Mercy’s Andrea Elmore pitches against Notre Dame Prep during the A-B Division Catholic League Softball Championship at University of Detroit-Mercy in Detroit on Monday, May 23, 2016. Mercy won 10-0
It was a familiar scene when Farmington Hills Mercy coach Alec Lesko walked off the softball diamond with his arm around starting pitcher Andrea Elmore.
But this was new territory for pitcher and coach.
“I want to tell you something,” Lesko said, “at the Division 1 level right now, there’s only four starting pitchers left and you’re one of them.”
Yes she is, but just barely.
There was nothing typical about No. 2 Mercy’s 11-7 state quarterfinal victory over No. 6 Lake Orion on Tuesday at Wayne State.
First, the game was an uncharacteristically long 2:24, but that wasn’t even the most unusual aspect.
Elmore (29-1) can go a week or two without giving up a total of seven runs, much less yielding that many in one game.
“I didn’t play my best,” she said. “I don’t think I did what I was supposed to do to help my team, but we still came out with the win and everybody did really well.”
Everybody, that is, except one of the state’s best pitchers.
“I couldn’t find my spin and that was a big problem,” Elmore said. “I started walking people, but I had my teammates to back me up and win the game so I’m happy I had them because I did not do very well today.”
Despite not having her best stuff, Elmore did battle and survived giving up nine hits, five walks and hitting three Lake Orion batters.
“She was just not on her game,” Lesko said. “For a team that puts runs up on the board like them, for her to get us far as she did with not being on her game still shows she’s a competitor.”
The Marlins (41-2) are an aggressive bunch and that showed from the jump. Standing on third with one out in the first, catcher Anna Dixon tagged up and scored the game’s first run on a foul pop to the shortstop.
And it wasn’t like the shortstop ran deep into four territory. She was barely behind the dugout when she caught the ball.
“My coach told me to tag so I got back to the base,” Dixon said. “At first I hesitated because I wasn’t sure if they dropped it. Once I saw that she had it I decided to take that chance and run.”
That helped Mercy take a 4-0 lead before Lake Orion (35-6) had a plate appearance.
Perhaps we should have known Elmore was in for a long afternoon when Lake Orion leadoff hitter singled and scored on No. 2 hitter Erin Schroder’s triple.
But Elmore was able to get out of that inning without another run and worked her way out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth without giving up a run, thanks in a large part to an outstanding catch by center fielder Sophie VanAcker.
Mercy appeared to put the game away in the top of the sixth when Dixon scooted around the bases for an inside-the-park three-run homer that game the Marlins an 11-3 lead.
The most surprised person in the stadium was Dixon.
“I was running for at least a double because my coach says doubles are made out of the box if you run hard,” she said. “After I saw it get past her I was trying to run for three at least.”
But Lesko had other ideas and waved her home.
“I wasn’t planning to stop until he told me to stop,” Dixon said, “but once he started waving me in I was like: ‘OK, I’ll keep going.’ ”
She will keep going all the way to East Lansing for Thursday’s 12:30 p.m. semifinal game against Mattawan.
Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.