By JIM EVANS

Of Journal Register News Service

MADISON HEIGHTS — No offense to the good folks at Bishop Foley High School, but Troy High softball coach Tom Calnen would prefer a change of venue for the Division 1 quarterfinals in 2010.

The Bishop Foley field is always in great shape. The hospitality is certainly tip top. The concessions stand fare is also first rate.

It is just the results of the games that Calnen finds tough to digest.

His Colts are 0-for-3 in quarterfinal games played at Bishop Foley over the last three seasons.

On Tuesday, the Colts fell in a 1-0 nailbiter to Anchor Bay. It was the same Anchor Bay Tars who defeated Troy last season. In 2007, the Colts lost to Lakeland.

Calnen's Colts conclude with an outstanding 32-9 record. Anchor Bay raises its season mark to 35-3. The Tars are headed back to Battle Creek for the second consecutive year, where they will take on Monroe at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Bailey Park.

Anchor Bay scored the game’s only run in the first inning.

After Troy’s ace Jordan Wheatley opened the game with a strikeout, she hit senior Miriam McKay and walked senior Samantha Scott. Both advanced on a passed ball. Senior pitcher Olivia Nicholas followed with a sharp ground ball to third that was fielded by Troy’s Catherine Chamberlain, who gunned down McKay trying to score on the play.

Scott then scored on Amanda Schneider’s ground ball to short. Kasey McKay’s blast to the warning track in right field was caught to end the inning.

“Jordan Wheatley had a little bad luck in that first inning,” Calnen said. “She certainly threw well enough, and even pitched great at times, to get out of the jam. In that first inning, you are trying to figure out where the zone is. I’m not suggesting at all that was the problem, but as a pitcher you are trying to figure out what’s a strike and what’s not a strike. I thought she was throwing some pretty good pitches, but maybe they weren’t that good.

“But at the end of the day, you have to score to win and we did not do that. Olivia Nicholas did a great job of mixing pitches. She got some timely, timely strikeouts. I’m proud of my kids.”

Nicholas threw a variety of pitches that kept the Troy batters guessing all day long. She threw a marvelous game, allowing just a pair of hits and striking out seven. Those two hits were bookend singles; one by leadoff batter Sara Dykowski in the first inning and a two-out single by Madeline Young in the seventh.

Wheatley also threw a very good game. She, too, gave up just two hits. She struck out six in six innings of work. Getting those hits for the Tars were senior Amanda Bigelow, who singled to right center in the third inning and freshman Jenna Morisette, who had an infield single in the fifth.

For the third straight year, Calnen’s final moments on the field with his seniors occurred at Bishop Foley. It’s tradition in his Troy program that the team’s seniors share handshakes, tears and hugs as they say their individual goodbyes to their teammates and coaches out on the field.

It’s an emotional moment for players and coaches.

Troy’s seniors are Chamberlain, Carly Hall and Molly McCarty.

“Those seniors deserve to be put on a pedestal and told how special they are,” Cainen said. “If you play four years in this program, there are a lot of sacrifices. It’s a very fitting way to send them out. It just shows how much respect I have for my seniors. It is a hard thing, but it is an important thing. You give up a lot to play in this program and the expectations are incredibly high. I appreciate it, and that is why I pay tribute to them.”

Nicholas is hoping there are more tributes to come the Tars' way.

"This feels awesome," said the senior pitcher. "Ever since the beginning of the season, we wanted to get back to the Creek. The whole team has been working hard and to get back is unbelievable. Going back to Battle Creek is the best feeling. That is what we wanted."