By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central's strategy all season on its way to a Division 2 state girls soccer title was relatively simple.
Score first and score early.
Forest Hills Central was among the four state champions crowned in June. FHC defeated Bloomfield Hills Lahser in the title game, 4-1. The Rangers also won the 2005 state title under Clark Udell, now the school's athletic director.
Josh Sheldon was in his second year of coaching the team after assisting under Udell for three seasons.
"We played as well as we can," Sheldon said of his team's championship game performance. "Pretty much everything we taught them as coaches they stepped up and did."
For the season, Clare Stachel led Forest Hills Central with 39 goals and 24 assists, with Erika Boll adding 14 goals and 12 assists. Kaely Schlosser, a freshman, had nine goals and 14 assists.
Sheldon said a turning point of the season came when his team lost 4-2 to Hudsonville-Unity Christian, which wound up winning the Division 3 state crown for the third-straight season.
"From then on, the girls were a whole different team," Sheldon said. "Our girls thought they were in that game against Unity Christian. That was the low end of the regular season."
Lahser, which ended the season at 14-8-1, got a goal from Kristen Abbott with six minutes remaining in the championship contest.
Division 2 Baseball
The best part of winning the Division 2 baseball state championship for Mount Pleasant coach Luke Epple was having his father, Joe Epple, on hand for the recent 7-4 victory over Orchard Lake St. Mary's.
Joe Epple was the coach for Mount Pleasant back in the 1980s. He was a guest in his son's dugout when the Oilers finished their season at 39-1. Their only loss was 5-4 to Midland Dow.
Tyler Gross was among the heroes in the championship game, driving in three runs.
Another Tyler was also a hero, Tyler Mills, who had an eight-hit complete game for the Oilers, striking out nine and walking five. He also had three hits and an RBI.
Mount Pleasant hung onto a 7-1 lead against a late St. Mary's rally.
"St. Mary's didn't let up. Tyler had to buckle down," Epple said. "Fortunately, he came up with three pitches, not just two. Being able to throw an off-speed pitch has been the key for him. He's been working on that changeup. If he can get his velocity up, he's going to be tough."
Orchard Lake St. Mary's ended the season at 28-12, hoping to win another state title to go with its crowns from 1998 and 2003. But St. Mary's committed four errors to hurt its hopes.
"I was impressed with their pitching," St. Mary's coach Nick Di Ponio said. "They made us pay for our mistakes."
Joe Epple, who is 70, was diagnosed in January with having a form of cancer. Luke Epple said his dad is doing fine.
"He was the first one our guys presented the trophy to," Luke Epple said.
Mount Pleasant, also home to Central Michigan University, has a reputation for being a strong baseball town.
"I'm very proud of our city's Pony League and Little League. I'm proud of the boys who have worked so hard to improve on their skills. They have tremendous hunger," Luke Epple said.
Luke Epple has been coaching at Mount Pleasant for 14 seasons and has a record of 402-109. His team also won the Class A state title in 1996.
Division 2 Softball
Whitney Hastings picked a fine time to have the pitching game of her life.
Tecumseh's pitcher struck out 13 and allowed only four hits in the recent Division 2 state title game at Battle Creek, leading her school to a 3-1 championship victory over Comstock Park from the Grand Rapids area.
Tecumseh ended the regular season at 37-5 and got all the offense it needed in the first inning with a pair of runs on two Comstock Park throwing errors. Kaitlin Kenyon got an RBI single for the other run.
Comstock Park's season ended at 31-10.
"We had a great offense this season," Hastings said. "Once we get up by three runs, I knew we could win it."
"Our pitcher threw absolutely amazing," Tecumseh coach Kristalyn Smith said. "Right now, Whitney is at the top of her game. She's very confident in that circle."
"It's amazing," Hastings said. "We finally got it."
Smith's three-year coaching record at Tecumseh is also bordering on amazing at 105-17.