Highlight Reel: Division 1-2 Baseball Semifinals
June 12, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director
The first sessions of MHSAA Baseball Semifinals were played Thursday at McLane Stadium at Michigan State University. Hartland and Portage Northern in Division 1 and Mount Pleasant and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in Division 2 advanced to Saturday’s championship games.
Click the headings below for highlights from all four Semifinals broadcasts on MHSAA.tv.
Division 1
Hartland 5, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills 0
Hartland Scores Twice In First The Eagles got two runs in the first inning against Kenowa Hills when Gary Turnbull singled to drive in Zach Behnke and Alex Vydick scored on an error.
Hendricks RBI Single Hartland added its final run in the fifth against Kenowa Hills when Max Hendricks singled down the third base line to plate John Baker.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Portage Northern 8, Grosse Pointe South 0
Hall's RBI Single Portage Northern scored six runs in the first two innings, with this RBI single by Collin Hall the lone hit.
Henry Safe At Home Tommy Henry scores for Portage Northern in the fourth inning on a close play at the plate.
Young's Second Scoring Hit Brady Young paced Portage Northern with two hits and two RBI against Grosse Pointe South. Here's his second run-scoring hit in the sixth inning.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Division 2
Mount Pleasant 9, Adrian 0
Keep On Trucksin' A based-loaded single through the box by Max Trucks delivers Mount Pleasant's first run against Adrian. Trucks had two hits in the game for the Oilers.
Suicide Squeeze Is Painless With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, Mount Pleasant tries a suicide squeeze bunt. Dan Keller pushes the run home, is safe at first and a second run scores on an error.
Sixth Inning Oiler Score Kalebb Perry drops a single into right field to score the final run of the game for Mount Pleasant against Adrian.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 9, Mattawan 1
Boyd Plates Two Drew Boyd gets things started for Orchard Lake St. Mary's against Vicksburg with this two-run single in the first inning. The Eaglets scored five times in the first frame.
Two More Eaglet Runs Orchard Lake St. Mary's got two more runs in the third inning when Drake Titus had an RBI single, and a throwing error brought home one more.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Ford Field Trip Gives Students Taste of Football Finals Broadcasting
By
Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
December 7, 2021
Four levels above them, in the press box, a group of prospective broadcasters were touring the facilities. The high school students had spent the Fall sports season streaming games to the NFHS Network and now were learning about a career in broadcasting from Eric Vandefifer, a Montrose High grad currently serving as the radio voice of Saginaw Valley State University basketball and as a contributor to a variety of high school broadcast channels including the MHSAA Network.
Seven years ago, Vandefifer was in a similar situation. He was part of a field trip to Ford Field for the Finals that helped him realize sports broadcasting was a career he wanted to pursue. Those field trips were headed by Tom Skinner and Thom Lengyel, who became mentors to Vandefifer. As a high school junior in 2017, Vandefifer was named Best Student Broadcaster nationally by the NFHS Network.
“With Tom Skinner now deceased and Thom Lengyel retired from the broadcast business, I just felt like I had to continue this and their legacy,” Vandefifer said. “It was important to me to keep it going because when I was in school, it was something I looked forward to.”
Nearly 50 students from Lowell, Montrose, Lake Orion, Mount Pleasant and Ann Arbor Greenhills high schools made the Nov. 26-27 trip to Ford Field. They were able to film highlights, interview players, practice announcing the games, meet other members of the press and more. For Vandefifer, giving back to students who are in the position he once was is very rewarding.
“We had the ability to feel like real media members for a day. I wanted to be able to give other students that same opportunity,” Vandefifer said. “Seeing kids who have a love for sportscasting and that drive to get better gives me real hope for the next generation in this business.”
And after the field trips were done each day, Vandefifer put his headphones on, got behind the microphone and called the two afternoon games for the MHSAA Championship Network.
PHOTOS (Top) Eighth grader Sam Belill, left, and freshman Owen Leitelt from Montrose practice calling a game from the Ford Field press box. (Middle) Mount Pleasant make a stop at the press conference room. (Photos provided by the Montrose and Mount Pleasant School Broadcast Programs.)