1977 Baseball, Softball Finals Full of Firsts
June 5, 2017
By Ron Pesch
Special for Second Half
This season’s MHSAA Baseball and Softball Finals will be played in two weeks, June 15-17 at Michigan State University.
As we begin to turn our attention to that grand finale for the school year, MHSAA historian Ron Pesch takes on a recollection of the diamond championships in both sports from 1977.
That season’s baseball playoffs were the seventh under MHSAA sponsorship, while softball was in its third season as an MHSAA tournament sport.
BASEBALL
CLASS A – Four of coach Pat O’Keefe’s Grand Ledge baseball teams have advanced to the final game in the MHSAA’s top division since the start of tournament play in 1971. A standout athlete at Standish-Sterling High School, Central Michigan University and in the minor leagues in the Houston Astros organization, O’Keefe has led two Comets squads, the 2001 and the 1993 teams, to MHSAA runner-up finishes. Grand Ledge grabbed Class A championship honors in 1995, but it was the first title, earned in June of 1977, that caught everyone by surprise.
After opening the season with three victories and a single defeat, Grand Ledge dropped their next four games in a row before rallying to a 14-6 regular-season mark and a third-place finish in the Capital Area Conference. Behind solid pitching, O’Keefe saw his team’s bats come alive in the postseason. Tim Skinner had three hits, scored twice and had a pair of RBI in District games with Owosso and Brighton. With six straight tournament wins, Grand Ledge advanced to Saturday morning’s Semifinal contest at Valley Field in Grand Rapids against Sterling Heights and its pitching ace, Rick Lemanski, who was unbeaten in 12 games. Ranked No 2 in the state by the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association, Sterling Heights loaded the bases with two out in the fourth inning, but a pop up to first baseman Scott Kemp ended the rally. With one out, the Stallions threatened again in the fifth with runners at second and third, but the rally ended when a missed sign on a suicide squeeze resulted in a strikeout and a tag out at third, ending the inning. Following a one-out double to center, junior Mike Dyer scored the game’s only run on a play at the plate in the eighth inning to win the contest. Craig VanDerSteen picked up the win for Grand Ledge, striking out 11.
Against top-ranked Detroit Catholic Central, the unranked Comets scored twice in the second inning, three times in the fourth and once in the fifth. Craig Dukes struck out two and scattered seven hits to secure the victory for Grand Ledge, while Dyer drove home three runners, scored, and sparkled defensively from the shortstop position.
“He played like a major leaguer, and he comes through in clutch spots like nobody I’ve ever seen.” said O’Keefe. Entering the 2017 season, his 49th as skipper at Grand Ledge, O’Keefe stood atop the MHSAA’s career coaching wins list with 1,221 victories against 208 defeats and a single tie.
CLASS B – In Class B, Gibraltar Carlson pounded out a 7-1 victory over No. 1-ranked Harper Woods Bishop Gallagher. Played at Stanley O. Broome Park in Flint and delayed until Monday due to rain, the game saw the Marauders score twice in the first inning. Southpaw Craig Smith, who struck out eight in a four-hit performance, singled and then scored on Kirk Williams’ triple. Williams scored to give Carlson a 2-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by Kelly Mousseau. The Marauders scored again in the second inning when Gary Southerland singled then scored on a Brett Kahn triple. Williams notched his second triple of the game in the third, scoring the first of four runs in the inning. Following a Mousseau walk, Mark Shallhorn singled to drive in both runners. Another single by Southerland drove home Shallhorn, and following a groundout, he scored on a single by Kahn.
“This was undoubtedly the finest season in his 24 years of coaching for (John) LeFevre,” stated The Associated Press when it named him Class B all-state Coach of the Year. “He led Gibraltar-Carlson to a 28-7 record which were personal bests for most wins and winning percentage.”
CLASS C – Like O’Keefe, Blissfield’s Larry Tuttle began his coaching career in 1968. Number two on the all-time baseball win list, a mere seven wins back, Tuttle and his Royals earned their first Class C MHSAA baseball crown in 1973, then grabbed their second in 1976. At Marshall High School in 1977, Blissfield became the first Class C baseball team to repeat as champions, downing Center Line St. Clement by a score of 4-2. Trailing 2-1 headed into the fifth inning, Blissfield’s Jim DeVantier singled, stole second and third base, then scored on a wild pitch to knot things up. A bases-loaded walk to Bud Friess followed to give the Royals the lead. An insurance run in the seventh, scored by Steve Cannon on another wild pitch, gave Dave Pagel the win. Pagel, a two-time all-state selection headed to Central Michigan University, struck out seven and allowed four hits on the day. Friess also pounded out a two-run triple in Blissfield’s 5-0 win over Sanford-Meridian in the morning’s Semifinal. Mike Burgermeister went the distance for the Semifinal victory. The Royals finished the year with a 28-2 mark. St. Clement, Class C champion in 1972 and 1974, ended with a 28-8 record.
