She was the captain of the 2005 Michigan Wolverines softball team that won the 2005 Women's College World Series.
Merchant earned 11 varsity letters playing for the Wayland Union Wildcats: four each in both basketball and softball, and three more in volleyball.
Merchant was also selected to the All-State second team in basketball by the Detroit Free Press following her senior season.
[6] As a senior, she was captain of Michigan's 2005 team that won the 2005 Women's College World Series, the school's first national championship in softball.
[4] After the 2005 season, Merchant played on the USA Elite Team that won the 2005 Intercontinental Cup in Madrid, Spain.
She compiled a .500 batting average and eight RBIs at the International Cup and was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
[2] In August 2010, Merchant was hired as an assistant softball coach under Jessica Allister at the University of Minnesota.
Following the departure of Allister to Stanford that summer, it was announced in August that Merchant would join her staff there as an assistant coach.