Source: Observer/Eccentric

Author: Dan O'Meara / John Stormzand

Farmington Hills Mercy breezed into the semifinal round of the state softball tournament Tuesday with a surprisingly easy victory over a quality Clarkston team in a six-inning mercy, 11-1.

Nobody ever would have expected a Division 1 quarterfinal game to be so one-sided, but the Marlins were more than pleased to be on the winning side of that score.

"That's a very good team over there, and they're very well coached," Mercy coach Alec Lesko said of the Wolves. "I've had the privilege of working with a handful of their players, and I just know they're a very good team. We're very fortunate that things went the way they did for us today."

The Marlins came out swinging and jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Clarkston had an opportunity to bat. Mercy also had three-run innings in the fourth and fifth to secure the victory before adding two more runs in the sixth to end it.

Following a leadoff single by Alex Sobczak and a walk to Abby Krzywiecki, Jordan Johnson doubled home Sobczak with the first Mercy run. Cari Padula's fly ball dropped between three players in shallow left field for a two-out, two-run single.

"In the playoffs so far, we've been starting slow, so I was very pleased with that," Lesko said. "They missed a shallow pop-up, and we caught a break on that. Sometimes, you need a couple breaks to get you going, and we were fortunate to get that today."

The Marlins (27-3) spread the wealth around. Eight of the 10 players who batted had a hit. The No. 8 batter, Anna Dixon, led the way by going 3-for-4 and scoring three runs.

Not everyone had the same opportunity to hit. Sobczak and Krzywiecki received two intentional walks each for nearly half of the nine issued by Clarkston pitchers Candace Kitchen and Madeline Maday.

Krzywiecki drew a third walk with the bases loaded in the fourth to force in a run. Sobczak, who was 1-for-2, also walked three times and scored three runs.

Sophia VanAcker and Molly Murphy were 2-for-4. VanAcker, who had bases-loaded singles in the fourth and fifth innings, knocked in three runs, Johnson and Padula two each.

Krzywiecki and Murphy had one RBI apiece. Nicole Belans doubled and scored a run in the fifth. Mercy had a dozen hits.

"What I was most proud of today is (Clarkston) pitched around some of our bigger hitters and put them on base, and the next girl in line did the job," Lesko said. "That's how it's been most of the year. It's been a total team effort.

"You have to have your superstars; you have to have your role players, and you have to have people who get it done at the right time. We're fortunate to have all that."

The Wolves, who finished 40-3, scored their only run in the bottom of the third inning with Kitchen's leadoff single and Alex Favazza's two-out triple.

Clarkston threatened to match Mercy's opening salvo in the bottom of the first inning, loading the bases with one out.

Mercy pitcher Andrea Elmore worked out of the jam just as she did Saturday in the second inning of a scoreless game with Northville. She struck out the next two batters.

"I've done it before, and I knew I had a good team behind me," Elmore said. "I was a little shaky, but I was confident we could get it done together. My game plan was to throw my pitches and keep the game close for my team.

"(Having the early lead) does make it a little easier, but I still have to come out (and pitch well), because they're a good team and anything can happen."

Elmore allowed six hits. Following Favazza's triple, the Wolves had just one hit over the final three innings. Elmore struck out four, walked one and hit one batter for a solid, overall performance.

"I think she tightend up a little bit early," Lesko said. "I told her, 'Just trust your stuff; trust what you're throwing. Beat up the strike zone like you've done all year.' She settled down and did just that."

Clarkston's Mikayla Blaska and Favazza went 2-for-3. The loss went to Kitchen, who relieved Maday with one out in the fourth. Mercy had 11 hits off Kitchen; four of her six walks were intentional.

The Marlins will make their first appearance since 2003 in a state semifinal game at 3 p.m. Thursday when they play Caledonia at Michigan State University.

The championship game will be played at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at MSU against the Warren Regina-Mattawan winner. Regina is the only team to beat Mercy this year.

"I don't know if we're peaking or not, but you have to be playing good ball at this time of the year to still be playing," Lesko said. "So that's where we're at. We're still playing good ball."

"We couldn't be happier. That was our main focus. We had two main objectives. We wanted to win the Catholic League and go deep into the state tournament.

"The one we didn't capture, but we still have the other one out there. We're going to try to do it."