Source: C & G News

Author: Mike Moore

DETROIT — Andrea Elmore walked the first batter she faced.

She sent the next 18 down in order.

Anna Dixon had never hit a home run before.

By the time things were settled, she had two.

All in all, it was a successful evening for the Farmington Hills Mercy softball team Monday, as the Marlins got a dominant pitching performance from Elmore and four RBIs from Dixon in a 10-0 six-inning victory over Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, claiming the Catholic League A-B Division title.

“This is pretty big,” coach Alex Lesko said after the final, played at the University of Detroit Mercy. “This is the first goal of every season, and last year we ended up short of this. We wanted to come out here and make a statement with this game.”

Elmore walked Prep’s lead-off hitter, calling that “terrible.”

It was the lone mistake in what was nearly a perfect game.

Dixon got the offense going, leading off the bottom of the first with s solo home run, the first of her career.

“Not really what I expected to do,” she said with a smile. “I was trying to hit a line drive, but I saw it go over the fence and thought to myself, ‘Well, that just happened. I better enjoy it.’”

Elmore helped herself later in the inning with an RBI double and a 2-0 lead after one.

Mercy scored five times in the second, including a three-run homer by Dixon for a 7-0 lead after two.

The Marlins added two more runs on an Abby Krzywiecki double in the fourth and then closed the game in the sixth, plating the 10th-and-final run on a passed ball.

“It’s a great feeling,” Dixon said. “We didn’t get to do this last year, so to come back and do it this year is amazing.”

“They outplayed us,” Prep coach Betty Wroubel said. “That’s a good team. We played our hearts out, but they were the better team. I thought we played very nervous, which comes with being a very inexperienced team.”

Prep (25-4 overall) was playing for a league title for the first time since winning it all in 2007.

“We’ve been here every year, but we’re usually watching,” Wroubel joked. “This was so nice, especially for this team. These seniors achieved so many things through hard work and determination. Today, we just couldn’t find a way to get ahead.”

Mercy moves to 27-1 on the season.

Elmore finished her no-hit performance with 13 strikeouts.

“My rise ball was really working,” she said. “I settled in after that first hitter and really started to figure it out.”

“When she’s got the ball spinning the way she did today, she’s tough,” Lesko said of his ace. “It was spinning up, down and out. She’s just a great pitcher.”

Mercy fell to Warren Regina in the semifinals of last year’s league playoffs, but has now won three titles in the past four seasons.