Article - High School Sports Scene

By John Raffel

Beal City desperately wanted to get that elusive state title for its seniors when its baseball team matched talents with New Lothrop in the Division 4 state championship game.

But New Lothrop had other plans in posting the 5-0 victory June 14 at Michigan State University.

New Lothrop was superior in soaring to its first state title. Grant Steinborn threw a seven-hit shutout for the victors.

“It’s like the baseball gods were not with us today,” Beal City coach Brad Antcliff said. “We didn’t play our best game, and that’s a reflection by the score. We lost 5-0.”

Kurt Gross started and went two innings, allowing one run. Ty Rollin went the final six and allowed four runs on eight hits.

“Their kid threw very well,” Antcliff said. “Kurt Gross did a great job. It was a tough call, and I had to make the call.”

Antcliff was asked if he felt snakebitten after four straight seasons of falling short. “Baseball’s a funny game,” he said. “You can’t walk people, you can’t hit people. When you get the opportunity, you have to score. New Lothrop did that.”

As a student at Chippewa Hills, Antcliff was a standout in other sports, including football. But his baseball coaching career that started eight years ago in Beal City has been one amazing success story for the former Warrior.

The Aggies ended this season at 36-4. Antcliff’s eight-year record is a glittering 260-43-3 and includes state titles in 2009 and 2010.

The Aggies played a relatively easy semifinal and chalked up an 11-1 victory over Kalamazoo Christian. A six-run fourth inning blew it open. The Aggies ended the game after six innings on the mercy rule. Gross had a hit and two RBI while Ryan Tilmann contributed two hits.

Antcliff used Rollin for four shutout innings and had Gross finish up the final two.

“We’ve been an aggressive team since I’ve been here, and we’re going to stay aggressive,” Antcliff said. “We’re going to make the other team make plays. We talked about that since Tuesday [in the quarterfinal 7-0 win over All Saints Catholic] that we need to put the ball in play and make them make the plays. We had a few flyouts that I’m not happy real about. But the kids played great baseball. They did exactly what I wanted them to do.”

Getting early leads is important for the Aggies. That why Antcliff called for a suicide squeeze with runners on third and no outs against Kalamazoo Christian.

“We’re going to score as quickly and as many as possible, because now I have Ty for six innings [Saturday],” he said.

Rollin was pitching on two days rest and gave up some hits early.

“I’m sure he was tired,” Antcliff said. “But he wants the ball. He wants to throw [in the title game]. That’s all I could ask. This is a totally different atmosphere. You’re playing at East Lansing at a Big Ten school. We’re not playing in rural Beal City. I’m sure he had a little bit of jitters. But he threw fine. He only was at 54 pitches, a little higher than on Tuesday. He still threw well.”

Antcliff and his players couldn’t deny how badly they wanted this title. “The drive is to win a state championship,” Antcliff said. “These guys have finished runner-up three times [twice in football, once in baseball]. That’s all we’ve talked about. There’s people who have doubted them. They’ve responded every time. We played one of the best teams in the state in Muskegon Catholic. In the seventh inning, we could have folded. But these kids responded. That’s all I can ask.”

The Aggies beat Muskegon Catholic Central 3-1 in the regional final.

“That was the plan and what I wanted to do,” Rollin said of his four innings against Kalamazoo Christian. “My [arm] feels great. [Velocity] was the same as normal. No problem there.”

He’s 5’7½”, 155 pounds and maintains a lot of talent.

“I make sure I hit my spots,” Rollin said. “That’s the most important job of pitching.”

But against New Lothrop, Rollin and his teammates couldn’t get over the hump and again had to settle for the state runner-up trophy.

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New Lothrop had plans to upend Beal City in its quest for the state title.

Mission accomplished.

Grant Steinborn scattered seven hits over seven innings, walking two batters and fanning four, in leading his team to a 5-0 Division 4 baseball state championship win June 14 at Michigan State.

The Hornets finished at 34-6 for their first state title and dashed the hopes of Beal City, 36-4. The Aggies had been hoping to get the title after faltering in the title game a year ago.

But Steinborn got the job done for the Hornets in the title game, as did Quentin Taylor with two hits, a run scored, and RBI and Brodie Bennett with two hits and one RBI, plus a walk, from his No. 9 spot in the order.

