OT: Ann Arbor Huron loses in HS SB Districts
The Michigan High School Athletic Association's Softball State Tournemant started this weekend. The State is divided into 4 divisions based on student enrollment. Then each division has 4 or 5 teams in each district based solely on geography. Every high school team is eligible to participate.
The Divison 1, District 12 teams, consisted of Ann Arbor Pioneer, Ann Arbor Skyline, Ann Arbor Huron, Pinckney, and Dexter. All games were played at AA Pioneer. The bracket draw is random.
In the opening round played earlier this week, Skyline beat Pioneere 10-8. Then AA Huron beat Skyline 7-5 while Pickney beat Dexter 9-6. So the final game seeded AA Huron vs Pickney. Pickney came out on top 9-1.
In other action, my Port Huron High Big Reds lost to L'anse Cruse eliminating them from the tournament.
The Division 1 favorite is Mattawan now that the favorite, Portage Central, lost earlier in the day.
Division 2 favorite Stevensville Lakeshore (St Joseph area) won their district by beating St. Joseph 9-0.
Divsion 3 favorite Clinton (Adrian area) won their district by smoking Adrian Madison.
Divison 4 favorite Petersburg-Summerfield won their distict by handling Ottawa Lake Whiteford 7-0.
Clinton alum here.
Both Clinton and Petersburg-Summerfield are in the same league. Clinton swept them this season and only has 1 loss this season, same as last (when they won D-3 also).
is a really good program. They can play some ball. I seen most of those girls last year in a 16U tourney that I was at. They can play.
Canton was the only team that beat them last year, and Clinton took two of three from them. I have no idea who beat them this year.
Clinton's scores in pre-district and district play were relatively close, in relation to how they beat those teams in the regular season. They beat Adrian-Madison 6-0. Usually that game doesn't go past the 5th inning.
I'm not sure why Hutchins didn't take a closer look at Tierney Nelson, but I'll defer to you on that one.
she can play some serious ball. One thing that we dont know is her grades. I know that Hutch likes to take Michigan kids but getting into Michigan is not easy, as we all know.
I will check into this a little to see if there is any chance Nelson stays home.
I think she's already signed somewhere, but I forget where.
http://www.lenconnect.com/sports/highschoolsports/x1739514775/Clintons-…
It looks like she wanted to get away for her education. Lamar is a long way from Clinton Mi.
Lamar is starting up its program after a 25 year hold. She must want an opportunity to be the big fish in the small pond.
i upvoted all your posts no idea why someone dinged them as flamebait
Yeah Clinton is good because they are a public school that recruits. They're a joke. Go dutch.
everyone knows, there is typically 3 hotspot for HS softball in the state. The first is the Kalamazoo area. They have Portage and Mattawan. The second is the Western Grand Rapids area. They have Sara Driesenga's Hudsonville, Wyoming Rogers and a few more good HS programs. The third is in Eastern UP. Teams like Happy Rock, Esconaba and to some extent Negaunee.
However in the past 5-8 years, the area around Clinton, Temperence, Adrian has put together some very good teams. We might have to add the 4th hotspot to the mix.
thanks for the correction. The Eastern UP typically travels to Rogers City and Cheboygan which are good programs in their own right.
Jennison either. That whole area is a softball factory. I think there are about 6 HS that are all about equal in talent. The rivalry over there is tough as well. You talk about smack talking, it gets ugly.
Wayland too. It may be a smalerl school, but they sure do turn out great softball teams. They have only lost twice all year.
I wonder what kind of perspective is possible from within Michigan. I doubt that Hutch has time to drive around the state to see many of these players in person, especially with the HS and college seasons overlapping. She can go to a gold tournament as near as Chicago and see a hundred of the country's best players compete against each other in a single weekend. Just checking the results of the 2010 and 2011 ASA Gold Championship and Premier Championship tournaments, I see only one appearance by a Michigan team vs. eight Chicago area teams, including the one that Sara travelled three and a half hours to be part of. In an earlier post I was the one who argued that Michigan has done well with players from the midwest, and not just California players. Maybe if the good players and teams were consolidated around Detroit, and could compete with each other more, as they are around Chicago, Michigan could build up more of a softball environment.
I know 2010 was a strange year at the gold level, and some teams that might have been at gold tournaments were at A nats instead. I don't think that undermines my point.
