FARMINGTON HILLS — Opening day for CHSL girls softball might not have had the glitz and glamor of the pros, but there was still a buzz in the air over the two teams facing each other, bitter archrivals, both among the top-ranked teams in the state — Livonia Ladywood (No. 2 in preseason ranking in Division 2) and Farmington Hills Mercy (No. 2 preseason favorite in Division 1).
Each team had its ace on the mound, both among the top hurlers in the state: senior Briana Combs for Ladywood (32-2 last season with a 0.22 earned-run average, striking out 324 while walking just nine), who will be playing at Cleveland State next season, and Mercy’s senior Kayce Nieto (14-6, 0.52 ERA and 219 strikeouts last season), committed to Utah.
The stage for this early confrontation was a brand new infield installed at Mercy this spring, a mix of sand, silt and clay that is growing in popularity among colleges and high schools nationally. For first-time use, Mercy’s athletic director and softball coach Nancy Malinowski was pleased that the field held up after a hard rain had caused the game to be pushed back a day.
Some four hours later, Combs and the Blazers prevailed, sweeping the doubleheader, 5-2 and 3-1. Combs pitched both games, giving up three runs on six hits, striking out 23 and walking six. Nieto allowed seven hits and whiffed eight in going the distance in the first game, and retired seven of eight batters in relief in the nightcap.
Combs’ father and Ladywood’s coach for the last five years, Scott Combs, “didn’t think she threw enough first strikes, but she got the outs when she had to.”
Marlins assistant coach Eddie Ketelhut said it was “rough coming out of the chute” for Nieto. He agreed with her assessment that “my riser wasn’t biting as usual” against the strong breeze blowing over home plate to center field.
“Yeah, two of those risers cleared the fence,” Ketelhut said about Andrea Gietl’s blast over the 208-foot marker in straightaway center in the Blazers’ second inning and Carli SanMillan’s homer to left in the sixth inning in the first game.
In between homers, Ladywood scored three runs in the fourth inning on singles by Celeste Fidge and SanMillan, a fielder’s choice, and a two-run single by Victoria Williams.
Mercy scored twice in the sixth on a two-run single by Jacquelyn Murphy and an RBI base hit by Hannah Madill.
“I kinda lost my focus in that inning,” Combs said. “They figured out what I was throwing.”
Mercy took a 1-0 lead in the third inning of the second game. Elizabeth Carlson singled, took second on a sacrifice bunt, advanced to third on a passed ball and came home on a sacrifice fly to right. But the Marlins got no further than second base the rest of the game.
Meanwhile, Mercy’s Jacquelyn Murphy limited Ladywood to a single in the first four innings. In the fifth, after two outs, the Blazers put together a three-run rally; slicing singles to right by Williams and Kristen Eisterhold and a walk to Lauren Hayes filled the bases.
Combs won the game with her bat as well as her arm, grounding a single through the box to send in two runs and knock Murphy out of the game. Sam Bauer greeted Nieto with a run-scoring base hit for the third score.
Ladywood beat Mercy, 2-1, in last year’s CHSL A-B championship game. Ladywood expects to be in the hunt for a state title this year. The Blazers reached the Division 2 semifinals last year before losing to the eventual champion, Stevensville Lakeshore, and lost in the 2009 finals to Niles.
Don Horkey is a freelance writer based in Shelby Township.
