Spring Season Full of Potential for Area Sports Teams

The spring prep sports season kicked off this week as teams across the state began practices. On the local front, the city of Birmingham has plenty to be excited about with many talented teams and individual athletes ready to suit up for action.

Seaholm softball begins practice without late coach

For the softball team at , the upcoming season is sure to be an emotionally trying one since the Maples will be without longtime head coach Mike Hessling, who died last summer of a heart attack. Coming off a 13-13 campaign in 2010, Seaholm returns four starters, including star players Kelly Buttice and Jordan Lenington.

Buttice, a senior, will be the team’s ace pitcher. At the plate, Buttice hit .398 as a junior and .403 as a sophomore. She also led the Maples in RBI in 2010.

Lenington, only a sophomore, is considered a potential Division I college recruit. She topped the team in batting average last year as a freshman when she posted an average of .411 and started every game at shortstop. Other players to look out for this year on Seaholm are junior Emma Koury and sophomore Lexi Hamilton, the Maples' second-year starting catcher.

Taking over the program and replacing Hessling will be his former assistant, Bill Schuerman.

“This is sure to be an emotional year on the field for us,” Schuerman said. “Not having Mike around will be difficult for everybody. I think there will be times when we still look in the dugout, expecting him to be there, and it will be strange not to see him. But these girls are strong souls with a lot of heart, and that will help us overcome the adversity.”

Soccer squad looks for championship repeat

With 18 players returning off a repeat Division 1 state championship squad last spring, the Marian High School girls soccer team is a serious contender for making it three in a row this June.

The veteran-laden Mustangs feature five players who will be playing soccer at Division I colleges this fall. Martha Stevens will be joining last season’s captain Stephanie Pilarski at Eastern Michigan next year, while Erin Ring is headed to Oakland University, Sara Zawacki to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Liz Tresnak to Morehead State and Victoria Sollestre to the University of Detroit-Mercy. Fellow senior Danielle Mazur is looking to sign with a Division I school before the end of the spring.

Experience returns on the offense and defense sides of the field, with junior goalie Mackenzie Larson returning to the net. In addition, Tresnak returns with 13 goals and 14 assists from last year, while Zawacki had nine goals and 11 assists last spring.

Head coach Barry Brodsky admits the talent on his team runs deep.

“This will be a very skilled group with a lot of experience,” he said. “These girls have all had great careers, and they’re looking to cap them off with another trophy. If we keep our focus and play up to our potential, I think we’ll put ourselves in position to do that.”

History of top-notch baseball at Groves, Brother Rice

Across the parking lot at Brother Rice, the Warriors baseball team will be in the hunt for another state championship as well. Led by senior catcher Jimmy Pickens, a four-year starter and member of the school’s 2008 state title team as a freshman, Rice will sport a mix of vets including Pickens and proficient underclassmen whom head coach Bob Riker is eager see play together on the diamond.

“We will have a nice blend on this team,” Riker said. “Our core of veterans is strong, and the new guys, especially my sophomore class, can really play.”

Coming off a trip to the state quarterfinals in 2009, Rice finished 24-8 last season, winning league and district championships before losing to Canton in the regional finals.

Pickens, an all-state football player the past two falls, is signed to continue his baseball career in college at Michigan State University. Another prolific season by Pickens this spring might even attract the attention of scouts from Major League Baseball, where he could join his brother Doug, a former Warrior currently playing for the Cleveland Indians.

“Jimmy is a game-changer on the field for us, and his leadership is invaluable,” Riker said of his two-year captain. “I have faith in him to mentor the young guys on this team, just like he was mentored by the seniors on the ’08 team.”

Besides Pickens, Riker’s team leaders will be senior Andrew Sohn and juniors Travis Ferguson and Will Schwartz. The Warriors’ youth brigade is led by sophomores Jon Reschke, T.J. Shook and Dalton Greyerbiehl.

The baseball team will give Brother Rice a run for its money as the best prep diamond crew in the city. Headlining the Falcons' attack this spring will be senior Mike Mestdagh, a powerhouse pitcher set to be the ace of a stellar staff. Mestdagh, signed with Michigan State, is also a big-time cleanup hitter on offense, and when he’s not on the mound, he plays a mean center field.

Flanking Mestdagh in the Falcons’ rotation will be a pair of crafty hurlers in seniors Chris Poches and Jake Balicki. Poches is the team’s lead-off hitter, posting a gaudy batting average of .460 last year.

“Our pitching staff is definitely going to be our strength this season,” said Groves head coach Jim Crosby, entering his 37th year leading the Falcons in the dugout. “We have a lot of depth there. There’s not that much, if any, drop-off between Mike (Mestdagh) and what we get from Poches and Balicki. And all those guys can hit the cover off the ball at the plate, too. With those type of guys in our lineup, we’re really looking forward to the kind of success we can have.”

As juniors last season, Mestdagh — who impressed recruiters so much that he earned his scholarship offer from the Spartans before the start of the 2010 season — Poches and Balicki helped spark Groves to a 20-10 overall record and a second-place finish in the Oakland Activities Association Red division.

Handling the Falcons trio of standout arms will be junior Ryan Williams, slated to start behind the plate at catcher for the second consecutive year. Another junior on Groves to keep a lookout for is starting third baseman Chris Webberly.

Roeper track team to feature hurdle champion, Country Day fields potential Olympian

Over at , it’s the girls track and field team that has people buzzing. Roughriders head coach Ed Sack, about to start his 16th year at the helm, returns with one of the top juniors in the area: Briana Ratchford, the defending state champion in Division 4 hurdles. In addition to trying to repeat as state champion in the hurdles, Ratchford will also contend for league and state crowns in the shot put.

“Briana is a special athlete,” Sack said. “The scary thing is that she’s still getting better. She has the chance to be a three-year state champion if she keeps working hard and improving at the rate she has been the last two years.”   

Ratchford excels at a variety of other sports, including volleyball — where she’s being recruited by colleges — and basketball.

In boys track and field, Detroit Country Day has arguably the most talented performer in the state in senior Dartis Willis. Viewed as a possible future Olympian, Willis holds school and state records in the high jump and the long jump and is signed to compete at Stanford University in the fall.

“He’s a very talented athlete and a very genuine and kind person,” said Country Day athletic director Kurt Keener of Willis, and he's also a member of the Yellowjackets' state-ranked football team for the past two years. “The imprint he will leave on the track and field program at this school … will last a long, long time. Dartis is the consummate student athlete.”