Looks like Tierney Nelson signed with Lamar University. Anyway, I know about the following Michigan softball commitments, but are there any in-state players that I've missed?
2012:
Sierra Romero (SS/2B, Murrieta, CA, Vista Murrieta)
Sierra Lawrence (SS, Norcoss, GA, Greater Atlanta Christian)
Lauren Connell (Not yet signed) (3B/C, West Lafayette, IN, West Lafayette)
2013 (Not yet Signed):
Kelly Christner (OF, Tinley Park, IL, Andrew)
Abby Ramirez (SS/C/2B, Chicago, IL, Trinity)
Megan Betsa (Pitcher, McDonough, GA, Union Grove)
2014 (Not yet Signed):
Tera Blanco (Pitcher, Orange County, CA, Marina)
Amanda Vargas (SS/3B, Orange County, CA, Tesoro)
Taylor Swearingen (3B /SS/2B /OF, Orange County, CA, Canyon, 4.5 GPA)
Man some people just neg away at a softball topic. High school softball is an especially important topic when they are the feeder for our national powerhouse softball team.
People just do not understand the Michigan Tradition. We all love it when a Michigan Team wins a NC or does very well and gets some well-deserved love on ESPN. But they hate the discussions of said sport.
This year Hutch has 8 count them 8 girls from the state. For all the discussions around the SoCal area (which is deserved I might add) Michigan produces its fair share of SB Talent. T
The HS start tryouts in mid-March and can practice the end of March. The first games are around April 1 and last through Memorial Day, Then Districts start.
So there is only 2 months of HS SB. Then Summer ball starts and goes through the end of July. So that is about 4 months for our kids. In SoCal, they play 9 to 10 months out of the year.
I don't think that's the issue. If you switched "SB" with "FB" in the thread title, and through out the thread, a number of people would be voicing objections, as well. Personally, I don't have a problem with it, as I live considerably far away from Michigan these days and appreciate the information, but I can understand their objection.
young ladies future Lady Wolverines or have a chance to play at U of M?
article about Sierra Romerro, a Michigan commit.
http://www.maxpreps.com/news/_pxmi8lV9kKl4nwYrxratg/romero-is-on-a-home…
What, no snark about Lady Wolverines? Just kidding!
people hate the phrase Lady Wolverines, but I am sorry I always say it for some reason. Even with the lady basketball players.
Huron softball (and I assume Pioneer and Skyline) is dying. Lacrosse is getting popular and now girls are being divided between LAX, Track/Field, Softball, Soccer, and Tennis.
All of these sports have JV and Varsity teams at Huron... except softball. It's sad - I'm a baseball guy - but lacrosse and soccer and really surpassing softball. I was working at Huron last year and was shocked when they didn't have a JV team.
As a side note: maybe people are negging your comment because your title is misleading. I was expecting to read something about Huron - do they have some stud players we should be interested in? Because as you point out, otherwise, Huron and Ann Arbor in general, is not a softball hot bed.
Not gonna lie, I was gonna downvote based on the conceit that we should somehow all care about Huron softball. Same way I would feel if someone acted like we should care about their school losing in the football playoffs. But since it's really more just a general "softball tournament" thread I backed off.
A side note on Mattawan, the defending Div. 1 softball champs: playing shortstop and occasionally pitching for them is Allie Havers, who is a 2013 U-M women's basketball commit.
Mattawan won their district, with Havers going four-for-four in the district final.
How does one become such a big softball fan?
I imagine the same way one becomes a fan of anything else.
1. Random dude gets bamboozled into going to watch a softball game because he's nailing the hot shortstop - Dude realizes it isn't a bad sport and drinking in the stands isn't a bad way to spend a spring afternoon and becomes a fan.
2. Said dude realizes there are other hot broads on the team and invites a few friends to the next game. Said friends like drinking in the stands and staring at hot girls in tight pants and become fans.
3. Said dude ends up marrying the hot shortstop he's been nailing. (Softball fan for life).
4. Said dude and hot shortstop have kids. (Future softball fans).
PS - The athletic department cracking down on drinking in the stands at Baseball, Softball, and Lacrosse games was the saddest part of the end of my time in Ann Arbor - early 2000s. There was no better way to spend a spring afternoon than taking a 40 in a brown paper bag to a Michigan Baseball game.