CLASS D – Mark Kelley struck out 15 in leading Ann Arbor St Thomas to a 4-3 win over Frankfort in a Class D Semifinal, then in the title game pitched the final two innings in relief to earn the win in St. Thomas’s come-from-behind 10-9 clincher over top-ranked Potterville. The games were played at Alumni Field in Mt. Pleasant. Trailing 7-4 headed into the top of the seventh inning, the Irish scored six runs on five hits, including a two-run single by Tom Dishman and a two-run double by Mike Stork to take a 10-7 lead. Potterville scored twice in its final at bat to pull within one run of the lead. With the bases loaded and one down, Kelley managed to retire the next batter with a pop-up to short, then struck out the final batter for the victory. Starting pitcher Gary Farmiloe, ousted from the title game after two innings, went 2 for 3 and scored the winning run in the Semifinal game versus Frankfort, then went 3 for 4 at the plate against Potterville with two singles and a double. St. Thomas, 5-11 at one point during the season, finished with a 15-12 record.
SOFTBALL
CLASS A – Senior Karen Searles tossed a two-hitter in Portage Central’s 10-0 victory over Temperance-Bedford in a Class A Semifinal, then allowed five hits in a thrilling 4-3 victory over Flint Carman to clinch the championship. The Mustangs opened a 3-0 advantage in the bottom of the fifth inning on a two-run single by Kim Barnes. Searles, who finished the year with a perfect 20-0 record, gave up three walks and a pair of hits in the sixth, including a two-run single by Kim Lancaster as Bedford rallied to tie the game. In the bottom of the seventh, an error allowed Karen Frank to reach first base with one out. Sacrificed to second, she scored on Sandy Surch’s third hit of the game. The Final was hosted at Memorial Field in East Detroit.
CLASS B – At Henry Robinson Park in Ionia, Roxanne Abramouski picked up her 31st victory without defeat as Grosse Ile downed South Haven, 5-3, for the Class B title. Grosse Ile opened a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Shawn Perry reached first on an error and scored following a double by Ann Perrault. A single by Allison Smith scored Perrault, while Smith later scored on another error. Patty Silye singled home a pair of runs in the fifth, expanding the lead to 5-0, before South Haven cut the margin to two with three runs in the sixth inning. A semifinalist in 1976, Grosse Ile finished the year with a flawless 33-0 record and 0.75 ERA. Abramouski continued her playing career at Ferris State, where she still ranks among the school’s pitching leaders in various categories.
“I would say it has been a pretty good year for girls athletics at South Haven,” said coach John Yelding. Earlier in the year, the Rams also finished Class B runner-up in volleyball.
CLASS C – DeWitt’s Cindy White fired a four-hitter, then went 4 for 4 at the plate to lead coach Debbie Boyd’s Panthers to a 12-5 thumping of Center Line St. Clement in the Class C championship played at Ella Sharpe Park in Jackson. White drove in five runs in the contest, notching a triple, a double and a pair of singles as DeWitt picked up its first MHSAA championship in any sport. St. Clement took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but the Panthers exploded for five runs in the third, two in the fifth and five more in the sixth for a 12-1 lead entering the seventh. DeWitt downed Niles Brandywine, 7-1, earlier in the day to advance to the title game. The championship was especially sweet for Coach Boyd, who had announced prior to the tournament that she would step down after five years at the helm.
CLASS D – Allendale senior Ruth Crowe tossed a pair of two-hitters as the Falcons downed Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes, 10-0, in the morning’s Semifinal, then defeated Custer Mason County Eastern, 8-0, at Fink Field in Fowler. Allendale, top-ranked in Class D, scored early and often, tallying six runs in the first inning as Mason County Eastern allowed 11 hits and five unearned runs on the day. Deb McBurnett doubled to right-center in the second inning and scored on a Weez Stelland single for a 1-0 lead. Three errors, a walk and a bunt single by Crowe pushed the margin to four in the third inning. Another run on errors came in the fifth, and with two out in the sixth inning, five consecutive singles combined with errors allowed three more runs to score. Allendale ended the year with a 22-2 record, while Mason County Eastern wrapped up the season at 19-3.
