Source: Hometown Life
Author: Dan O'Meara
Mercy High School won the championship of its four-team softball pool Saturday in the annual Mercy Invitational.
The Marlins (6-0) were led in the hitting department by junior outfielder Sophia VanAcker and senior first baseman Abby Krzywiecki.
VanAcker batted .750 in four games and Krzywiecki .583. VanAcker also scored eight runs and knocked in three. Krzywiecki, who hit two home runs, scored six runs and had eight RBIs.
Mercy defeated Livonia Stevenson in the opening game, 7-1, but the teams were tied at 1-1 until the sixth inning when the Marlins scored six runs.
Krzywiecki hit a two-run homer in that inning. Nicole Belans had an RBI triple, Anna Dixon a two-run single and Sarah Cassidy a run-scoring single.
VanAcker went 3-for-4 in that game and Krzywiecki 2-for-3. Krzywiecki pitched all six innings, striking out five and walking one. The Spartans had four hits.
In the second game, Mercy defeated Dearborn Divine Child in five innings, 12-6.
Mercy used a nine-run third inning to take an 11-3 lead. The big hits were a pair of two-run singles by VanAcker and Colleen Thomson.
VanAcker was 3-for-4 and scored three runs; Krzywiecki was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and four runs.
Andrea Elmore pitched the first four innings to get the win. She scattered four hits, struck out three and walked one.
The Marlins roughed up Northville in a 9-4 victory, scoring seven runs in the fourth inning of a 41/2-inning game.
Nicole Belans drove in three runs with a pair of RBI singles and a sacrifice fly. Dixon and Shannon Gibbons each hit two-run singles in the fourth inning.
Elmore was the winning pitcher again, allowing six hits over the five innings, striking out six and limiting the walks to two.
Mercy faced the Mustangs again in the championship game and squeaked by with a 4-3 victory, breaking a tie score with a single run in the sixth.
Cari Padula hit a one-out single and scored two batters later on a two-out single by Belans.
VanAcker and Krzywiecki, who had an RBI on a sacrifice fly earlier, hit run-scoring singles in the third inning for a 3-0 lead.
Northville’s Sara Moos and Alexis Koehler had RBI singles in the fifth to tie the score, 3-3.
Krzywiecki pitched the first 4 1/3 inninigs and allowed six hits. Elmore one-hit the Mustangs over the last 2 2/3 for the win.
The Marlins had eight hits off Northville pitcher Allison Zwarka, who fanned five and walked one.
VanAcker was 9-for-12 and Krzywiecki 7-for-12 in the tournament. Gibbson batted .556, Dixon .538, Belans .455 and Padula .417.
Dixon scored four runs; Gibbons, Belans and Padula scored three each. Belans also drove in six runs, Dixon four, Gibbons three and Padula two.