EAST LANSING – As far as Farmington Hills Mercy softball was concerned, this wasn’t supposed to be the year for the team to be in the spotlight.
Especially after graduating most of their 2025 team, including Miss Softball winner Kaitlyn Pallozzi, bringing in different head coaches and replenishing the roster with less experienced players. Predictably, the Marlins had a season of adjustment, as they finished the regular season in fifth place and watched their string of Catholic League championships end at five.
But a funny thing happened: when the post-season rolled around, the Marlins kept winning. And winning. And winning, eventually exceeding the achievements of their recent championship-caliber teams.
Despite the season eventually ending on a sour note with a 9-1 loss to Armada in the MHSAA Division II championship at Michigan State University June 13, the team’s overall achievements were savored by players and coaches alike.
“Oh my gosh. The growth that these girls have had is one of my favorite things to watch,” pitcher Anna McGavin said. “We started off as a team that couldn’t win a ballgame, and we made it to the state finals. I’m so proud of them.”
“Everybody knew where we were a month ago, it was no secret,” said co-head coach Alec Lesko. “They kept getting better, they kept playing hard, and you could see the fight in them all the way to the end. I couldn’t be more proud.”
Mercy finished the regular season under .500 at 13-16, but strung together seven straight victories in the state tournament to reach the championship contest.
“It’s just the hard work of them from top to bottom: the coaching staff, the players, the buy-in,” Lesko added. “Our motto is ‘Attention to detail,’ and that’s what got us this far.”
McGavin, who was in the circle for all but two of the team’s wins this spring, said, “During practice we would always talk about attention to detail, and focusing on the little things so the big things will happen, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Along the way, Mercy won the district championship by nipping Dearborn Divine Child, 1-0; grabbed the regional title a week later with a 4-3 win over Riverview; won the quarterfinal by the same score against Carleton Airport, and took the semifinal over West Branch Ogemaw Heights, 7-1.
Co-head coach Sara McGavin said the team shared bonds this season and that was a primary factor for the turnaround.
“We know each other well, we work together well, we’re always thinking the same all along the way, and that adds to us being cohesive,” co-head coach Sara McGavin said. “The chemistry in our dugout was insane all year, from the get-go.”
“Half of it was our team chemistry. We were getting to know each other in the beginning of the season, we were connecting, and now we’re one big family. It ended up like I felt I had 13 sisters, so it was incredible,” her daughter Anna said. “The other half was just the hard work we put into it to become better, because we knew we could. All of the things that we weren’t accomplishing were on us. It was our fault we lost games and we knew that, so it was in our hands and we used that to push ourselves to become better.”
Against Ogemaw Heights, Mercy scored three runs in the first inning on a lead-off single by Sophia Chaput, a triple by Taylor Selimi, a double by Vanessa Husband, and a single from Audrey McGavin (Anna’s sister). The Marlins extended their lead to 5-0 in the second when Chaput hit a home run to right field and McGavin brought home another run (by Husband) with a sacrifice fly.
Mercy added its final two runs in the top of the seventh after Chaput doubled, and Anna McGavin bunted her way on-base. Both runners moved up on a throwing error and a wild pitch before Selimi’s sacrifice fly enabled McGavin to score.
Saturday’s finale was a different story, as Mercy managed just four hits and committed five errors against eventual first-time champion Armada. The Tigers scored once or twice in each of the first six innings, running up a 9-0 lead, before the Marlins got on the scoreboard in the seventh after Selimi doubled and advanced on a sacrifice fly and a throwing error.
“They had trouble with the high sky today and the real high pop-ups. That wasn’t what we had done all the way to get here,” Lesko said after the loss. “Yesterday we overcame it; today, not so much.”
Overall, Anna McGavin said it was a good change of pace this season to not deal with pressure-packed expectations.
“I think it was nice not having the target on our back, but I also think people underestimating us made us not only angry, it made us push harder,” she said. “It was completely different than all the other years we’ve had that I’ve been here, and I’ve loved it. Seeing the girls that were on the bench (in past seasons) getting no playing time, including myself, growing into their own and becoming starters who make a difference in the game was one of my favorite parts.”
The championship-game appearance was Mercy’s first since Lesko piloted the team to the Division 1 championship in 2016, beating Macomb Dakota 4-0.