Ron Pesch has taken an active role in researching the history of MHSAA events since 1985 and began writing for MHSAA Finals programs in 1986, adding additional features and "flashbacks" in 1992. He inherited the title of MHSAA historian from the late Dick Kishpaugh following the 1993-94 school year, and resides in Muskegon. Contact him at [email protected] with ideas for historical articles.
PHOTOS: (Top) The Lansing State Journal on June 19, 1977, touted Grand Ledge’s first MHSAA baseball championship. (Middle) The DeWitt softball team won its first MHSAA title in any sport that spring. (Top photo courtesy of the Lansing State Journal, bottom photo from MHSAA archives.)
Weatherlys Cherishing Final Run Together
June 2, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
HOWELL – It’s not hard to pick out the Weatherly boys on a baseball field. Sam, the senior, is 6-foot-3. Ty, a junior, is an inch taller.
It’s a little tougher to realize Howell co-coach Mike Weatherly is their dad. He's shading just north of 6 foot.
But watch closely, and you’ll figure it out. Jason Ladd, the other half of the Highlanders’ varsity coaching pair, has seen it plenty of times.
“They’ve both got some of their dad’s athleticism for sure, seeing how he played four years at Central Michigan University and they won four MAC championships while he was there,” Ladd said. “He was a captain, and they get a lot of leadership quality from their dad.
“But it’s unique in the fact that they’re able to be so respectful. Sometimes when you get parents who are coaches, (the kids) aren’t respectful. But they’re both totally respectful to their dad, appreciative of what he does, and you can tell there’s a lot of love beyond being the son of the coach.”
It’s a lot of fun at the Weatherly house these days. But really, it’s been that kind of spring as Mike gets one final chance to coach both of his youngest sons on a team that could do some damage when Howell begins Division 1 District play today at Dexter.
Sam Weatherly is arguably the top high school baseball player in Michigan this season. A lefty, he hits 92 mph on the mound, and he’s signed to continue his career at Clemson University – which currently is playing in the NCAA Regionals.
Ty is finishing his first year of varsity ball, but coming on strong. A righty, he throws in the mid 80s and no-hit reigning Division 2 runner-up Linden a week ago.
They’re the youngest two of four athletic children Mike and Marybeth (Chappelle) Weatherly have raised. Bobby, 25, played baseball at Howell and Muskegon Community College, while Tess is three years older than Sam and plays basketball at Northern Michigan University.
It’s a question Mike can’t help but get asked – how do you go about raising such a talented bunch? There are some pointers to be offered there. But right now, the focus is just on enjoying every moment they can share.
Following Mom and Dad's lead
Mike Weatherly was a shortstop at Central Michigan University – and a really good one, in fact.
So it makes sense that when he describes how his wife-to-someday-be flipped through the air in front of him back then, he calls it an “Ozzie Smith” in reference to the acrobatic Hall of Fame shortstop of St. Louis Cardinals lore.
He also knew at that moment that she was the one – or at least one he was interested in knowing better.
According to a Detroit Free Press report when she was a track star at Sterling Heights Stevenson, Marybeth had grown up in gymnastics and also was a cheerleader. She got into track later, but some of her school records still stand, Mike said. And because of her genes, her boys stand tall – the height is from her side of the family, as is their speed and a dose of their toughness.
“My mom had three older brothers. She’s been raised with wolves, and with us, she treats us the same way,” Sam said. “Crybabies never really happened in our house. You have to have a hard nose in this family."
All four clearly have used those physical gifts to their advantage – Sam and Ty most recently in helping Howell to a 26-9-1 record.
Sam is hitting .500 with 15 doubles, three home runs and 29 RBI, and he’s stolen 16 bases. He’s also 5-1 on the mound with a 0.73 ERA and 61 strikeouts in just more than 38 innings pitched. He’s given up 19 hits and four runs total this spring.
Ty – who grew four inches just over the last year – is finishing up his first varsity season strongly. He has thrown 35 innings and is 5-0 with a 2.00 ERA and 30 strikeouts.
When Sam was 6, he asked his dad about college baseball. Ever since, Sam wanted to be a baseball player. He chose jersey number 6 because it was Mike’s; he’s worn it since.
Sam and Ty always were together as the two youngest kids, and played on the same teams for about five years with Mike as their coach.
