MHSAA softball quarterfinals: Allen Park softball rallies past Farmington Hills Mercy

Allen Park softball's  team oar isn't much more than 24 inches long, but on it contains a list of words long and strong enough to power them.

Hope. Love. Connection. Believe. Ownership. Consistency. Inclusion.

Those seven words along with 10 commitments on how "to have your teammate's back" reside on the oar that's painted in green, white and black.

So, when Allen Park found itself trailing by two runs to Farmington Hills Mercy heading into the bottom of the fifth inning there was no panic in the dugout, they knew to trust in the philosophy that got them there.

That led to the first six batters reaching base and eventually scoring six runs as the No. 20 team in the country, according to USA TODAY, won its Division 1 state quarterfinal over Farmington Hills Mercy, 11-3, on Tuesday at Wayne State.

It's the second consecutive season Allen Park has advanced to play in the state semifinals, this time against  the winner of Mattawan and South Lyon.

"Row the boat," said coach Mike Kish. "All these little things that we preach because as a coach it's more about raising these kids to be successful adults when they get older."

"When you have good people around you, that's so much easier. ... And it takes all of us."

But the season wasn't always easy, Kish said. At the end of May, the team began to slump, losing three of four games to Gibraltar Carlson, Flat Rock and Grand Blanc.

It was an unusual feeling for the Jaguars (36-4-1), so Kish called a team meeting. The girls had an airing of the grievances just before the playoffs started to get on the same page.

Allen Park fell behind in the first inning Tuesday, when Mercy's Izzy Chaput lined a two-out, RBI double to the right-center off Morgan Sizemore, scoring Kat Burras.

In the bottom of the inning, Allen Park — specifically the Hool sisters — responded.

Junior Mia Hool got the rally started with a one-out double. Her twin sister, Molly, batting next, was hit by the pitch on an 0-2 count. Then, the oldest sister Madison, a Wayne State commit, delivered the RBI single up the middle to tie the game.

"I love playing with them and just love that we're all back-to-back-to-back," Madison said. "I just want to cherish everything I got because it's my last year and I want to have these memories with my sisters."

Mercy freshman pitcher Kaitlyn Pallozzi followed with strikeouts of Faith Peschke and Kiley Carr to keep the game tied.

From there, runs were hard to come by. In the top of the third, Mercy's Kendall Spivey (Villanova) reached on a walk and Charlie Lambert ripped a double to the wall in right field.

Mercy coach Corey Burras sent Spivey home from third, but a perfect relay throw went from Riley Kish to Madison Hool and then to Molly Hool to nab the runner at the plate.

Two pitches later, Molly Hool threw out Lambert trying to steal third base. Inning over. 

"We had our opportunities to put some runs up and sway the momentum of the game, but we didn't execute," said Mercy coach Corey Burras. "Kudos to them, they did (execute)."

The game would remain tied at one until the fifth, when Mercy put together lengthy at bats. After Chaput and Gage Lambert had back-to-back singles to put runners at the corner, Pallozzi went down swinging, Spivey drew a one-out walk, followed by a Charlie Lambert walk and Asia Barbato hit-by-pitch to put Mercy up 3-1.

Sizemore, dejected, walked back to the dugout when her teammates sent her a message.

"It was come in the dugout, cool down, reset, because we teach them how to do all these brave things and reset," Kish said. "Now take care of your team and go hit the ball."

That's exactly what happened.

Avery Garden led off with a double and Sizemore singled her in to cut the deficit in half. That's when Pallozzi lost her control.

The freshman pitcher walked Michigan commit Madilynn Ramey, Mia Hool, and Molly Hool to load the bases.

A wild pitch made it a 3-3 game, before Madison Hool delivered the decisive blow — a single to left field that scored two and sent both the Jaguars' dugout and crowd into a frenzy.

"It might've been three weeks since she had a hit, like a good hit," Kish said of his senior who he's coached for five years including his time with the Finesse and Turnin2 travel teams. "But I've always said she's come through with the most clutch hits for me ever.

"She's done that same thing, over and over and over ... she's been around so long with us my dad was like 'you know Maddy is going to catch fire.'"

She finished 3-for-3 with a double, two singles a sacrifice fly and four RBIs.

Peschke and Carr would both lay down consecutive safety squeeze bunts off Barbato, who came into relieve Pallozzi, that plated two more runners and by the end of the inning it was 7-3.

"It's a great experience for Kaitlyn to have that," Kish said. "She's an elite level pitcher as a freshman. At 14-and-a-half years old, she needs these experiences, she hasn't pitched in this sort of loud stadium and this will help her and make her stronger.

"She'll be upset for a while, but this will make her stronger and will make us stronger. It's a good experience, humbling of course, but it's necessary for development."

In the bottom of the sixth, Sizemore followed a Garden double with a two-run home run to right field before the Jaguars plated two more runs.

Burras said he refuses to let his team be defined by one loss, that he takes his hat off to Allen Park, but it won't summarize his program or this team's season. He said they'll be back.

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on twitter at @realtonygarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MHSAA softball quarterfinals: Allen Park tops Farmington Hills Mercy