Lakeview vs. K-Central softball game turns into a Ratliff family reunion

The team schedule said Lakeview vs. Kalamazoo Central.

But the calendar should have read "family reunion" as this softball contest brought together the Ratliff family for a happy gathering in a competitive landscape.

When the Lakeview softball team made the trip to Kalamazoo Central recently for a Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference contest, the meeting included several members of the Ratliff family on both sides of the diamond.

Longtime Lakeview coach Brian Ratliff was coaching against his son, first-year Kalamazoo Central leader Tyrun Ratliff, for the first time. Tyrus was also coaching against his sister, Paige Ratliff, a catcher for the Spartans. And helping to keep it all straight with the scorebook was Jacqui Ratliff, mother of Paige and Tyrus and the assistant coach for Lakeview, helping out her husband.

"I guess it's a family reunion of sorts," Brian Ratliff said. "My son's over there, his little sister is playing, his step-mom is keeping book and I'm coaching. Pretty cool situation for our family."

To have a couple of the Ratliffs on the same diamond is nothing new for the baseball/softball family.

Tyrus played at Lakeview, graduating in 2005, during a time when his dad was an assistant coach for the baseball program. Tyrus later helped out his dad as an assistant when he returned to coach the Spartan softball team.

So, while the Kalamazoo Central shirt Tyrus was wearing during this varsity doubleheader was a little off, there was nothing strange about Brian seeing his son at one of his games.

"We have been together for so long, it's going to be different coaching against him. We probably know what each other is going to do before we do it," Ratliff said prior to the first pitch. "But it's great he is getting the opportunity to do this and be a head coach. It's nice to see what you're doing is a direction your kids would like to do, so it's great he is kind of following what I have been doing all these years."

Tyrus, who was an assistant in the Coldwater baseball program a year ago, was looking for a head coaching position when the opportunity at Kalamazoo Central came up. And once he took over, he knew he was ready for it based on his experiences with his dad.

"I always wanted to be a coach, growing up. I grew up on the field playing, and since the third grade, I have been on the softball field watching my dad," Tyrus said. "I think what I've learned the most after being around it so long, is you have to have the ability to adapt. I have seen my dad coach a lot of different teams through the years and not every team or every year is the same, so you have to adapt."

And Brian was more than willing to help his son along in his job at Kalamazoo Central — to a point.

"Before the season started, we talked a lot about coaching and talked about some of the stuff he would be dealing with," Brian said. "And I talked to him about some of the stuff I have been dealing with. It's good to have someone to talk about that stuff with.

"Right before the first couple of games, he actually came over to the house to use the app that we use that we do signs with. I told him I'd look at his signs as soon as he left, but I was just messing with him."

Of course, there was also some bragging rights involved in the matchup.

"Yeah, I want her to hit the ball really hard every time she comes up, but right at somebody for an out," Tyrus said about his sister.

"We have been trash talking a little bit," Paige said about playing against her brother. "I told him I was going to hit a home run against him."

As it turned out, Tyrus could have pointed at the scoreboard and not worried about trash talking as Kalamazoo Central swept the doubleheader, winning 4-1 and 4-3. But that didn't put a damper on the get-together.

"But really he has been a big role model for me growing up," Paige said. "One of the best players I ever saw play. This game was something I have been looking forward to, playing against him. It's fun to see him out there."

Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter @billbroderick.

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Lakeview vs. K-Central softball game turns into a Ratliff family reunion