New Baltimore Anchor Bay softball coach Mike Downey knows there isn’t too much big-picture significance to games in April, but one result certainly, at the very least, provided a boost for his team.
On April 25 at a tournament it hosted, Anchor Bay recorded a 6-5 win over Saline, the defending state champion in Division 1 and current top team in the coaches association rankings.
Again, it was nothing to get too carried away about, but it was a positive for Anchor Bay.
“It’s an accomplishment,” Downey said. “The girls know they can play with anybody.”
Anchor Bay has certainly showed that for the first month of the season, getting off to a 19-1 start and establishing itself as the best team in Macomb County thus far. Anchor Bay also is ranked No. 5 in the coaches association poll in Division 1.
“We had very high expectations this year,” said Downey, who is in his ninth season as Anchor Bay’s head coach and was an assistant for Macomb Dakota’s state championship team in 2017. “We have seven seniors, seven juniors, one sophomore and a talented freshman. So coming in, we had really high expectations for this year. The girls worked extremely hard in the offseason and team chemistry has been phenomenal this year.”
In addition to beating Saline, Anchor Bay also beat No. 3 Northville, 14-3, although Downey cautioned that Northville only used its ace pitcher in that game, Mary Gugala, for two innings.
Anchor Bay has a deep lineup full of future college players, most notably junior second baseman and leadoff hitter Aubrey French (.561 batting average), senior center fielder Hailey McDonald (.500, signed with Oakland University), senior shortstop Averi Rowlett (Detroit Mercy), who hit three home runs at Anchor Bay’s tournament; senior catcher Ashley Davidson (Saginaw Valley State), senior third baseman Autumn McDonald, senior first baseman Gianna Peiffer (Madonna University) and senior outfielder Layla Hudson-Peralta (U-M Dearborn).
In the circle, junior Savannah Letson (10-0) leads a talented trio of pitchers that also includes sophomore Madison Nowak and freshman Jordyn Meier-Turczyn.
Anchor Bay hopes all the talent at its disposal will help it do something it hasn’t been able to, which is make a deep run in the state tournament next month.
The biggest obstacle for Anchor Bay in recent years has been MAC Red rival Dakota, which once again will be in the same district with Anchor Bay this year.
“Dakota has really been the gold standard in this area,” Downey said. “We’ve had to face them every year in districts and regionals, and keep coming up on the short end of the stick. So hopefully we can turn the tables. But it’s always tough when you play good teams like that.”
Anchor Bay has drawn Port Huron Northern in the semifinal round of the district round on May 30 that will be hosted by Dakota.
If Anchor Bay can get past district, it will host a regional.
Is this the year for Armada in Division 2?
Another Macomb County team that’s off to a great start and won a tournament it hosted against quality teams is Armada.
In a six-team tournament it hosted on April 25, Armada knocked off traditional Division 2 power Goodrich in the championship game to win a tournament that also featured Dakota, Utica Ford, Utica, and Brown City, ranked No. 8 in Division 4.
“We have scheduled very hard games to put us through adversity with hopes that it pays off come postseason time,” Armada head coach Rob Girvin said. “I love our team energy so far. These girls are so fun to be around and they make games and practices fun. They play for each other and are very unselfish.”
Leading the way so far for Armada has been junior shortstop Helena Fettue, a Georgia Mason commit who is batting .484 with 34 runs and 17 stolen bases.
Other big offensive contributors have been senior and Rochester Christian commit Taylor Capozzo (.392, four HRs, 5-2 record pitching), sophomore center fielder Lily Piconke (.458, 31 RBIs, 26 runs), senior Kylie Boyd (.340) and sophomore Grace Girvin (.353, 18 RBIs, three HRs, 23 runs).
The pitching has led by Capozzo and freshman Megan Cox (4-1, 49 strikeouts, 2.59 ERA).
As is the case with Anchor Bay in Division 1, Armada in Division 2 is also aiming to overcome a neighboring program that’s been a major mountain to scale, defending state champion Richmond.
The teams split a doubleheader on April 14 and will be paired in the same district that will be hosted by Richmond.
The district won’t be solely about those two teams though, with strong Marysville, Macomb Lutheran North and St. Clair teams in that pairing also.
“Whoever survives that day has a chance for sure,” Rob Girvin said of the district. “We have to get healthy, stay healthy and get hot at the right time, along with having some bounces go our way. Anything can happen. We are focused on controlling what we can and putting in the work so we are ready when the moment comes.”
Battle between state powers on tap this week
A lot of eyes within the state’s softball community will be on what is the only regular-season doubleheader between the two best teams in Oakland County, South Lyon and Walled Lake Northern.
The teams will meet in a twin bill on Wednesday at Northern and will showcase two of the state’s best pitchers and two-way players in general: South Lyon senior Havanna Bissett (Huntington University) and Northern senior Lyla Turmell (Toledo).
Ranked No. 4 in the state in Division 1, Northern enters a perfect 6-0 in the Lakes Valley Conference, while South Lyon is 5-1 and tied with White Lake Lakeland for second in the league standings.
It will be the first meeting between the teams since a state quarterfinal last season, which South Lyon won, 6-1.
Catholic League likely to see new champ in largest division
Farmington Hills Mercy has long been the dominant team in the Catholic League’s largest division, but it looks like this year there will be a new champion after Mercy has won the last five straight.
Mercy was decimated by graduation losses from last year’s team, including Miss Softball winner Kaitlyn Pallozzi, now at Alabama.
This year, Mercy is a much younger team that could eventually be a force in the state tournament and in future years — Mercy actually dropped from Division 1 to Division 2 this year — but it has gone through some growing pains for the first month of the season.
Entering this week, the teams leading the Catholic League Central Division were Macomb Lutheran North and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s.
Led by senior ace Megan Rocker (Hope College), Lutheran North is 7-1 in league play, while St. Mary’s is 8-2 after a doubleheader sweep of Warren Regina. Sophomore Alivia Covert went 6-for-7 in the doubleheader against Regina for St. Mary’s.
Lutheran North and St. Mary’s split a doubleheader on April 21, with St. Mary’s winning 1-0 in the first game before Lutheran North took the second, 8-7.
Regina and Toledo St. Ursula were the next teams behind Lutheran North and St. Mary’s in the standings.
The league semifinals are slated for next Monday, while the championship games in all three divisions are slated for May 16.
Keith Dunlap is a freelance writer.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Metro Detroit high school softball notes: Anchor Bay out to make noise
Reporting by Keith Dunlap, Special to The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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