LIVONIA — How did Meg Kowalyk enjoy her time at the Catholic League softball championships?
Obviously, she had a blast.
The Farmington Hills Mercy third baseman drove a pitch to straight-away center, clearing the fence in the deepest part of the Madonna Athletic Complex softball diamond, in the bottom of the fifth inning. Kowalyk’s two-run blast turned a close game into a rout, giving the Marlins an eight-run cushion en route to a 10-0 victory over Toledo St. Ursula and the Bishop Division title.
“I was just looking for solid contact,” Kowalyk said. “I wasn’t looking for anything big; I was just looking to get on base and help my team out. I just had solid contact, and it went.”
Kowalyk’s homer was one of three the Marlins had Monday. Charlie Lambert cleared the left-field fence in the third inning to bring home the first three runs of the game, and Evelyn Miller had another two-run round-tripper two batters before Kowalyk’s hit.
“Hitting is contagious, and we’re just going to wait for that batter to get us started. It can start from batter No. 1 to No. 9. All of our batters can hit,” head coach Corey Burras said.
“Sometimes it might take us a little while to get started, but once someone gets it going, we just feed off of that energy,” Kowalyk said. “That makes us win as a team.”
Mercy (26-1) scored its final two runs in the sixth inning, after pinch-hitters Anna McGavin and Taylor Selimi drew walks, and were driven home on consecutive singles by Sophia Chaput and Lambert. That ended the game one inning early because of the 10-run differential.
That was in sharp contrast to the 2023 final, when Mercy scratched out an extra-inning victory over Dearborn Divine Child, 1-0, in a pitchers’ duel between the Marlins’ Kaitlyn Pallozzi and the Falcons’ Jessica Nelson.
Monday’s game started the same way, as the Marlins’ went down quietly in three of the first four innings against St. Ursula starter Charlee Wood. No. 8 hitter Carmella Crane hit a single up the middle in the bottom of the third inning for Mercy’s first hit. She came home on Lambert’s long ball, which gave Mercy a three-run lead.
Mercy hurler Pallozzi was her usual steady self, scattering only three hits to St. Ursula batters.
“I think that even though we go quiet some innings it doesn’t really affect us, because we know that somewhere in the lineup someone’s going to pick us up, and we’re going to just rally from there,” she said. “This season, we’ve been doing so good with our offense. Everyone’s been making contact, top to bottom, and if someone doesn’t, the person behind them picks them up. I think it’s helping us move forward because we know we can score those runs, especially playing the tough competition that we have.”
“Today wasn’t typical,” Burras said. “It took us a while to make the adjustments in the batter’s box and really get our bats going. We’re still playing good defense. We know we’re going to give Kaitlyn all the support, and we know we’re going to play good ball until the gears start moving in the batter’s box.”
Mercy — which is top-ranked among Michigan’s Division 1 teams — collected its fourth consecutive Catholic League crown by winning Monday.
Central Catholic takes Cardinal title in all-Ohio final
Ella Schuberg had three hits, including a triple, scored three times, and reached base all four times she stepped into the batter’s box. But the Toledo Central Catholic junior admitted that isn’t even her favorite part of the game.
“I love hitting and I will always cherish hitting, but pitching is where my heart lies,” she said. “I am a pitcher, by far.”
In the circle, Schuberg had a complete-game win after limiting Notre Dame Academy to a pair of runs on three hits. She also struck out 15 batters as Central Catholic earned the Cardinal Division championship, 10-2.
But since Schuberg bats third in the order, she’s not exactly a light-weight with the stick, either.
“I was seeing the ball well today, something I pride myself on. I’m really good at contact, and I’m really good at being a disciplined batter,” she said. “I think everyone today was really disciplined at the plate. We had a lot of really good timely hits for each other.”
Like Mercy, it took Central Catholic a while to get the bats going. Once they did, the Fighting Irish put together some big innings and coasted to the win.
Central Catholic (17-10) scored three times in the third inning on four hits and added three runs in the fifth on two hits and two errors. Notre Dame Academy got two back in the top of the sixth before the Fighting Irish plated four more in the bottom half of the inning.
In the sixth, Central Catholic strung together five solid hits. Alexis Rayfield started off the blitz with a single, and she was driven home on MacKenzie Coleman’s triple. Next, Addison Brinkman doubled home Coleman, and Schuberg’s triple brought home Brinkman. Schuberg scored on a single by Kelly Kitz.
This game marked the first time two Ohio schools were competing against each other in a Catholic League championship. Central Catholic, Notre Dame Academy and St. Ursula, as well as all-boys schools St. Francis de Sales and St. John’s Jesuit joined the CHSL at the start of this school year.
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