Detroit Powers Succeed Amid Lower Numbers
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
April 20, 2016
Participation in spring sports, following a similar decline in student-aged population in Michigan, has been on a decline statewide over the last decade.
But while some like baseball have experienced a slight bounce-back over the last few seasons, softball in particular has seen its numbers continue to fall.
Coaches and administrators in the Detroit area point to a number of factors intertwined that produced a snowball-like effect – and now it seems to have come to a head.
Three softball programs in the Catholic League Central, a division that competes at a high level statewide, don’t have sufficient numbers to field a junior varsity this spring. Many programs don’t sponsor freshmen teams for the same reason.
But for schools like Birmingham Marian, Farmington Hills Mercy and Livonia Ladywood not to have a junior varsity softball team is quite shocking to some – especially considering that Mercy enters this season ranked No. 3 in Division 1 and Ladywood is No. 2 in Division 2.
Specialization fallout
Marian athletic director Dave Feldman isn’t among those stunned. He saw this coming. Feldman points to the 2007-08 school year when the Michigan High School Athletic Association was forced, by court decision, to switch the volleyball season from the winter to the fall and the girls basketball season from the fall to the winter.
Feldman has a daughter, a freshman at Marian, who participated on the junior varsity volleyball team this fall. When that season was over she joined a club volleyball team. Feldman said the club volleyball season begins in December and continues on into June.
“It’s not AAU,” Feldman said. “But you need to be an AAU member (to play). They play all of the time. Heck, they played on Easter Sunday. And every club is filled.”
The pressure on athletes to play year-round is arguably greater now than it ever has been, and can come from coaches, peers and family – based on a frequent misconception that if athletes want to earn a scholarship, they better keep up with the Joneses or be left behind.
Feldman said he’ll back his daughter with whatever decision she makes. If she wants to play volleyball nine or 10 months a year, he’ll support that. But Feldman said, financially, it’s getting out of hand. He estimated between the cost of airfare, hotels and meals that he’ll spend $6,500 in support of his daughter playing club volleyball.
And, according to Feldman, the increase in attention on volleyball is affecting participation in other sports.
“(Girls) basketball is fighting for its life,” he said. “Our field hockey program (a fall sport) is fine. Our lacrosse teams are fine.
“We have 15 playing volleyball at all three levels. We had 16 (total) try out for softball and we made two cuts. We haven’t had a JV the last two years. The last time we had a freshman (softball) team was in 2004 or 2005. The last few years the numbers have dropped off. It’s the specialization.”
Simply signs of change?
Warren Regina is another member of the Catholic League Central. Regina athletic director Diane Laffey also is the head coach for softball and basketball, and she said she thinks lacrosse has drawn some athletes away from softball – which makes sense, although the total number of girls playing high school lacrosse in Michigan has increased only about 1,000 over the last decade, while softball participation is down 4,000 athletes over the same time.
One should not use Regina as an example of decline – Laffey’s team won the Division 1 championship last spring and fields a softball team at all three levels. At the same time, Regina also has seen a rise in participation in lacrosse. There are 18 playing for both the varsity and junior varsity this spring, the highest participation in school history.
Mercy varsity softball coach Alec Lesko said, simply, that times have changed. Mercy reached the Division 1 Semifinals last season, just as Ladywood did in Division 2 the year before – yet despite this success, Mercy’s number of softball players also has declined.
“(The students) have many more options,” Lesko said. “In addition to their school work there’s band, theatre, honors society clubs. In the past kids would play three sports and be in the band. All of my daughters were multi-sport athletes. By their sophomore year they had to make a decision (on which sport they would concentrate).
“It’s also economics. They want to earn a scholarship. You hear horror stories about (the cost of) student loans. Even the big schools have trouble getting the (students to play softball).
“As far as college, and I can only speak about softball, the Big Ten coaches want the player they recruit to play other sports,” Lesko added. “I hope to have a JV program next year. A player that misses 30 JV games, we will feel that crunch later. There are those who think JV softball is a waste of time, that you should just compete in travel (during the summer). We will get some of those kids. Those who compete in travel then come to us as sophomores.”
Reasons for optimism
Don Peters is the softball coach at Clarkston, and between coaching travel and at the high school level he’s put in 35 years. He coached travel before taking over the Clarkston program. Peters said the two complement each another, or at least they should.
“I know some disagree,” he said. “The girls have a lot of choices in the spring. Look at all of the sports they can play. I don’t think lacrosse has cut into the numbers. Not yet, but it’s probably going to. We haven’t been affected. We have 45 (covering three teams) in our program. We really push softball in our community because it’s been established.”
Peters said coaches in softball and baseball need to make the game enjoyable, and one way is to reward those who chose to participate by playing them on a regular basis. A student who is No. 14 or 15 on a squad often will play once a week and, with all of the options available, isn’t willing to put in the practice time for limited game action.
Mercy senior first baseman Abby Krzywiecki played a variety of sports before her freshman year. It was then she decided that softball would be her main sport and she chose to pour all of her energy into it.
She said it’s not all gloom and doom for her sport.
