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.)
St. Francis Adds 4th 'C' to 'Character, Commitment and Compassion' - Championship
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
June 14, 2025
EAST LANSING – Traverse City St. Francis senior Charlie Olivier threw up three fingers before heading to the outfield in the seventh inning of Saturday’s Division 3 Final.
It signified more than the three outs the Gladiators would eventually get to accomplish a feat that hadn’t occurred in 35 years.
“At St. Francis, when we arrived in middle school, there were the three Cs – character, commitment and compassion,” Olivier said after a 5-4 win over Marine City at McLane Stadium.
“And it reminded me of the three outs of the seventh inning, and I held up the three just because all we’ve been doing this year is showing character and commitment to this team and showing so much compassion for one another. I wouldn't want to do this with anyone else other than this team.”
Appearing in a Division 3 Final for the third time over the last eight years, the Gladiators (31-8-1) overcame a late rally by the Mariners to hang on and win their first championship since 1990 (in Class D).
“Winning a state title in baseball is so hard, and there are so many things that can happen to lose one baseball game – and not always does the best team win,” said St. Francis coach Tom Passinault, who’s been coaching high school baseball and football since 1993.
“We’ve had some really good teams through the years that got beat, but this team finally did it and turned the corner and made us state champs.”
The Gladiators struck first in the opening inning when junior Matthew Kane ripped an RBI single to score junior Tyler Thompson, who led off the game with a single.
St. Francis added to its lead with a three-run third inning.
Kane delivered another RBI single to make it 2-0, and then Olivier followed with a suicide squeeze to score Sam Wildfong.
After a pitching change, Braxton Lesinski knocked an RBI single past a drawn-in infield with the bases loaded and St. Francis held a 4-0 advantage.
“That was awesome,” Kane said. “I struggled a little bit in the playoffs, so to start the game out 2-for-2 with some RBIs – that was special,” Kane said. “My hard work paid off so I'm happy, and this team is so special. We didn’t lose a single guy from last year and added a freshman, and it's just a brotherhood. The coaching staff is awesome, and it’s been a full team effort. I couldn't be more proud of these guys.”
Harrison Shepherd’s sacrifice fly in the fourth inning scored Thompson to give St. Francis a 5-0 cushion, but Marine City didn’t go away quietly.
The Mariners, playing in their first Final, scored four runs with two outs in the bottom of the inning, courtesy of a hit batsman, a wild pitch and a throwing error.
“It’s kind of what they always do; they battle all the time,” Marine City coach Ryan Felax said. “We haven't been held under four or five runs the whole tournament, so I knew falling down 5-0 wasn't anything and we would be able to battle back. It just was not enough in the end, and this is a tough one to swallow. It just hurts.”
St. Francis starter Tyler Endres held the Mariners hitless through the first three innings before Lanse Vos replaced him in the fifth.
Vos settled down after the rocky end to the fifth inning and retired six of the last seven batters he faced.
“I felt really good at 5-0, and Tyler was mowing,” Passinault said. “We knew we would go with Lanse at some time, and I put him in a bad spot with coming in on a 2-0 (count), but then he had a couple clean innings.
“I’ve been around high school sports for a long time and always been envious of guys who had 30-year reunions for state championships. I’m just ecstatic.”
PHOTOS (Top) Traverse City St. Francis’ Tyler Thompson (2) eludes a tag at home to score one of his two runs during the Division 3 Final. (Middle) The Gladiators’ Tyler Endres delivers a pitch.