
Adams won the May 1 game, 18-3. Click to read more from the Oakland Press’ Keith Dunlap, who leading up to the game detailed both Williams’ fight and Sanders’ longtime contributions.
Net finder
Lake Fenton’s Jordan Newman will finish her high school soccer career later this spring as the top goal-scorer in MHSAA girls soccer history.
The Blue Devils’ senior forward broke the career record on April 28, scoring her 169th goal against Perry to pass the mark set by Newaygo’s Jaleen Dingledine from 2004-07. Newman also is a four-year varsity player.
Click to read more on her record run from the Flint Journal's Eric Woodyard.
5 K, 1 IP
The MHSAA doesn't keep a record for most strikeouts in an inning. But if it did, there’s a great chance Brighton’s Garrett Russell would top the list.
Against Ann Arbor Pioneer on April 5, Russell struck out five batters in an inning.
Yes, five.
Here’s how:
Russell struck out the first two batters of the inning swinging, leaving one out to get. He then struck out that third batter as well, but that batter reached first base because the third strike turned into a wild pitch.
The fourth batter of the inning was the only one to not strike out – he walked, putting runners on first and second base with two outs. Those runners advanced to second and third base, respectively, on a wild pitch thrown to the fifth batter of the inning.
That fifth batter then struck out swinging (which made it four strikeouts in the inning), but that third strike turned into a passed ball – and that batter ended up on first base, loading them for the sixth hitter of the inning.
But Russell found enough for one more K, striking out that sixth hitter swinging on a 2-2 pitch.
His line for the inning: 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 bases on balls, 5 strikeouts.
Brighton went on to sweep the doubleheader 12-4 and 11-1.
Family ties
Basketball clearly runs in a pair of families who have come through Corunna High School.
This winter, brothers M.J. and Mikhail Myles both scored their 1,000th career points – M.J., a senior, on Jan. 3 and Mikhail, a junior, in the team’s District Semifinal on March 5.
On Feb. 18, senior Payton Birchmeier became the fifth player in girls program history to score her 1,000th point – despite scoring only four points as a freshman before suffering a season-ending knee injury in her first high school game. She became the first Corunna girl to score 1,000 since her sister Megan finished accomplishing the feat in 2010.
Payton Birchmeier went on to play her final three seasons also on varsity, and M.J. Myles also was a four-year varsity player. Mykhail Myles has played three on varsity with next season still to play. The Myles' stepsister Klarissa Bell this winter finished an outstanding career at Michigan State University and won the Miss Basketball Award as a senior at East Lansing High School in 2010, and stepbrother Devlin Bell also was a Trojans standout.
PHOTOS: (Top) Rochester Adams players congratulate each other during their May 1 game at Comerica Park. (Middle) The Adams' first baseman and a Cranbrook-Kingswood base runner await the next pitch. (Photos courtesy of Rochester Adams baseball.)
Down to Last Game, Kearsley Boys Storm Back to Complete Finals 3-Peat
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
February 28, 2025
WATERFORD — The best part for Flint Kearsley bowling coach Bart Rutledge was that he didn’t really have to say a word.
After Kearsley fell behind New Boston Huron 2-1 in the best-of-five Baker game championship match for the Division 2 title, Rutledge quickly huddled his boys team.
Just as quickly, he left the huddle.
There really was no inspirational speech needed for a group of bowlers who had been part of Kearsley’s team that won the last two Division 2 Finals, including last year when the Hornets rallied from an 0-2 deficit.
“They took ownership of it,” Rutledge said of his bowlers. “I told them it’s not over, and they took it from there. They had their own huddle and told each other what they needed to say.”
Whatever was said certainly worked, as Kearsley stormed back to take the final two games (249-226 and 186-166) to make history.
For the first time, the Kearsley boys team had won its third-straight Finals title. Pulling off that feat left Rutledge and his bowlers in tears as they hugged each other in celebration.
Junior anchor bowler Jameson Vanier shed way more tears over this team title than he did last year when he won the individual championship.
“It feels nice to finally have the guys out there on the same platform as the girls,” said Vanier, referring to the girls program that entered this weekend having won nine of the last 11 Division 2 championships.
After Kearsley won the first game 219-204, New Boston Huron rolled to a 248-168 win in the second and then took the third game, 217-203.
The fifth game was close until Kearsley started to separate after Huron failed to get a mark in the sixth, seventh and eighth frames.
“Our spare shooting has been our downfall, and it came back to bite us,” New Boston Huron coach Larry Collins said. “The spares that were missed were by underclassmen, so they’ll learn from this. It stings, but they’ll get better.”
Eventually, Vanier stepped up in the 10th frame. All he needed was a mark to sew up the title.
He delivered a strike and then erupted in celebration along with his teammates and Kearsley supporters.
Vanier said he actually felt more pressure during that moment than at any time during his run to the singles title last year.
“It was 100 percent more,” he said. “Last year, I was just having fun. This year, it came down to the last shot, and I told myself that this was the exact place I want to be.”
Kearsley was the No. 2 seed out of the qualifying block and posted a five-game win over Madison Heights Lamphere in the quarterfinals, winning the fifth game 198-191.
Kearsley then recorded a three-game sweep of Three Rivers to set up the championship match with Huron, which was the top seed out of qualifying.
Rutledge said through it all, he didn’t sense his squad felt any pressure trying to go for its historic three-peat. Not even seeing the Hornets girls fall in the semifinal round caused Kearsley to lose focus on its mission.
“I never doubted it from the start,” Rutledge said.
New Boston Huron earned a four-game win over league rival Carleton Airport in the quarterfinals before recording a three-game sweep of Sparta in the semifinals.