Elite Eight - Top Dogs

8. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood/ Birmingham Brother Rice Golf

I don’t know if it’s possible to put together a more dominant effort on a stage as big as the state finals, than what Cranbrook did this weekend. After shooting a very strong 299 on day one of the tournament, the Cranes didn’t leave any doubt that they were tops in Division 2 on Saturday as they shot a sizzling 289 and beat second place DeWitt by a whopping 27 shots.

The Warriors finally captured the elusive state title that they have missed out on for the past 14 years. But thanks to an impressive showing on day two of the Division 1 golf state finals, Brother Rice edged out Battle Creek Lakeview by one stroke after shooting a 297 on the second day.

7. Brett Sunde, Madison Heights Bishop Foley Baseball

Sunde went 3-for-5 on the weekend with a double in the semifinal game. Then he hit one of the longest home runs you will see in a high school game, and he did it in the state title game against one of the state’s top pitchers while drawing three walks. Sunde helped lead the Ventures to a repeat as Division 3 state champions on Saturday and was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 35^th round of the MLB draft. Not too bad of a spring, is it?

6. Birmingham Marian Soccer

The Mustangs got back to their winning ways after missing out on last year’s state title as Marian knocked off defending state champions Plainwell, 3-1 to win the Division 2 state title. I’ll admit that I couldn’t have been more wrong about the Mustangs, and they showed just that as they dominated Plainwell from start to finish, which is exactly what they’ve done during their entire playoff run.

5. Madison Heights Bishop Foley Baseball

The Ventures capped off their back-to-back state championships in dominating fashion as they topped Saginaw Nouvel 6-2 in the semifinal game on Friday and then disposed of Lansing Catholic, 8-2 in the state championship game. Over the past two years, Bishop Foley put together an 80-6 record after finishing this season with a 41-3 record behind perfect records from pitchers Garrett Schilling (14-0) and Brian Bayliss (15-0).

4. Mackenzie Larson, Birmingham Marian Soccer

Larson has been overlooked in the postseason because of the high scoring Mustang attack, but the senior keeper has been as good as it gets and that was the case once again on Saturday as she stopped seven of the eight shots she faced. Larson caps off her high school career with three state championship rings and helped lead the Mustangs to an impressive 22-2-1 record this year in net.

3. Brian Bayliss, Madison Heights Bishop Foley Baseball

Not sure how much better the season could have gone for Bayliss, as the senior ace finished with his unblemished 15-0 mark and had an ERA of under 1.00 and did it against some of the state’s elite teams. Bayliss capped off his remarkable senior season by leading the Ventures to the Division 3 state title, by pitching seven innings of six-hit baseball and fanned eight Lansing Catholic batters on the day.

2. Kelly Sweeney, Birmingham Marian Soccer

Is Sweeney really a freshman? It’s a fair question, because the freshman phenom has played like a seasoned veteran all year long, especially in the playoffs. Sweeney came up big once again for the Mustangs, as she netted a pair of second half goals in less than 10 minutes that then gave Marian a commanding 3-0 lead early on in the second half. It’s scary to think that she’s only going to get better over the course of the next three years.

1.Garrett Schilling, Madison Heights Bishop Foley Baseball

Schilling was, without a doubt the MVP of the championship weekend as the super soph put on a show all weekend long. On Friday, Schilling pitched a gem as he shut down Saginaw Nouvel and led the Ventures to a 6-2 semifinal win as he fanned seven batters. But that’s not all of the damage that Schilling did on the weekend as he proved to be a menace at the plate as well.

Friday, Schilling went 2-for-4 with three RBI to help his own cause, then on Saturday, he went 2-for-4 with two RBI, including what proved to be the game winning RBI single in the third inning to give the Ventures a 3-0 edge. Schilling is showing that not only is he going to be a long term ace, but he will also be one of the main offensive contributors for Bishop Foley for the next two years.

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