Orchard View Sluggers Continue Climb
July 16, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A pair of Muskegon Orchard View softball standouts are climbing MHSAA record book career lists with one more season to play.
Halee Holman drove in 71 runs over 36 games this spring as a junior to raise her career RBI total to 227, which ranks eighth all-time. She also made the record book with 21 doubles this season and sits on career lists as well with 51 doubles and 24 home runs.
Junior teammate Cassidee White had made the career doubles list with 40 and career runs list with 195, with a single-season best 17 doubles this spring and her best run total coming as a freshman when she crossed the plate 70 times over 41 games.
See below for more recent softball record book additions – with more to be published later this week. Click the heading below to see the record book in full.
Softball
Frankfort’s Natalie Bigley finished her four-year varsity run this spring with 227 runs scored – 14th most all-time and one of 11 entries for her in the MHSAA record book. Six were added from a May 10 win over Bellaire where Bigley hit three straight home runs, including two in an inning and two grand slams and drove in six runs in that fourth frame and 10 for the game. She finished her career with 30 homers over 151 games. Junior teammate Haley Myers moved up career lists in runs (210), doubles (49) and home runs (29) with a season to play. Bigley will continue her career at Calvin University (formerly Calvin College).
Muskegon Reeths-Puffer’s MaKayla Thompson ranks 23rd with 1,141 career strikeouts after adding 266 in 150 innings pitched as a senior this spring. She threw 643 innings over her four-season varsity career and will continue at Kent State University.
Jada Bolhuis left a sizable impression on the record book during just her first season at Otsego this spring, finishing with the fourth-most hits in MHSAA history, 91, and 12th-most runs scored, 75, while also earning mention with a .674 batting average. Sophomore Kendra VanderLugt joined her teammate with six entries, including for 14 home runs and 88 RBI this year, with the latter ranking eighth all-time. Junior Skylar Anderson earned a line as well with 19 doubles. As a team, Otsego was added for 450 hits, a .423 batting average, 62 doubles, 29 homers and 290 RBI over 36 games.
Brooklyn Columbia Central freshman Kenadee Tompkins also got her high school career off to a quick start with 16 doubles to make the single-season list in that category.
Sydney Stapf also made a stellar debut. The West Bloomfield freshman made the single-season home runs list with 12.
Niles Brandywine’s Kennedy Byrd was added for driving in eight runs during an April 13 win over Saugatuck, and also for hitting 12 home runs with 53 RBI for the spring. She was a junior.
Mackenize Nagelhout’s noteworthy debut came in 2018, when as a freshman she hit 19 doubles for Howard City Tri County to make the single-season list in that category. This spring, Tri County junior Alayna Merlington was added for six RBI in a May 17 game against Morley Stanwood.
Lauren Kuffel struck out 22 batters – including four in one inning – as Mio held on for a 5-4 District Final win in 10 innings over Au Gres-Sims on May 31. Kuffel, a senior, tallied 14 of those strikeouts and didn’t give up a run over the final six innings.
Mara Sczecienski became the second player in North Farmington history to be listed in the records for softball, finishing her career this spring with 202 hits, 55 doubles and 23 home runs over 127 games and four seasons. She also made the single-season doubles list with 17 as a junior. She is continuing at University of Hartford in Connecticut.
PHOTO: Orchard View’s Cassidee White watches a pitch come her way during a doubleheader this spring against Muskegon Western Michigan Christian. (Photo courtesy of Local Sports Journal.)
Mort Assists Corunna in Record Run
January 10, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Special for Second Half
Senior setter Lexi Mort and junior hitter Elizabeth Norris led Corunna’s varsity volleyball team to its first MHSAA Semifinals this fall with record book-caliber contributions.
Mort had 1,529 assists (10th all-time) to go with 1,429 as a junior and to finish her career with 4,322, which ranks sixth all-time. She also made the single-match assist list with 54 against Mount Morris, when Norris had 33 kills.
