Mersch Nearing State Record for Career Hits

See ball. Hit ball. The concept seems simple in theory but most softball players find it difficult to execute.

Marissa Mersch makes it look like child’s play.

The Downers Grove South senior and University of Wisconsin recruit has been a hitting machine throughout her illustrious four-year career and is on the cusp of breaking the state record for career hits.

With 249 career safeties, Mersch is four shy of surpassing the Illinois record held by Kankakee’s Allie VadeBoncouer, who amassed 252 between 2007-2010.

Mersch has swung, and made contact, better than anyone in school history. To put her achievements in perspective, the previous school record for career hits was 186, held by Lauren Meister and Brooke Andresen, both of whom were four-year starters and Division I players. Meister started at Bradley University, while Andresen currently plays for Loyola University.

The Mustangs likely will have to win at least one more playoff game for Mersch to have a reasonable shot at breaking the record. They face Naperville Central and ace pitcher Alyssa Wunderlich on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in a Class 4A Oswego East Sectional semifinal game.

“I’m just taking it game-by-game and whatever happens, happens,” Mersch said after going 2-for-4 with a run scored and two runs batted in Saturday’s 11-7 regional championship game victory over Neuqua Valley. 

Mersch has helped the Mustangs to a 27-6 record and leads the team in most offensive categories while playing stellar defense in center field.

She's hitting .591 with 68 hits, 50 runs scored, 17 doubles, four triples, six home runs, 42 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. Mersch is slugging .965 with an on-base percentage of .661 and is hitting a mind-boggling .750 with runners in scoring position.

She leads Downers South in all of those categories except for home runs, where Danielle Trezzo has eight.

“It’s so inspirational,” said Downers South senior left fielder Chelsea Lavin. “As soon as Mersch comes up to the plate we’re like, ‘OK, she’s going to get a hit, she’s going to get us started.’ And in the field she’s always talking, she’s always cheering everyone up.

"She definitely takes the lead in everything and she’s just a great player and a great person.”

Mersch is equally adept at setting the table and clearing it. Against Neuqua Valley she had two hits with runners in scoring position, including a two-out, bases-loaded double that drove home two runs in the third to give the Mustangs the lead for good.

“She’s unbelievable,” Downers South coach Ron Havelka said. “She came up with a big hit in that inning. She’s done that for us all year.”

Mersch has come through in the clutch with amazing consistency throughout her career. She has 78 multi-hit games, including 30 games with four hits and one with five. Only 15 times has Mersch been held hitless.

“Ever since she came here out of eighth grade she’s been an impact player for us," Havelka said. "She’s gotten on base, she’s stolen bases, she’s done almost everything that you’ve asked her to do and she’s so consistent.

"She doesn’t go into long slumps. If she went two games in a row without getting a hit, that would be considered a major slump for her. She’s pretty tough.”

What Havelka likes most about Mersch is her humble manner and her simple approach to hitting. She doesn’t make the game more complicated than it has to be, he said.

“If the pitchers pitch me outside I just try to go with the ball,” said Mersch, who has struck out just six times this spring in 125 plate appearances. “Especially being a lefty you kind of have that advantage of just getting the bat out there and picking up a hit. I just try to swing at a good pitch and, hopefully, make contact.”

Mersch has taken a carefree attitude toward the hits record.

“She wouldn’t even know about it half the time if people didn’t remind her of it,” Havelka said. “If you go up to her and tell her she’s done this or that, [her reaction is], ‘Oh, OK.’ That’s how she is.”

Havelka and the other coaches have been aware for a couple of years that Mersch has a shot at the record, which was 247 before VadeBoncouer bettered it last season. Mersch batted .595 last year (her career average is above .500) with 70 hits in 33 games and needed 72 this season to get the record.

“I didn’t really pay any attention to it until the end of last year when [the coaches] said you need ‘blah-blah’ hits,” Mersch said. “And then the weather’s been kind of bad so a lot of the games [didn’t get played], so I guess I just take it game by game. There’s not much I can do except go up to bat and swing.”

Havelka, who has won more than 500 games in his 19-year career at Downers South and guided the Mustangs to the 1993 state championship, has coached plenty of Division I players  but said he has never seen anyone like Mersch, who is also an honor roll student.

“She’s an outstanding kid,” Havelka said. “She’s humble and loves to play. She’s a bubble of enthusiasm. Wisconsin is getting a great little player. I know they can’t wait.”