The Week Ahead: Big Track Weekend For Birmingham Teams

Country Day and Groves softball

The two Birmingham-area teams face off at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Falcons' home field for a big out-of-conference showdown.

Groves is currently undefeated (6-0) in the Oakland Activities Association (OAA) Blue division and could lock up the division with a strong week.

After facing Country Day, the girls have doubleheaders against divisional foes Royal Oak at 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and Seaholm at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Friday.

But first, they’ll have to deal with one of the top softball players in the state. Country Day shortstop Jessica Collins, who’s already committed to Michigan State to play softball, has helped lead her team to a 10-7 record and continues to hit the ball well. She’s picked up right where she left off last season, hitting over .500. 

The Yellojackets close out the week with a doubleheader against Rochester at 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Friday at home.

Track regionals

West Bloomfield is one of the regional hosts this year for varsity boys and girls track, where most of the Birmingham-area teams will compete beginning at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Unlike swimming, where competitors can qualify for state at any time of the year, athletes must get the qualifying time or score during a regional meet to advance to the state tournament in June.

The teams competiting in the West Bloomfield Division 1 regional tournament are:

• Groves
• Seaholm
• Brother Rice
• Marian
• Berkley
• Detroit Henry Ford
• Farmington
• Harrison
• Mercy
• North Farmington
• Lathrup
• Oak Park
• Rochester
• Royal Oak
• Southfield
• West Bloomfield.

The preliminaries for field events will kick off at 9:30 a.m., with the preliminaries for running events beginning at 10 a.m.

Country Day is a regional leader in Division 2. The Country Day track teams will compete Friday at Lahser beginning at 1:30 p.m. Division 2 includes:

• Avondale
• Andover
• Cranbrook Kingswood
• Centerline
• Detroit-Central
• Detroit-Renaissance
• Ferndale
• Hazel Park
• Highland Park
• Lamphere
• Orchard Lake St. Mary’s
• Notre Dame Prep
• Warren-Fitgerald.

Marian soccer

The Marian Mustangs will be looking to make history this week in the Catholic League championships. The girls are two wins away from tying Bishop Foley’s mark of nine straight league titles.

Marian plays the Division 2 second place winner at 5 p.m. Wednesday at home. If they win then, they will then play the winner of Notre Dame Prep and Ladywood at 2 p.m. Saturday at Ladywood.