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Bay City Western accomplished a rare, but not unheard of, feat when it won won state titles in both baseball and softball in the same season June 14 at Michigan State University.

Bay City Western’s baseball team, however, became the first repeat champion in Division 1 when it edged Grosse Pointe South 6-2.

The girls, who were runners-up last season, came out on top this time with a 4-2 win over Portage Central.

Hannah Leppek allowed two runs on three hits and struck out six to lead Western to its first Division 1 softball title. Kaylynn Carpenter, Blair Miller, and Melissa Wegner had one hit and one RBI apiece for Bay City Western, which ended the year with a 41-3 record.

Rick Garlinghouse, with a 10-year record of 326-77-3 at Western, was finally able to clutch the state trophy.

His team had gotten off to a 2-0 lead in the final. “Two runs, I thought, might be enough,” he said, adding that he was confident that the Warriors would hold back a late-game Portage Central rally. “We were in the championship game last year. We played a tough schedule this year. Beating Hudsonville, Romeo, and Portage Central, we deserved what we got here. No one can say we backed in.”

Garlinghouse admitted that as soon as the 2013 season ended, his girls were thinking about 2014.

“They came right in the first day of tryouts, and after we picked our team, we went over our goals, and that was our goal to win the state championship,” he said. “We lost two games back-to-back in a tournament after we beat the state champs from last year, Mattawan, in a tournament. Then we lost to Bullock Creek and Sanford Meridian. I think they went down there just to beat Mattawan. That sent me a message right there that if they want to come out, they can play.”

The Warriors definitely appeared ready to go.

“The only thing I ask them to do is play all 21 outs, don’t give up, and play hard,” Garlinghouse said. “I think we’ve been doing that.”

Bay City Western’s baseball team joined the girls’ squad as state champion a few hours later. Justin Gorr had two hits and two RBI for Western.

Jason Clark, sophomore, threw a three-hitter for a Western team that’s the first in Division 1 to win back-to-back baseball state titles and that finished the year with a 38-7 record.

Western scored three runs in the first inning and built a 6-0 lead.

“Getting those three runs early were humongus,” said coach Tim McDonald. “We had some great at-bats the first two innings. Their pitcher made some good pitches. We had two out-hits, which are so huge.”

Gorr, a senior, loved every moment of it.

“We only had two returners; it’s a whole new team,” he said. “We didn’t have any returning pitchers from last year. To get the support of the young kids, all the contributions were great.”

Gorr was on the team last season but was hurt and unable to play.

“Last year, everyone expected us to be in the state championship, but this year, everyone was looking down on us that we couldn’t do it,” he said. “To prove them wrong is an amazing feeling.”

The state title win was a sweet one for McDonald, who is 602-205-7 over 22 seasons.

“It was an almost flawless performance from one through nine,” he said. “You dream of coming out and playing like that, but you never know how high school kids are going to react.”

The Warriors blanked Lapeer West 5-0 and Flushing 6-0 in the regionals and Jenison 2-0 in the quarterfinal. Against Clarkston in the semifinal, the Warriors prevailed 6-1. That equates to a 25-3 scoring advantage in the final five games.

“We’ve played our best in the biggest games this year,” McDonald said. “We’ve had big games in our conference to help us win our conference. When the tournament started, I don’t think they felt pressure because of last year. It was pressure because it’s a one-and-done tournament. That’s why some really good teams slip up and get knocked off. These guys never ever even flinched, and they deserve it. There’s more talented teams, but you can’t play better than they did.

“Seniors, they know this can be their last game in high school. Sometimes the underclassmen know there’s always a tomorrow. But for seven tournament games, that was as good a display of baseball that you’re going to see.”

McDonald acknowledged that expectations were different between the 2013 and the 2014 state championship runs. “Last year, it wasn’t as surprising,” he said. “The state championship has sort of a numb feeling to it. I’ve won some championships as a player back in the day, but it’s different as a coach. We told them at our meeting [Friday] night that a lot of these guys have won championships, but there’s something special about winning with your buddies and kids you’ve grown up with. Now maybe they’ll know what I mean.”

