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Brothers Shine as Baseball Aces

April 2, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Remus Chippewa Hills baseball was in good hands over the last six seasons – those of brothers Erik and Jake Tarbell.

The pair combined to go 76-15 on the mound with 774 strikeouts from the start of Erik’s career in 2008 to the close of Jake’s last spring.

Total, Erik Tarbell finished 37-7 with a 1.68 ERA and 371 strikeouts from 2008-11, while Jake Tarbell finished 39-8 with a 1.61 ERA and 403 strikeouts from 2010-13. Erik now plays for NAIA Union College in Kentucky, while Jake is beginning his first season with Delta College.

Their career marks plus a pair of individual accomplishments were among those added to MHSAA record book listings Wednesday. Read on for more, including some top softball hitters, a 2,000-point basketball scorer, and another who frequently found the goal – with a soccer ball.  

Baseball

  • Saline’s three straight Division 1 runner-up seasons from 2008-10 included a number of strong performances from three-year varsity players Mark Weist and Al Zeiher. Weist in 2010 tied for the second-most hits in one season, with 78, and eighth-most doubles with 22. He also hit eight triples and .595 for the spring, finishing his career with a .492 average – to make record listings for all five categories. Zeiher pitched to a 0.45 ERA that season and 1.01 ERA over his three – his career ERA ranks ninth on that list. Saline as a team hit 93 doubles (tied for sixth), 22 triples (second) and carried a .385 average. Also, Gage Hammond was added to the record book for his nine triples in 2012.
  • A trio of Gobles standouts finished their careers in 2013 with totals that made the MHSAA record lists. Seth Johnson finished his four-year varsity run with a .488 career average, 164 runs, 45 doubles, 25 home runs and 167 RBI. Teammate Cam Hansen also made the career runs list with 167, and Ty Rock made the career shutouts list with 10.

Girls Basketball

  • Alissa Herlan finished a four-year varsity career at Coldwater in 2012 with 173 3-pointers – good for 16th on the career list. She connected on 67 as a senior to make the single-season list as well.

Boys Basketball

  • There have been 35 players who have scored at least 2,000 points during their careers, and Spencer Krannitz is the latest to be added to the list. The 2012 North Muskegon graduate scored 2,008 points from 2009-12. He now plays at Central Michigan University.
  • The Dec. 4, 2012, game between East Jordan and Mancelona was one for the record books – literally – as the teams combined for 21 3-pointers and East Jordan alone made 17 in an 82-70 victory. East Jordan’s Joe Manville was the game’s top sharp-shooter with six 3-pointers, all coming over the final three quarters.
  • Chesaning’s Josh Kunik found the basket frequently from all over the floor during his high school career that ended in 2013. But he was especially dangerous from the free-throw line as a senior, making 89 of 98 attempts from the stripe for a .908 percentage – good for sixth all-time for a single season.

Boys Soccer

  • Leland’s Dylan Jolliffe led his team on its second trip to the MHSAA Division 4 Semifinals in 2012, scoring 65 goals that season – good for fourth-most in MHSAA history. He scored 40 as a junior, also making that single-season list, and finished his career with 145 to tie for sixth on the career list. He currently plays at Kalamazoo College.

Softball

  • Tawas’ Ivy Schaaf finished her varsity career in 2013 with 34 doubles, 20 home runs and 197 runs scored during her four seasons, including 10 home runs as a junior. All made MHSAA record listings, with the 197 runs ranking 18th. Teammates Jordyn Look and Amber Yates also made the lists with 18 doubles in a season and 39 career doubles, respectively. Tawas as a team was added for 385 hits, 80 doubles and 250 RBI, all from last spring. Schaaf is playing at Western Michigan University this season.
  • Swartz Creek’s Hayley Cruthers finished her career last season with a number of season and career totals ranking among the top 20 in MHSAA history in their respective categories. Among them was a 35-game hitting streak that tied for second longest, 256 career hits (fifth), 212 career runs (11th), 72 career doubles (tied for second) and 31 career home runs (11th). She’s playing at Ball State University this season. Swartz Creek as a team hit 77 doubles last season to make that list.

PHOTO: Remus Chippewa Hills' Jake Tarbell prepares to unleash a pitch during his team's Quarterfinal game against Mount Pleasant in 2013. (Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.)

Lowell volleyball

Powell Sets, Reitsma Hits Lowell Into Back-to-Back Finals

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

May 18, 2021

Lowell’s runs to back-to-back Division 1 runner-up finishes the last two seasons were anchored in part by a hitter and a setter who both finished among the all-time stat leaders at their respective positions on the court.

