ROCHESTER HILLS >> Led by Dakota’s Katie Rusher, the Macomb Area Conference All-Stars did the better job of cashing in runs and celebrated a final time taking the field with leaguemates with a 9-4 victory in Tuesday’s MAC vs. OAA All-Star softball game at Oakland University.

Rusher, who spent a few innings behind the plate defensively, received MVP honors after going 3-for-3, including an RBI triple that got her team on the board in the top of the first inning.

A humble Rusher said the postgame award was “not expected whatsoever” and directed plaudits toward the team’s pitchers, but MAC head coach Lance Sell of Warren Woods Tower gave Rusher her due credit.

“(Katie’s) a helluva player,” Sell said. “She was 3-for-3, key defensively, three innings behind the plate, and played first with a nice snag there. It’s so hard with so many deserving players. They’re all great kids. It’s easy to coach kids like this. They work hard. A lot of them are going to play collegiately and I wish them well.”

Sell’s own player, Jacqueline Asmar (Macomb Community College), also contributed at the dish, hitting an RBI double in the top of the fifth that extended the team’s lead to 7-1.

“That was great,” Sell said. “This was my 23rd year as head coach at Warren Woods Tower, and I was asked to coach this team. I looked at it as a privilege and an opportunity to work with a bunch of great girls, and that’s exactly what they are. I mean, we had one practice last night, came out ready to play, and I believe it showed out on the field.”

He gave credit to the quartet of pitchers he deployed that helped scatter just a few hits to the OAA team over the first handful of frames. Utica Ford’s Jenna Walters, who set multiple program records this past year, led the way with three innings of two-hit scoreless work.

Rusher is one of four MAC players who will be attending St. Clair Community College, and she wasn’t the only one to make an impact with her bat Tuesday.

One of the others, Marisa Raymo (Port Huron Northern), hit a bloop single into shallow right that scored the MAC’s other run in the top of the first, while Walters (U of M-Flint) aided her own cause the next inning with a two-run single that made it 4-0.

Another Ford player, Brooke Williams, added to the MAC lead along with Romeo’s Emily Dawson in the third. Later on in the sixth, Marysville’s Ryan Quain singled in a run, and she scored on a hit to center by Madison Raymo, another SC4 commit.

The OAA got its first run across on a passed ball that scored Addison Cosgrove in the fourth inning, but despite getting a share of late-inning hits, the deficit reached eight runs before the OAA could tack more on. A pair did arrive in the sixth thanks to a single by Lake Orion’s Addy Dukus, Stella Phillips of Rochester Adams scored as well on a passed ball, but it could have been more considering the inning started with a walk and three consecutive singles.

Stoney Creek’s Kate Stephens hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Corinna Carrillo (North Farmington) for the OAA’s final run in the seventh.

With several absences, the pitching responsibilities for the OAA fell to the Lake Orion pair of Jadelyn Lopez, and Limberger, one of three OAA players who ended with a pair of hits.

“It’s been really fun, especially since the high school season has ended and I’ve got to play with some of my teammates from (Lake Orion), so it’s just fun to get out here and have one more game with them,” said Limberger, who is committed to Kennesaw State University, where she’ll be used on the mound, and likely in the field, too.

Lake Orion (Lopez, Limberger, Dukus and Meghan Ducharme) and Stoney Creek (Stephens, Danielle Bryant, Gracie Cantley, and Rachel Korson) led the OAA each with four selections, while Ford and Dakota each had a trio for the MAC, who also won last year’s inaugural meeting, 10-3.