McDonald had to admit that after winning the 2013 title, he wasn’t exactly making guarantees of another one in 2014.

“I treasured last year’s championship for a long time, and every time I see the guys from last year, there’s a bond that will never be broken,” McDonald said. “Now this year’s group gets to enjoy that. I’ll never say either one was better. It’s different. It’s so hard to do. You have to be able to perform and do all the things championship teams do to win it.”

McDonald admitted to treasuring the fact that he has the first team to win back-to-back titles.

“We’ve had other teams good enough to contend for a state title, but we’d run into other good teams at some point,” he said. “Or you just don’t get a break. There’s a certain culture of success for our baseball program. Even though there’s lot of new faces, there was some carry over from last year to this year. I told reporters over the course of the year that I had to walk a fine line all year, that you don’t want to dwell on last year. You need to turn the page. We had to establish our own identity. We did it the same way.”

It’s not inconceivable that both the boys’ and the girls’ Western teams could make another run at state titles next season.

“We’re sitting good,” Garlinghouse said. “This was a whole new infield for us, except for shortstop and pitcher. We lose four seniors, by no means easy to replace. But every year, there’s 25 percent turnover on a team.”

“It feels really great,” said sophomore second baseman Kelsie Popp. “There’s a lot of girls that have a lot of things going for them in softball. To be a part of a team that’s so family-oriented and we are all kind of like sisters, it’s great to be on this team. It’s our team chemistry. If we didn’t have that and each other’s back, I feel we wouldn’t have been able to come as far as we have.

“We felt we were good. We hoped we could show it. The [opposing] teams never gave up. We knew they were not going to go down without a fight. So were we.”

The baseball-softball sweep “was fun,” Popp said. “We both wanted it. We both have support for each other. We watch theirs, they watch ours.”

“The girls were there last year, couldn’t finish it off, but got it this year,” Gorr said. “To have two state championships in the same year for Bay City Western is great.”

“It’s a good day to be a Warrior,” McDonald said. “I’ll probably say that a hundred times. The girls had a lot of pressure on them. They made no secret about what their goal was this year. We really took this one goal at a time. That’s what we did last year.”

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The winning pitcher for Bay City Western in the Division 1 state title baseball game was an unlikely hero in many respects. But sophomore Jason Clark got the job done with a 6-2 complete-game victory.

Clark got the call against Grosse Pointe South, and in nine innings allowed two runs on three hits with no walks and five strikeouts. He was perfect through the first four innings.

He allowed two runs in the bottom of the fifth with his team leading 6-0. But Clark was able to bear down and keep the Blue Devils at bay.

“I’ve been doing that all year. If I have a bad inning, I stay focused so I don’t screw up my momentum,” he said, adding that he felt more confident as the game went on, and it was easier to pitch when he had the lead. “I started to speed up my momentum, stay focused on the game and not try to get side tracked.”

It was a performance Clark won’t forget for a long time. “I was excited as I could be,” he said. “I was happy I had my team behind me again like always. They’ve been behind me the whole year. They’re always going to be behind me.”

All his pitches were working in the title game. “The only thing that was off was my changeup,” he said. “My fastball was right on key. I was trying to hit the corners.”

“It was hard to get a read on him the last couple of days,” said coach Tim McDonald. “He’s a pretty quiet kid anyway. All we told him [Friday night] is you can’t play the game, but you can start preparing for it and get yourself mentally ready. I think the seniors and some of the veterans were pretty good about keeping him calm and getting a lot of positive energy.”

Ironically, Clark was not on the 2013 state championship team for Western.

“I was in Pony League, and we went to the Pony League World Series last year, so I didn’t go up with [the varsity],” Clark said.

Only two returning starters were back for the Warriors.

“It’s not just a one-time thing,” Clark said. “We’re a great baseball school.”

Going back-to-back for boys’ titles was a personal thrill for Clark. Winning a state title alongside the Bay City Western softball team was also fun.

“It’s awesome both teams can win and show that Western is a great school,” Clark said. “That’s what we wanted to do. It’s overall amazing. We had to win. Now we can be enjoying it together.”

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Hannah Leppek was at her best when she needed to be.