Jenna Reitsma earned 18 record book entries for kills, with a high of 41 in a Division 1 Semifinal against Novi on Jan. 15. Her 897 kills total this season rank 11th on the single-season list, her 873 as a junior are 15th, and her career kills total of 2,316 over 446 games and four seasons ranks 13th all-time.

Setter Sophie Powell earned nine record book entries, including for 52 assists in a 2019 match against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 1,571 over 146 games as a junior in 2019 (ranking 10th) and 2,902 assists over 287 games and four seasons (but most over the last two). Additionally, senior Emma Hall made the single-match aces list with 15 against Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills in 2019, and Emily Stump made that list with 11 against Ottawa Hills in 2018.

Reitsma will continue her career at Marquette University.

See below for more recent record book additions in volleyball, 11-player football and boys tennis.

11-player Football

Braden Mussat capped a three-year career quarterbacking Madison Heights Bishop Foley with a sensational 2019 season that helped him secure entries all over the record book. He finished with senior-season entries for 171 past completions, 293 attempts, 2,792 yards and 30 touchdowns through the air, helping him also make lists with 312 completions, 550 attempts, 4,992 yards and 53 touchdowns over his 25-game career. He also was added for 28 completions, 56 attempts and 430 passing yards in an Oct. 4, 2019 game against Detroit Edison, and for throwing five touchdown passes in a half the following week against Marine City Cardinal Mooney. Mussat is playing baseball at Kalamazoo College.

Three quarters of a century later, the 1945 Greenville football team can celebrate an eternal place in the MHSAA record book as one of 21 teams to not give up a point. Greenville went 7-0-1 that season, outscoring its opponents by a combined 155-0.

Boys Tennis

Griffin Beers finished his four-season varsity tennis career in 2018 on the record book list for most double wins. He finished 71-27 for Rochester Hills Stoney Creek playing with four partners over those four seasons, just missing the single-season list with 26 wins as a junior with teammate Jack Beglin.

Volleyball

Unionville-Sebewaing reached at least the Quarterfinals five times last decade, with a trio of stars contributing heavily to that effort. Rylee Zimmer was added five times to the records including for 808 kills as a junior, 828 as a senior, and 2,332 over her four-year, 532-game career. Those career kills rank 11th all-time. She was the top hitter on the 2018 team that finished Division 3 runner-up and was set by also-senior Nichole Schember, who tied for second for single-match assists with 70 during a four-game win over Cass City, ranks sixth with 1,702 assists for that season and also made the career list with 2,543 assists despite playing only two varsity seasons. Erica Treiber also made the record book five times, with 754 kills as a senior in 2014, 1,759 kills over her 533-game, four-season career; 258 blocks as a senior and 238 as a junior, and 684 blocks for her career. Her senior-year and career blocks both rank second on those respective lists. Treiber went on to earn All-America honors at Tennessee, and Zimmer plays at Saginaw Valley State.

Portage Central senior Jordan MacDonald earned a record book entry with a big hitting performance in a 3-2 win over DeWitt this fall. She had 31 kills in the victory Nov. 12, and her entry is the first for her school in this sport. She will continue next season at Long Island University in New York.

Birch Run’s Emma McIlhargie capped a three-season varsity career this fall among the most accomplished hitters in MHSAA history, making the record book for single-match kills with 32, single-season kills with 593 as a junior and 654 in the fall and career kills with 1,752. Teammate Kalliann Cook, a sophomore this school year, was added for 121 aces during the 2019 season, and senior setter Sydney Pagel was added for 53 assists in a match this season against Essexville Garber – the same match during which McIlhargie earned her kills record entry.

White Cloud four-year varsity senior Alexis Strait finished this fall on the career aces list. She totaled 311 over 393 games, and also finished with more than 2,000 assists during her high school career.

Hopkins’ Brianna Miller closed her high school career by moving up the career lists in kills and aces, finishing her four-season varsity run with 1,916 and 352, respectively, over 502 games. Miller is listed six times total including for a match-high 35 kills this past Oct. 6 and 675 kills over 142 games as a junior, and also 11 aces in a match that season. Then-senior teammate Ashley Bultema also was added for 11 aces in a match in 2019, and additionally, coach Terrie Wisser was added to the winningest coaches list with a 682-471-101 record since taking over at the start of the 1992-93 season.

Keilyn Carpenter finished her career this fall with 10 entries in the volleyball record book from her four varsity seasons and 439 games for Vermontville Maple Valley. She made the career kills list with 2,200, and her 344 career aces rank sixth on that list. Carpenter has signed with Wayne State.

PHOTO: Lowell’s Jenna Reitsma readies to serve during the 2019 Division 1 Final against Farmington Hills Mercy at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena.