Howell Softball Starts Season With Win Over Freehold Township

The Howell Softball team opened their season up with a 4-3 victory over Freehold Township on Saturday afternoon on the road.

Howell was lead by stellar pitching from Stephanie Gilbert who pitched a complete game and struck out 6 on the day. The Rebels, however, owe their opening day victory to Stephanie Grainger, who blasted a solo home run over the fence in the top of the 6th. The monstrous line drive turned out to be the game winner for Howell.

The Rebels got on the board early, scoring on a wild pitch in the first inning, and never lost the lead but Freehold Township stayed close thanks to pitcher Jordan White, who struck out 10 and only allowed 5 hits.

"We know they're a very big powerhitting team, so we tried to get our scouting report to know when to pitch inside or outside," said Freehold Coach Beth English. "She's only a sophomore, so I thought coming in and holding them only to five hits was very good, thats the lowest we've held them to in years."

Despite never losing the lead, the game took an interesting turn late in the 7th. Howell was up 4-1 to start the bottom of the 7th, but Freehold got a runner on first with only one out left.

Freehold short stop Taylor Kuzmah then drilled a big double to keep the potential rally alive, advancing the runners to second and third. The Patriots promptly drove in those two runs to bring the game to 4-3, but Gilbert got the next batter to pop out and ended the game.

Howell hits the field again on Monday at 3:45 PM when they host the Middletown South Eagles.