She got the pitching job done for Bay City Western in a 4-2 state championship victory over Portage Central in Division 1 . Leppek allowed two runs on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts. She allowed a solo home run by Portage Central center fielder Lee Foerster.

“My drop ball was probably working the best today,” she said. “The home run came off a rise ball.”

An early 2-0 lead for Western gave Leppek the confidence she needed.

“When we got those two runs, I felt pretty confident and relaxed from there,” she said.

With a 4-1 lead, Leppek had to get through a tense seventh inning in which two runners got on and one scored for the Mustangs. Coach Rick Garlinghouse came out to talk to his pitcher and infielder.

“He reminded us the runs on the bases don’t mean anything,” Leppek said. “We need outs and to relax.”

Leppek had a hit in the title game.

In Thursday’s 2-1 semifinal victory 2-1 over Romeo, she had two hits and one RBI and scored a run. In the circle, she allowed one run on four hits, one walk, and six strikeouts.

Leppek was ready for the Bay City Western sweep. The softball team won its title first, and a few hours later, the Western baseball team followed suit.

“We’re going to watch the boys and cheer them on first,” she grinned. “I have no words, I feel great. I’m on top of the world, especially after last year. It would have been disappointing if we were not state champions.”

Western had hoped to make it a two-title celebration in 2013 but the softball team lost 2-1 to Mattawan.

This year, the Warriors doubled their pleasure.

“It’s awesome,” Leppek said. “We can support each other, and we’ve always had strong teams. To go all the way with them means a lot.”

“She’s had to overcome her injuries and ended up with a college scholarship,” said Garlinghouse. “Phenomenal player. I like that look on her face when she walks back to the mound and goes walking up to the rubber. I’m going to miss that.”

Winning the title along with the boys “is awesome,” Leppek said. “This year we connected as a team. I want to celebrate with them.”

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The Belding Redskins enjoyed another terrific softball season. Unfortunately, it ended too soon.

They were trying to stretch their regional championship streak to five but fell to Allendale 12-9 in the regional semifinal. They fought back from an 11-0 deficit before losing by three runs.

“We played hard to the end,” said coach Mikayla Linebaugh. “The girls never quit believing.”

Senior shortstop Rachel Hunt, who sat out the entire game with a sore hip, left a huge hole to fill.

Seven errors, including several early while Allendale built an 11-run lead, were also critical against the Redskins.

Three straight singles in the fifth helped Belding make it an 11-2 game and avoid the mercy-rule ending. Greta Wilker, who earlier in the game flied out to the centerfield fence, crushed a 3-run homer, and Alyviah Mason followed a few batters later with a two-run single to make it 12-7. Belding scored two more before the final out.

The Redskins ended the season at 18-12 and as district champions.

Belding graduates six seniors but will return a junior and six sophomores.

“You have to set your standards high,” Linebaugh said. “We’ll get back here. Nobody wants to be done when you get there.

“We’ll have some third-year players next year. We’ll go after it.”

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Robert Backus was deadly in the state finals as Mount Pleasant’s leadoff hitter, and he got the job done in the drive to the Division 2 state title.

Backus, the second baseman and leadoff hitter, had two hits and two RBI and scored one run in his team’s 7-2 victory over Richmond in the title game. In his team’s semifinal victory over Gull Lake, Backus had a hit and scored a run.

“It feels awesome,” he said. “It’s an amazing way to end my high school career. It’s crazy; can’t believe it.”

Mount Pleasant has established itself as a baseball-rich community. “Since 2007, they’ve been back here to the semis and finals,” said Backus. “Last year, we were in the quarterfinals. That made our senior class hungry. We came here with fire in our bellies and were ready to go.

“This is a great community and great coaching. It’s what Mount Pleasant is all about.”

Backus could feel the confidence from his team. “We’ve just been going since the playoffs, and our pitching has been outstanding, and we’ve been hitting the ball really well,” Backus said, adding that his team’s quick lead against Richland was huge. “I love leading off, and even more, I like leading off the game with a base hit. That’s the goal of a leadoff hitter. When I can do that, I live it. It sets the tone for the game.”

It’s his second season on varsity.

“I had a change of roles from last year, being a senior,” he said. “I had to step up, be a role model, and be a leader for all the younger guys. We had a lot of sophomores and juniors, even a freshman.”