Norris had 879 kills this season, 13th-most on that list. Freshman Ellie Toney was added for 11 aces in a match against Burton Genesee Christian. The Cavaliers finished the fall 50-7-5, with District and Regional titles in Division 2. Mort will run collegiate track at Saginaw Valley State University.
See below for more recent record book additions in volleyball, football and boys soccer, and click on the headings to see those sports’ record books in full.
Football
Clinton Township Chippewa Valley’s Division 1 championship season this fall included a number of record-setting performances. David Ellis returned four kickoffs for touchdowns, good for second most all-time. Niko Kepi made the season extra point list with 73 and the career list with 104 in 109 attempts over the last three seasons. Quarterback Tommy Schuster threw 26 touchdown passes for the second straight season and made career lists with 4,960 passing yards, 509 attempts, 330 completions and 67 scores through the air over the last three seasons. As a team, Clinton Township Chippewa Valley made lists with 546 points and 76 touchdowns over 14 games. Ellis will continue his career at Indiana University. Also, Jeff Deliz was added for a 93-yard punt return in 2003 and Chris Lomasney for six rushing touchdowns in a game in 2000. Deliz went on to play at Navy and Lomasney at Michigan Tech.
Sanford Meridian’s Kyle Stockford found his way to the end zone in multiple record-setting ways over the last two seasons. This fall, he made the record book for two kickoff return touchdowns in one game, against Lake City, scoring from 87 and 85 yards out. He also made the season kickoff return touchdown list with four despite playing only six games. The senior also returned two interceptions for touchdowns in a game this fall against Houghton Lake – after accomplishing the same feat as a junior against Farwell.
Among highlights of Hudsonville Unity Christian’s Division 5 championship run this season was a 57-20 win over Hamilton on Oct. 5, when Unity totaled 637 yards – which sits fifth all-time. Its 629 rushing yards, on 39 carries, is one of two totals on the list for most rushing yards in one game.
Quanelle Pritchett had a solid senior season receiving for Warren Fitzgerald in the fall – augmented by a record book-worthy accomplishment against Sterling Heights on Sept. 14. Pritchett caught seven passes for 239 yards in the 52-13 win to make the single-game receiving yardage list.
Boys Soccer
Jack Vezmar had 17 shutouts this fall in leading Marshall to a 23-1-1 record and Division 2 District title. Those shutouts tied for 11th-most in one season and helped him make the career shutout list with 28 over the last two seasons.
For the second straight fall, Midland Dow made the team record lists for total shutouts and consecutive shutouts, this time with 18 overall in 24 games and nine straight from Aug. 18-Sept. 12. Dow also tied for ninth all-time by giving up only eight goals on the way to finishing 20-1-3 on the season.
Volleyball
Longtime southwest Michigan coach Tony Hooley has reached the 500-win plateau, actually doing so in 2017 at Marcellus and adding to his total this fall leading Dowagiac to a 25-15-2 finish. Hooley has coached at Centreville and White Pigeon as well plus two seasons at Glen Oaks Community College, and his high school record stands at 538-311-92 over 18 seasons.
After two seasons of varsity volleyball, Vermontville Maple Valley sophomore Keilyn Carpenter has four record book entries. She’s been added three times for kills in a match – twice reaching 32 – and for this fall totaling 623 kills over 126 games.
Bronson’s fourth straight MHSAA championship – this one in Division 3 in the fall – included, predictably, a number of outstanding individual performances. Sophomore Meagan Lasky had 1,775 assists this past season to rank third on that list, while senior sister Kiera Lasky added to her career aces total to finish with 454 – fifth most all-time. Senior Ashton Wronikowski made the season aces list with 137, and junior Keona Salesman did as well with 122 to go with her entry for 766 kills. She’s also on the career kills list with 1,679 over three seasons and with one to play. Kiera Lasky will continue her career at Davenport University, and Wronikowski will continue at West Liberty University in West Virginia.
PHOTO: Lexi Mort cheers on her Corunna teammates during their Division 2 Semifinal against Pontiac Notre Dame Prep in November.