Mourning Those Who Contributed Much

EAST LANSING — For Armada freshman pitcher Megan Cox, there were two big moments during a Division 2 Semifinal against Stevensville Lakeshore on Thursday that required her to compose herself. 

The first came with two outs in the sixth inning, when Cox officially lost a no-hitter. While a small letdown, it wasn’t a huge deal, given she and Armada were still holding on to a 4-0 lead at the time. 

But composure was really needed in the top of the seventh. 

After a dropped fly ball in the outfield with two outs plated a run, Lakeshore scored another to make it 4-2 and had runners on first and second with two outs.

“I was getting a little nervous,” Cox admitted. “I was just trying to hit my spot.”

She did, ending the game on a strikeout to give Armada a 4-2 win over the top-ranked Lancers and a trip to Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. championship game at Secchia Stadium. 

Cox certainly didn’t pitch like a freshman, striking out 14 batters for the Tigers (36-8). 

Armada head coach Rob Girvin said his staff and Cox didn’t have anything special gameplan-wise for Lakeshore’s lineup. 

“A lot of people talk matchups,” Girvin said. “I’ve always been the school of thought that if they can’t stop it, you keep doing it. I just going to (call) what she throws well and if they hit it, they hit it. We’ll go best on best and if you’re better than us, we’ll tip our cap.”

Armada’s offense set the tone early, taking a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on RBI singles by sophomore Lilyana Piconke and Cox.

The Tigers made it 3-0 in the third on an RBI single by senior Taylor Capozzo and went up 4-0 in the fourth on an RBI single by junior Addy VanHoeck. 

From there, Cox held off Lakeshore to put Armada (36-8) in its first Final since finishing Class C runner-up in 1979.

“We thought we’d throw together a schedule that might make us .500, but really test us,” Girvin said of the regular season. “Make us go through some adversity in games so we would get down in games and have to battle back. They learned throughout the year. Yeah, we blew a couple early in the season where we had to learn, but they’ve really bought into team-first ball.”

Lakeshore, which was pursuing its ninth Finals title, finished 34-5.

“She threw great,” Lancers head coach Denny Dock said of Cox. “Hat’s off to her. She met the challenge. We didn’t play very good offensively and worse, we didn’t play very good defense. When you’re facing the good pitchers, you have to match zeroes. You have to make zeroes, and we didn’t do that.”

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Farmington Hills Mercy 7, Ogemaw Heights 1

If you told high school softball pundits before the 2025 season that Farmington Hills Mercy was soon going to reach a state championship game, nine of 10 undoubtably would have assumed it would have been last year. 

With a senior-laden team and the eventual Miss Softball Award winner in Kaitlyn Pallozzi, Mercy spent most of last spring ranked No. 1 in Division 1, but got upset in a Regional Semifinal against Northville.

Decimated by graduation losses and with just 13 players showing up for tryouts in March, Mercy — which moved to Division 2 this year — hardly had expectations after finishing below .500 during the regular season and seeing its streak of five straight Catholic High School League titles come to an end. 

But lo and behold, Mercy has caught fire at the right time and is in a championship game for the first time since winning the Division 1 title in 2016.

“If anyone was around us for the last six, seven weeks, we were incredible at practice and everything,” Mercy co-coach Alec Lesko said. “They went from being scared to make a play, to wanting every ball hit at them. It was a huge difference. Every single one of those kids in the lineup wants to be in the batter’s box when the game is on the line. It flipped like a switch. It was great to see. 

Mercy jumped on Ogemaw Heights early, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning on an RBI triple by junior Taylor Selimi, an RBI double by sophomore Vanessa Husband and an RBI single by freshman Audrey McGavin. 

Senior Sophia Chaput then homered in the second inning, and McGavin hit an RBI sacrifice fly in the third to make it 5-0 Mercy.

From there, senior pitcher Anna McGavin held Ogemaw Heights at bay by brilliantly pitching out of jams. 

In the fourth inning, Ogemaw Heights put runners on second and third with nobody out, but McGavin struck out three straight. In the fifth, the Falcons had runners on first and second with no outs, but a double play and a strikeout got McGavin and Mercy back in the dugout. 

Ogemaw Heights also put its first two runners on in the sixth inning, but a lineout, popup and strikeout by McGavin ended the threat. 

She allowed one run on eight hits, striking out 11 and walking two.

“We just couldn’t get them across,” Ogemaw Heights head coach Ryan Nicholson said. “They’re a good team. (McGavin) had a good rise ball going on us. She’s a good pitcher. … We just couldn’t push them across, so I give them all the credit.”

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PHOTOS (Top) Armada’s Megan Cox fires a pitch toward the plate during her team’s Semifinal win over Stevensville Lakeshore on Thursday. (Middle) Mercy’s Sophia Chaput (28) yells toward her team’s dugout after reaching second base, while Ogemaw Heights’ Aubrey Evans throws the ball back to the pitcher.