Lamphere baseball wins first division title since 2011

By: Mark Vest | Madison - Park News | Published May 31, 2019

 Madison Heights Lamphere baseball players are pictured earlier this season. The Rams won a share of the Macomb Area Conference Gold Division championship, giving the program its first division title since 2011.

Madison Heights Lamphere baseball players are pictured earlier this season. The Rams won a share of the Macomb Area Conference Gold Division championship, giving the program its first division title since 2011.

Photo by Deb Jacques

Advertisement

MADISON HEIGHTS — Madison Heights Lamphere’s baseball team earned itself a championship this season.

The Rams won a share of the Macomb Area Conference Gold Division with St. Clair Shores Lakeview after both went 11-4 in league play.

It’s the program’s first division title since 2011.

Lamphere coach Adam Wooley said the title is “amazing” considering the amount of talent the team lost from the season prior.

“People really didn’t know what we had coming back,” he said. “For this season, we just put an emphasis on grinding out at-bats and teaching the kids a lot (of) the elementary fundamentals. I knew I had ballplayers in there; I just didn’t know what to expect overall when the season first kicked off.”

Wooley said he went in with the goal of trying to win every series. After accomplishing that and going through the “grind” of winning a division title, from his perspective, it can have benefits that extend beyond this season.

“The great thing about that is moving forward, the kids will have that experience under their belts and know what it takes to really come with that kind of focus, day in and day out, hopefully, for the rest of their careers,” Wooley said.

Advertisement

Along with acknowledging Lamphere’s four seniors — Ryan Barrett, Sean Barvais, Cory Johnston and Stephen Marson — Wooley said it’s a young squad.

“For instance, today eight of the nine starters will be either freshmen or sophomores who are in the starting lineup. So, for that reason it’s pretty special,” he said.

Regarding lessons from this season that could help the program going forward, Wooley wasn’t just thinking about Lamphere’s players.

“Both personally and then from a team atmosphere, I kind (of) turned a corner,” he said. “I’ve tried to talk a lot more about the mental aspect of baseball, what it takes to come in day in and day out. I think the mental grind of talking them through problems, issues, things that come up throughout the season, I think that’s been a key factor in why we’ve been able to right the ship. … I hope that we can use that as a foundation of how we continue to grow as a program.”

Wooley believes the future is bright for the Rams.

“I don’t care what anybody says — moral victories can only take you so far. And so, as just a matter of feeling what it’s like to be a champion and to win, I think the state of the program is in a pretty good place, because these guys got a little bit of a taste of it,” he said. “I think they like what they had, so to speak, and I think they want a little bit more.”