FROM THE DETROIT NEWS
Jason Smith/ Special to The Detroit News
Detroit — In a game delayed eight days, Livonia Ladywood defeated Farmington Hills Mercy, 2-1, in 12 innings to win the Catholic League A-B softball championship on Wednesday at Detroit Mercy.
The game originally was scheduled for May 23, but was postponed three times because of rain and suspended once for darkness.
Ladywood pitcher Briana Combs pushed a bunt past a drawn-in infield, scoring Nicole Payne from third in the bottom of the 12th.
“We worked all week on getting the bunt down,” Ladywood coach Scott Combs said. “Once we got into international (tiebreaker) rules, we knew we could get two bunts down.”
The final two innings were played under international rules, which call for each team to start the inning with a runner on second base.
“I don’t like the rule,” Combs said. “It punishes a great pitcher like Kayce (Nieto). Sometimes we can’t ever get a runner on second base, but that’s the way the rule is.
“That’s what’s going to happen in the state tournament.”
The first nine innings, played May 24, were a pitchers’ duel between Combs and Nieto.
Combs allowed one run on five hits and struck out 20, while Nieto yielded two runs on four hits and struck out 21.
Mercy (19-7) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on a suicide squeeze bunt by Meghan Tarrance. Ladywood (30-3) tied the game on a two-out RBI single by Carli Sanmillan.
Nieto and Combs each gave up one hit the next five innings.
With the game tied 1-1 after nine innings, it was suspended and scheduled for the next day. Rain, however, postponed the game twice and the holiday weekend stretched the delay an extra four days.
“It was a disappointment waiting 10 days to play, in effect, three innings,” Mercy coach Jack Falvo said. “Ladywood is a great team. They’re well coached, and we knew the longer the game was going to go, we would be under duress.”
The game finally resumed Wednesday in the 10th inning, and Elizabeth Carlson started things for Mercy with a one-out double. But Combs struck out Jacquelyn Murphy and Carlson was thrown out attempting to steal third to end the inning.
Ladywood and Mercy are no strangers to long games. Mercy defeated Ladywood in 23 innings last year to win the Catholic League title. Both teams are headed to the state tournament.
“I told every single one of them in line that I hope to see every one of them in Battle Creek (for the state finals),” Scott Combs said. “If we can get there, I know they’ll get there. They are a very good team.”

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110602/SPORTS05/106020423/Ladywood-edges-Mercy-for-Catholic-League-A-B-championship#ixzz1O9eXvYBU

(Stats might differ from time article was written)

After already receiving 1st Team All State honors as a freshman, Briana Combs has stepped up her game to become easily one on of the top rated softball pitchers in Michigan. Her record at 19-2 with a sub.25 era, has helped her lead Ladywood to a 21-2 record and huge tournament wins such as the Michigan Stars Tournament (where she was named tournament MVP).

One of the big obstacles she faced entering her junior season was not the level of competition from other top schools, but was the rule change concerning the distance of the mound to home plate. Before this year, the distance of the mound to home was 40ft. The rule change moved the mound back 3ft to 43ft. While this doesn’t seem like a huge difference, when learning to get your pitches to move perfectly in a direction of drop at a certain distance, that 3ft could prove devastating to any pitcher.

Briana didn’t miss a beat.

Take it from her Coach Scott:

Brie hasn’t missed a beat with the rule change. I would say she is 50% better than she was a year ago. Her training at 2SP has really improved her overall strength both pitching and hitting”

Through extensive training at 2SP, Briana worked out 2 days a week to strengthen her legs and body, so that she could enter the season strong and dominate. She compliments her 59-60 mph fastball with a sick drop, rise, change, and curve ball. Briana’s arm strength allows her to pitch 3-4 games a day. This may seem like a lot, but to Briana its just another walk in the park. She usually ends her day with more pitches at home just to make sure she stays on her game.

Oh…Lets not forget about her bat. A cool .580 average.

Softball