Girls Softball Stays Unbeaten With Come From Behind Win

For just the second time this season, the Hartland softball team trailed in a game — but just like they’ve done all season long — the Eagles prevailed.

A 4-2 victory Monday over Flint Kearsley put the team at a perfect 9-0.

“They’re a quality team, the bottom line is we made a few errors in the beginning and got down," Hartland head coach Carl Gabrielson said. “We just had to realize we’re a better team than them and we had to get back into it. Once we got back into we scored and we were fine.”

Senior shortstop Kalya Gustitus finished 3-for-3, with two runs batted in, and one run scored. Both RBI’s came at crucial parts of the contest, the first tying the game at 2-2 and the next giving the Eagles the lead for good.

With Hartland trailing, 2-0 in the bottom of the third, Sarah Tomlinson bunted on and was soon driven following a hit to deep center by third baseman Shelby Hard. Hard legged the hit out to a double. Gusitus came up and drove her in with a blooper to right field.

The Eagles took the lead in a similar fashion in the fifth. Tomlinson again got on board with a bunt, this time right past Kearsley pitcher Chelsea Hendrickson. Hard hit a hard grounder to the middle of the infield and got on board through a fielder's choice.

Gusitus again ripped a shot to right, however, this hit was much deeper scoring Hard from first and planting her on third with a triple.

“I knew we needed some runs, and I just tried to help the team,” Gusitus said. “We’re just going to keep getting stronger, we play so well as a team and no one can take that away from us."

Gusitus scored on the next Hendrickson pitch that skipped past catcher Katie Stites, giving the Eagles a two run lead.

Hartland pitcher Abbie Minsker started on the mound for the Eagles. She allowed five hits and struck out seven.

Minkser worked her way out of a tough jam in the fifth inning. Myranda Williams led off the inning with a frozen rope to left planting her in scoring position on second base. Minkser struck out the next to batters, once battling back from a 3-0 count, and got out of the inning after a pop-out by Morgan Paquette.

“I had faith in my team, I knew we would start hitting more,” Minkser said. “We had a little struggle with errors in the field but we got the back with huge plays. I just tried to stay positive.”

The Eagles had three extra base hits, giving them a total of 26 on the season.

“When we have a runner on we want to move them, anytime our batters go up we’re looking to hit for extra bases,” Gabrielson said.

With the win, Hartland aims to reach double-digit wins Wednesday against rival Howell with a doubleheader that's scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

“If we play the way we played tonight and we stay focused, keep hitting the ball and the defense plays well we have a good chance of beating Howell,” Gabrielson said.