EAST LANSING— It seems odd for a player with only one hit to be a key contributor to a team’s victory.
Unless the player is junior Hannah Hawley.
Hawley drew three walks, going 1-for-1 with her lone hit being a late home run when Michigan State was down. The blast tied the game and gave the Spartans enough momentum to finish off a 7-5 win over Oakland in its 2025 home opener in East Lansing.
“We’re figuring out how to shift the momentum,” MSU head coach Sharonda McDonald-Kelley said. “If we don’t have it, we want to keep shifting it until we get it. I think that’s what that (home run) was able to do.”
The Spartans wasted no time getting runners on base and hitting them home. Junior Britain Beshears stood at the plate with two ducks on the pound and launched a ball over the right field fence for a three-run home run in the first inning.
“That was a big moment,” McDonald-Kelley said. “Brits (Beshears) been working so hard … preparing for that moment so I was happy to see her come on through in that spot.”
It seemed that MSU would dominate its opponent with an early 3-0 lead, but the Golden Grizzlies were ready for a fight.
Oakland replicated the Spartans’ success with a three-run home run of its own. With runners on first and second, sophomore Brooklyn Wyczalek wrapped a ball around the foul pole in left field tying the game at three a piece in the second.
The immediate response from Oakland was a sign of things to come, as the game constantly went back and forth, featuring two lead changes and three ties over seven innings.
Even with the Spartans’ inability to reclaim the lead, McDonald-Kelley was confident her team would keep fighting.
“We’ve been fighters all year and I think one thing we do really well is we answer,” McDonald-Kelley said. “If we give up a score in the top of the inning, we do a good job of answering back that bottom half.”
The Spartans finally gained control in the fifth inning when they went to their bullpen. Sophomore Ava Mullen stepped in for freshman Carsyn Cassady after giving up another Oakland home run, giving it a 5-4 lead.
The sophomore would go on to strike out two of the three batters she faced, keeping the MSU deficit to just one run.
The bottom of the inning is where Hawley left her mark. Finding the Spartans down 4-5 she wasted no time leading off with a home run to dead center, tying the game at five.
“It’s big time anytime you can leave the yard,” McDonald-Kelley said. “Within each inning, we want our team to feel like we’re winning the inning.”
The Spartans used this momentum to get runners on base, setting up junior Sydney Doloszycki to hit a sac fly to right field, giving them their first lead since the opening inning.
With only a one-run lead, senior Madison Taylor shut Oakland down. After replacing Mullen in the sixth inning, she allowed zero hits while picking up two strikeouts in the process.
The MSU bullpen played a pivotal role in a comeback victory, as the relievers together allowed zero runs throughout the last three innings. Mullen was also rewarded with her first career win
“It’s huge,” McDonald-Kelley said. “We ask them to keep us close and give us a chance … it was big for Ava and Maddie to shut it down.”
A mixture of Oakland fielding errors and walks in the sixth inning expanded the Spartans’ lead to two runs, giving them all they needed to close out their ninth win of the season.
“It is always nice to have these midweek games,” McDonald-Kelley said. “I think they’d all rather play than practice.”
The Spartans will now shift their focus to this weekend where they be resuming conference play by facing No. 25 Ohio State. The series is set to begin Friday at 5 p.m. back at Secchia Stadium.
“Ohio State’s going to be a tough team coming in they can really swing the bat,” McDonald-Kelley said. “So, we know we have to play sharp and be ready to go.”