“They were fortunate to be born with some coordination, and worked at it. And they had good youth experiences, playing Little League … we let them develop at their own pace, and I think that’s the key,” Mike said.
“There was no extra coaching going on. If you look at their innings pitched, they were really green; they didn’t throw a lot. Sam played freshman baseball (instead of varsity). I think this generation of people push too hard too early. If we did one thing right, that’s it, that’s really it. You have to go out and have fun and enjoy it. Because it can get ugly if you don’t.”
Sharing the fire
Ladd spun a bit of a phrase in describing Sam and Ty. He said they are nothing alike, but just like their dad. And, strange as that might sound, he’s right.
Ty might be the jokester, but Sam is the talker of the two, even if he’s a little more serious. Mike, meanwhile, recalled how his CMU teams were referred to as the “mouths of the Midwest,” but not him – he kept quiet and played, and Ty is much the same.
And yet, competitive fire, however the sons show it, reminds Ladd of their dad.
Ty indeed is more like Mike in that he keeps it under the surface. That’s not to mistake either as calm; it’s just the intensity doesn’t necessarily come with a voice.
Sam’s intensity, on the other hand, “is way out there.” Ty said this perhaps a little tongue-in-cheek – but he also knows that after a bad loss, his brother holes up in his room until morning.
“He gets really ticked off,” Ty said. “He hates it. He wants to win at everything.”
And Ty admires his brother’s work ethic in trying to attain that goal. So much so, he’d love to see his brother go out in a couple weeks as the last one standing on the mound at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium, putting the finishing touches on a championship.
“I know this season has meant a lot to him, and he really, really wants that state championship,” Ty Weatherly said. “I know if he went out there and got that W for us, it would be really special to him.”
Here and now
It would be easy for Sam to look ahead. He wouldn’t have to look far.
Whenever Howell’s season does end over the next three weekends, he’ll officially become a member of the Clemson baseball program.
In a little more than a week, on June 12, the Major League Baseball draft will begin. He has a legitimate shot of being selected the second day, sometime during rounds 3-10.
But that’s not where his head, or rather feet, are today – or will be until the Highlanders have done everything possible to win their first MHSAA baseball championship.
And that’s not just saying the right thing because Dad is the coach. It’s especially apparent in his relationship with Ty – with all of this going on in Sam’s life, he’s still watching his brother’s moves on the diamond, ready with a few words of wisdom when they can help. Sam has gotten a lot of coaching from great sources the last few years, and through him Ty has been a recipient as well.
“I really care. I care about the team first, and personal accolades follow that,” Sam said. “You should be where your feet are, and my feet right now are in high school with my high school team, and that’s my first priority.”
But …
“All of it kinda hits me off the field,” he added. “I use baseball and friends to get away from it. It’s fun, but I’m very anxious at the same time.”
Howell has eluded a state ranking despite recent wins over No. 5 Birmingham Brother Rice, No. 9 Sterling Heights Stevenson and ranked Division 2 teams Linden and Fowlerville.
With No. 10 Brighton being upset by Ann Arbor Skyline in a Pre-District game Tuesday, today’s possibilities got a lot more interesting. Not that anyone is looking ahead or expecting to win. But simply forecasting from the outside, there are opportunities to keep this thing together a little while longer – especially with a ranked rival no longer in the field.
Mike knows the way. He coached Hartland to the MHSAA Semifinals in 2000, and with Ladd led Howell to the final weekend in 2012 and 2013. Those runs had to be a little bit different, of course; now he's writing his sons into the lineup at this most exciting time of the season.
“We’re trying to enjoy every moment and slow it down because it’s going to be gone before we know it,” Mike Weatherly said. “It’s exciting, but I’ll admit it’s a little stressful too.
“There’s a lot riding on stuff, but at the end of the day things will work out the way they work out. We’ll keep plugging away. All we’re trying to do is win a championship, try to win their last game, and that’s been our focus.”
Geoff Kimmerly joined the MHSAA as its Media & Content Coordinator in Sept. 2011 after 12 years as Prep Sports Editor of the Lansing State Journal. He has served as Editor of Second Half since its creation in Jan. 2012. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Barry, Eaton, Ingham, Livingston, Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee, Gratiot, Isabella, Clare and Montcalm counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Sam Weatherly, middle, stands with parents Mike (also his coach at Howell) and Marybeth. (Middle) Ty Weatherly shares a fist bump with his dad after reaching base. (Below) Sam Weatherly begins to unwind toward the plate during a game this season. (Photos by Andrea Leon.)