MIDDLETOWN — After Colusa hit a three-run home run in the top of the fourth inning to tie the score at 5-5, the Middletown High School softball team answered with a four-run bottom of the fourth en route to a season-opening 10-7 victory over the Redhawks on Friday afternoon in Middletown.
Winning pitcher Emma Hansen went the distance for the Mustangs (1-0), striking out six and walking four.
“She was strong,” Middletown head coach Bob Gunion said of Hansen. “She really pitched well.”
Middletown built a 5-1 lead for Hansen but Colusa erased all of that with a four-run top of the fourth capped by the home run. The Mustangs answered right back with a four-spot of their own in the bottom half to go up 9-5.
Hansen was supported by an offense that collected 12 hits, all of them singles. Maddie Ferguson led the way by going 3-for-4 while Lily Martin, Harper Moreno and Lia Crudo added two hits apiece. Martin also drove in three runs and Alli Huston (1-for-2) drove in two.
Playing an official game for the first time in more than a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mustangs were not only thrilled to win their opener, but just to be back out on the field in any type of capacity, according to Gunion.
“It was a beautiful day for softball, perfect weather,” Gunion said. “It was a great spring day. The kids were happy to be out there and so were the parents.”
Middletown scored in every inning except the fifth and had no shortage of baserunners throughout the game, according to Gunion.
“Their pitchers walked quite a few,” he said. “They walked in four or five runs.”
Middletown doesn’t have another game until April 6 when it opens its North Central League I schedule at home against Lower Lake at 4 p.m.