Plenty of work was invested into the off-season to reach this moment.

“It really paid off,” he said. “This is what I’ve been dreaming about since I was a little kid, watching them win it in 2007. It’s what I and all the other seniors always wanted to do.”

Backus is now ready to take his talents to Northwood University, a Division II school that competes in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

“There’s a couple of guys from teams I played with before that played there,” he said. “I’m looking forward to new things and good opportunities that will come for me.”

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Mount Pleasant is on top of the baseball world again.

The Oilers defeated Richmond 7-2 on June 14 at Michigan State University to take their first Division 2 title since 2007. They also won the Class A title under coach Luke Epple in 1996.

This time, the Oilers dominated Richmond. They fired out to a 4-0 lead early in the game.

Senior Aaron Leasher had seven solid innings of four-hit pitching, walking three and fanning seven. His fastball did the trick.

“I couldn’t get my curveball across,” he said. “I was struggling in the early innings. My fastball was working well. As the game went on, I started getting my curveball across.”

Robert Backus, the Oilers’ talented second baseman, had two hits and two RBI, while Dean Marais added two hits.

“The consistency of practices―moving runner and sacrifices―that’s the biggest thing that worked for us today,” Leasher said. “It’s a great feeling, to be twice down here in one year; obviously basketball wasn’t the way we wanted it to end. It’s a great experience to play in Breslin in the arena over there.”

Epple saluted his team’s pitching staff throughout the tournament, which included 5-0 and 5-1 wins in the regionals over Clio and John Glenn, 5-0 over Gladwin in the quarterfinal, and 7-1 over Gull Lake in the semifinal. Hunter Buczkowski had a five-hitter in seven innings of work in the semifinal.

“We have some other good pitchers,” Epple said. “We had to go with those two. They were dominating all the way through. They dominated all the way through the regular season. They have a couple of losses each, but they were like 1-0 and lost to Bay City Western (Division 1 state champion). We knew if we could move the ball a little bit and score some runs, but make the plays we should make, we had a good chance of winning it. They believe it.”

Epple noted that the program continues to celebrate the memory of his father and former Oiler coach Joe Epple.

“He got cancer in 2007 when we won the state, and we dedicated [the title] to him,” Epple said. “He had bone marrow cancer. In 2008, we did the same. We lost to a very good Dearborn Divine Child team and were runners-up. He passed away in 2009. His nickname was Iron, and you see Iron on the hats. He handed this over to us. He had it well-established, and we’re trying to keep it going.

“He lived this game. He did it for the kids. He did it for the right reason. That’s why the kids respect him and the parents who played for him respect him. They don’t want his memory to die. He’s in a better place now.”

Epple promised his players that, if they got to Lansing, they could get Mohawk haircuts.

“My wife allowed me to do it, also,” he said.

Mount Pleasant ended its state championship season at 32-8-1, while Richmond’s 2014 campaign ended at 35-4.

That makes for two champions in one baseball league. The Oilers finished second in the Saginaw Valley League North at 11-3 behind Bay City Western, which was 13-1 and which won the Division 1 state title.

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Fowler didn’t get the result it wanted at the Division 3 state semifinals.

Coach Kat Schmitt’s Eagles finished the year 26-7 after losing to Rogers City 11-1 in the semifinals at Michigan State University. The Eagles had beaten New Lothrop in the regional semifinal 7-6 and Morrice 12-2 in the regional final. They got their biggest win of the season, a 5-1 verdict over Huron Valley Lutheran, in the quarterfinal.

“We are very proud of our team,” Schmitt said. “They have fought and fought. We had everybody’s back the whole year. You could see at the end of the game that they continued to fight and fight. Any time you can get this far, it’s a great experience for the kids.”

The top of the fifth, Fowler put together a rally in hopes of extending the game for at least one more inning.

“They came back and battled and we just kept hitting,” Schmitt said. “Sometimes you’re successful, like in the New Lothrop game when we came back and scored seven runs in the bottom of the seventh. We kept battling.”

Fowler had six key seniors. “They’ve set some building blocks for us,” Schmitt said. “They’re very hard workers. It’s a great bunch of kids. We’ve totally enjoyed coaching them.”

