By John Raffel
It was three for the price of one.
When the MHSAA closed its spring sports season on June 13, it was with championships in three sports being played at Michigan State University: baseball, soccer, and softball. Fans could walk easily to each site to catch title games in three sports.
MHSAA Assistant director Andy Frushour thought that the three-sports-at-one-site experiment worked out rather well. “We heard nothing but rave reviews. It was a departure from being on two different sites on a Saturday. The facility is fantastic. The people we’ve been working with are fantastic. The people I’m working with are fantastic. I think it was a great showcase for high school sports, having these three events happening at the same time.
“We had 20 communities here Saturday and 40 throughout the weekend.”
Two title games for soccer were staged on Friday and two on Saturday. There was some talk about having all four soccer finals on Saturday, as is done with baseball and softball.
“We could, but you run the risk of any weather issue, like lightning or thunder, and there’s no lights here, you get behind here quickly,” Frushour said. “That’s why we ran it two days. They gave us a lot of flexibility should we have gotten behind or lost some time.”
The soccer stadium was used in 2014 for trophy presentations after the softball and baseball finals so that field crews could work on the diamonds immediately after each game. This year, baseball and softball trophy presentations were behind the soccer stadium.
“It turned out to be a great place to congregate,” Frushour said. “Families can meet with their kids.”
Boys’ soccer title games are in two different locations, and there has been talk of moving them to MSU next fall.
“But it would be harder,” Frushour said. “In the late fall, we like to play on turf, because you never know what the field conditions would be. We pick a high school on the west side and east side, and each play two games. Next fall, we’re at Comstock Park High School and Brighton.”
The girls’ soccer state finals was a one-year deal with MSU.
“I know we had so much great feedback, that I know we’d like to come back, and our schools would like to come back,” Frushour said. “I know Michigan State loves having all these people here. We’re hoping we come back again.”