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June 10, 2009
Title town
By Brad D. Bates
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Photo by Philip Southern
St. Clair Shores Lakeview senior John Chuhran pitches during the Huskies’ 10-0 win against Warren Lincoln May 26 at Warren Woods Tower |
Lakeview, Lake Shore bring baseball titles back to Shores
Metro Detroit may be Hockeytown, but after the district round of the baseball state playoffs, St. Clair Shores could be dubbed “Baseball City.”
St. Clair Shores Lake Shore and St. Clair Shores Lakeview took home Division 2 district titles and set up an all Shores regional semifinal played June 6, after press time.
“It’s nice to see their program up where they should be,” Lake Shore coach Chris Kuppe said of facing his rival in a regional tournament. “(Coach) Frank (DiCristofaro) has done a great job over there.”
Lakeview (15-17 overall, 7-3 in the Macomb Area Conference Silver Division) beat Warren Woods Tower 10-9 in a district final May 30 at Tower.
The Titans had topped St. Clair Shores South Lake (13-11 overall, 6-4 in the MAC Bronze) in a district semifinal.
Lake Shore (25-4 overall, 8-2 in the MAC White) topped Clinton Township Clintondale 12-1 May 29 at Kyte Monroe Park to win its title.
“At the beginning of the year, we had team goals. One was to win a league title, and the other was to win a district,” DiCristofaro said. “We played real well to end the year and faced a good Tower team in the final.”
Lakeview fell one game short of their league title, losing to Silver champ Clawson High 8-6 at Kyte Monroe, but games like that readied the Huskies for their postseason challenges.
“Year in and year out, we want to be a team that competes for a district title,” DiCristofaro said.
“The teams we played in the regular season required a great deal of preparation, and we took our lumps. But in the end, that helped us in the district. It helped us battle.”
Lakeview senior pitcher John Chuhran led the charge. Chuhran was on the hill for Huskies’ pre-district win over Warren Lincoln May 26 at Tower, and the district championship game against the Titans, where he was 2-for-5 at the plate.
“John had to be the MVP of the district,” DiCristofaro said. “Fortunately, we played our first game on Tuesday, and John is the type of guy who can get himself ready to (pitch) even if he doesn’t have his best stuff.”
Chuhran was named All-District along with seniors Steve Eatherly and Adam LaFrance, but it was a total team effort that helped the Huskies bring home a district title.
“We have eight seniors, and I told them this is their last hurrah, so make it memorable,” DiCristofaro said. “We have banners for championships in our gym, and I told our guys they had to want to get a banner.”
While the Huskies missed out on winning a league title, the Shorians brought home a share of the MAC White championship after an 11-1 win against Utica High May 19. However, a 9-8 loss to Warren Mott forced them to share the title with Marauders.
“We used that as a tool to show that you can’t let up and can’t take anything for granted,” Kuppe said of the lessons his team learned against Mott.
It’s a lesson the Shorians started to learn as early as the 2008 postseason, when a promising year was cut short in the first playoff game of the season.
“They know what it’s all about now,” Kuppe said of his returning players. “This team knows now that you have to go out and get it.
“It comes from (seniors Dan Keith and Travis Brown), Carl Smith and Arthur Coppola. They know one slip-up can end the season.”
Keith pitched the Shorians to a win in their first-round 13-3 win against Macomb Lutheran North May 26, allowing one run and striking out nine, while Brown and junior Danny Carroll provided the offense with home runs.
Brown, Keith, Coppola, Smith and Carroll were named All-District, but Kuppe said if there had been more available spots, his team would have had more honorees.
“Right now, we’re playing very good,” Kuppe said. “Even my bench players had hits in the last three games, so we’re really clicking.”
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