Rogers City’s hitting attack was just too much for the Eagles to overcome. “They did what they needed to do to win,” Schmitt said.

Her team’s closeness was the reason, Schmitt said, that they were able to get so far.

“Everybody played together as a team,” Schmitt said. “They believed in themselves. We know the kids and their attitudes and how hard they work.”

It was enjoyable for Schmitt and her players to see all the fans that came from Fowler. “That was awesome with our fans here,” Schmitt said. “Our kids will always remember the New Lothrop game and the quarterfinals, and they were all around the field and in the back behind the fence was the hill. You could see nothing but rows of Fowler fans there, and they were all clapping. It’s something the kids will remember.”

Playing at MSU was fun, too. “Anytime they get to come to field like this to play at a college level is a great experience for the kids,” Schmitt said.

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Jannelle Rons was hoping for two more wins in her Vestaburg High School career. Even without them, though, a 27-9 record and a state semifinal appearance aren’t accomplishments to be taken lightly.

The season ended on June 13 with a 6-1 loss to Kalamazoo Christian.

Entering the game, Rons had a 1.46 ERA and a 22-2 record. She entered the game batting .517 but didn’t have a hit in three at-bats against Kalamazoo Christian.

“I think jitters got to us,” she said. “Errors, we didn’t overcome them. We played to our potential where we could.”

In six innings, she allowed six runs on five hits and three walks while fanning five. Four runs were earned.

“I thought Jannelle threw pretty good, to be honest with you,” said her dad and coach Dan Rons. “We had four errors. I think she pitched well enough to win the game if you get some hits with it and take some errors off the board and get a break.”

There were a lot of hugs after the final game. “It’s very emotional,” Jannelle said. “I wouldn’t have wanted it with anyone else, with my dad coaching and my sister being assistant coach. We were one big family. I’m trying to stay positive and look forward to college softball.”

Rons has two older sisters, Missy and Trish, who serve as role models. Missy was an assistant coach for this year’s team. She graduated in 2008, shortly after sister Trish.

It was fun for her to watch her younger sister. “It was great,” Missy said. “It’s something I can’t describe. It was a priceless moment.”

Missy was a catcher, while her older sister, like Janelle, was a pitcher.

“They’re both tall,” Missy chuckled. “Both of them have great movement, pitching-wise. Speed, they’re both above average. Both keep the ball fieldable. They’re not going to sit there and mow everyone down. They’re finesse pitchers.”

Jannelle will be going to Lansing Community College. Her older sisters both went to the University of Toledo.

“I loved watching them,” Janelle said. “They were my role models. Seeing my older sister pitch, I loved looking up to her and seeing all the battles she went through and seeing how she started at Vestaburg and went to a D1 college. I love looking up to her and being able to go in her shoes and make her and my sister, as a catcher, proud. It’s an honor.”

She and Trish both took pitching lessons. “We’re both competitive; we overcame the challenges to become colleges pitchers,” Jannelle said. “I’d always go to their games and play catch with them. Jannelle is six years younger than Missy but had a chance to tag along with her older sister.

“Jannelle was throwing a ball at age two,” Missy said. “She had a lot of games under her belt watching and playing. She started a lot younger than us.”

Asked how the 2014 compared to the ones she played on, Missy did not hesitate for a moment when she said, “this team is better. We had the best hitting. Defensively, we needed some work. Overall, this team was better.”

This season, Jannelle said, was “by far” her best season in all areas.

“In the winter, I spent a lot of time out in the barn, I’d miss spring events and go pitch,” she said. “My dad is my pitching coach. It’s mental. The game is mental. You have to overcome your fears to get over others.”

Rons is getting ready for LCC but will remember a lot about Vestaburg softball. “The community and the girls, we’re one big family,” she said

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Beal City again falls short in state title bid

New Lothrop celebrates baseball state title

Bay City Western on top of the baseball and softball world

Sophomore pitcher brilliant in BCW’s title game

Leppek saves her best for last with state champions

Belding softball team falls short in bid for another title

Robert Backus does the job for state champs as leadoff hitter

Mount Pleasant celebrates Division 2 title

Fowler advances to state semifinals before falling

Rons finishes fabulous year with Vestaburg