“We had a small freshmen class (last year),” she said. “When I came in we had a large class. It was one of the biggest. It’s not that we’re not getting softball players. In the travel world, it’s becoming more intense. We have more younger people playing. The sport is getting more intense. The talent level is getting higher.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) A Farmington Hills Mercy hitters prepares to connect during last season's Division 1 Semifinal against Caledonia. (Middle) Warren Regina coach Diane Laffey hoists her team's championship trophy after the Saddlelites downed Caledonia in the Final last spring.
'Impactful' Improvements Generating Quick Success for Rebuilding Jefferson
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
April 25, 2023
MONROE – It’s less than a full month into the prep softball season, and the Monroe Jefferson Bears are still in the Huron League title hunt.
What’s so unusual about that?
Anyone who has studied the history of Jefferson softball knows that’s not always been the case. Chad Liptow, however, came to Jefferson with a blueprint in hand to turn the Bears program into a winner.
“I’m trying to do what I did in 17 years at Gibraltar Carlson in 17 months,” he said. “It was a matter of getting people to buy in, to get the community behind us. I said, ‘Let’s do it and do it faster.’”
Liptow is resurrecting a program that made a trip to the 1994 Class B championship game but, outside of that, has few highlights. He took over a program that had endured 12 straight losing seasons, and won 26 games last year. The Bears are off to a 12-2 start this season, defeated perennial state powerhouse Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central and captured the first of four home softball tournaments by winning three games Saturday.
Playing at home is something the Bears want to do as much as they can.
“We spent all of this time and effort to upgrade our field and stadium – we are going to play there,” Liptow said.
The Bears are starting to turn heads. They lost 2-1 to Milan on Monday.
“They mercy ruled us twice last year,” said Emmi Liptow, a senior and daughter of the head coach. “Things are definitely clicking for us this year.”
Chad Liptow can take a little more pride in engineering the turnaround, especially since he is a Jefferson graduate. He played prep baseball for the Bears and head coach Dave Sontag and probably would have played college baseball if not for an injury suffered while sliding into third base. With his playing days over, he picked up coaching almost right out of high school, coaching the Jefferson freshman.
Eventually he got a job at Gibraltar Carlson and became the head coach. He finished just shy of 300 victories in 16 seasons. Throughout his time there, he helped oversee upgrades to the Marauders’ facilities, researched a complete history for Carlson softball and posted it online and created a buzz around the program.
He stepped down because he wanted to be more involved in his daughters’ softball careers at Jefferson.
“I got a text from a buddy that said, ‘Hey, your daughter just made a great play,’ and I knew what I needed to do,” he said.
In 2021, he sat on the sidelines, keeping the scorebook for the Bears softball team, watching two daughters play.
“I was a fan,” he said. “I kept score on Game Changer. That was my role.”
As luck would have it, the Bears’ head coach stepped down. Liptow came home and had a family discussion about coaching the Jefferson softball team.
“I had been coaching some summer softball, but I didn’t know if I was going to dive back in. Then, the opportunity presented itself,” he said. “I received a lot of support from people in the community all the way around.”
Once hired, Liptow immediately went to work, calling on area businesses, other parents and friends to begin upgrading the fields, building new dugouts and installing stadium seating. He commissioned a record book and made plans to honor former players with a new Ring of Honor.
“We wanted to immediately do some impactful things,” he said. “You want the community to buy in and be involved. We want them to be a part of it. That’s what it’s been about.”
He overhauled the Bears’ schedule, which already was loaded with a tough Huron League slate.
“You have to be smart,” he said. “You must put your kids in position to be successful. Winning 20-0 or losing 20-0 is no fun. You want a competitive schedule. You have to find the right mix where you can see improvement. Then you can get to the point where you are in those close games. You have to build some confidence.”
After going 26-13 last season – an improvement from nine wins in 2021 – the Bears are off to a solid start this year. They welcomed back 12 players from 2022 and added three freshmen.
Emmi Liptow, the leadoff hitter who batted .438 last season, is rising up the career record charts in several offensive categories, and pitcher Julia Perry has 26 career wins and 265 strikeouts to date. Emmi calls all the pitches from her catcher’s position, something her father has had her do for two years.
“If I’m struggling, I ask for help or suggestions,” Emmi said. “It’s a lot easier with Julia in the circle. I’ve played with her forever, since we were 11 or 12. I know what pitches are working.”
The team chemistry is clicking. Lindsey Gennoe, Rylee Dunn and Cameran Carter also are having sold seasons.
Coach Liptow said he hopes Jefferson’s softball program is earning respect.
“We know we are not on top yet,” he said. “The kids know that. We just have to keep working and get more kids involved. Hopefully, people respect you. When you see an opponent have respect for you, that’s when you will feel like you are there. We believe we are opening some eyes now. We have some people’s attention.”
Emmi Liptow said the atmosphere around Jefferson softball has changed since her freshman year.
“It’s changed so much in the last two years,” she said. “Our whole field has been re-done, and the energy is different. It’s a different vibe. Everybody wants to see us be successful. Even the crowd is bigger. People want to see us play.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Monroe Jefferson celebrates its invitational championship Saturday. (Middle) Catcher Emmi Liptow is among Marauders setting the pace this spring. (Below) Jefferson’s softball stadium has become a point of pride for the resurgent program. (Photos courtesy of Drew Grassley.)