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Sports

Boys Golf 13th at Red Wing Invite; Boys Lacrosse Wins

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BOYS LACROSSE — Hartland rolled out to a 9-2 halftime lead against Grand Blanc before the game was called due to lightning. 

The game will count as Grand Blanc agreed not to reschedule.

Austin MacDonald scored three goals and had one assist; Chris Griffin had two goals; CJ Reuschlein had one goal and two assists; Nick Lipon had one goal and one assist; Andrew Sherman and Jack Bontekoe each had one goal; and Rocky Crotty had seven saves in goal.

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BOYS GOLF — The Eagles placed 13th out of 20 teams at the St. John's Red Wing Invitational Friday.

Hartland shot a 347 on the par-72 Emerald. Grant Klopfenstein shot 85, Chris Pentescu shot 85, Grant Comly shot 88 and Derek Andreen shot 89.

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"We took some other players over there today," Hartland coach Nathan Oake said. "We're rotating some guys in to try and find our No. 5 and No. 6 golfers. That's part of the plan to get them all out on the same course at the same time." 

Thursday

BOYS GOLF — Adam Firavich shot an even-par 36 at Warwick Hills to lead Hartland to a 162-164 win over Grand Blanc on Thursday.

Craig Stoddard shot a 38 for the Eagles (4-2 KLAA West), Grant Klopfenstein shot 43 and Austin Rivet shot 45.

"We got real good rounds from Adam and Craig," Hartland coach Nathan Oake said. "Grant and Austin, it was not a perfect day for them, but they hung in there and it was key for us because it was a close match."

Hartland's B team is competing at the Red Wing Invite Friday in St. John's. Hartland's A team returns to action on Monday at the Birmingham-Seaholm Invitational.

GIRLS TENNIS — The Eagles stepped out of KLAA action and lost a close match to Holly, 5-4, on Thursday. 

"The Conference tournament is Saturday at Novi," Hartland coach Judy Jagdfeld said. "We seeded six out of nine flights. That's great for such a young team."

Hartland won three singles flights against Holly, as freshmen Rachel Byron (No. 2) and Swan Germain (No. 4) and senior Kaitlyn Ratliff (No. 3) earned victories. 

In the doubles flights, at No. 5, Justine Mixter and Alex Piper were victorious for the Eagles (7-4).

BOYS LACROSSE — Jack Bontekoe scored three goals, including the game-winner, as Hartland beat Waterford Unified, 11-10 in overtime, on Thursday. 

Austin MacDonald had four goals and two assists, Nick Lipon had two goals and Andrew Skowyra had one goal and one assist. Buck Short had 14 saves in goal. 

GIRLS SOCCER — Hartland defeated Brighton 2-1 Thursday — a first for the program. For our story, click here.

GIRLS LACROSSE — The Eagles defeated Canton, 15-1, on senior night.

"We had a great win with hustle and teamwork from all of the girls," Hartland coach Katie Gutteridge said. 

Annie Quinn had Hartland's first three goals and added an assist; Rachel Sharpe, Haley Crouse and Taylor Pryde each had two goals; while Courtney Lee, Kayla Hinkle, Rachel Gibbs, Sarah Barnett, Emily Bontekoe and Amber Crouse each scored one goal.

Kelsey LaValley and Sharpe shared time in net with three saves each for the Eagles (9-5).

"Caci Pippin was key in the midfield and defense along with great transitions set up by Jessica Gust," Gutteridge said. 

Wednesday

BASEBALL — Junior Jake Jessen came through in the clutch to help Hartland earn a doubleheader sweep, 2-1 and 4-3, of Brighton on Wednesday.

Jessen hit a two-run home run over the 330-foot mark in left field with two outs in the top of the sixth to give the Eagles a 4-3 lead in the second game of the afternoon.

"It gave me a confidence boost on the mound," said Jessen, who was the winning pitcher. "We came out in the sixth and shut them down."

Jessen got one out in the seventh before being relieved by Cory Lewandowski, who came in and struck out the only batter he faced. Then, Jake Lowery came in and struck out the only batter he faced to give the Eagles the victory.

Jessen had a single and run in the first game, a 2-1 victory. Lowery was the winning pitcher and had an RBI single. Dan Richmond had an RBI double.

The Eagles improve to 21-2 overall and 11-2 in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association West Division. Howell was also 9-2 going into Wednesday and the Highlanders were at Grand Blanc for a doubleheader.

Hartland plays in a tournament at Wayne State University on Sunday.

SOFTBALL — Hartland is now 22-3 following two dominant outings Wednesday by sophomore pitching sensation Abbie Minsker against Brighton.

Minsker scored her ninth shutout of the season in the first game against rival Brighton en route to a 5-0 victory and allowed just one earned run in a 10-3 Hartland victory in the second.

Minsker struck out 12 Brighton batters in the second contest and 17 all together. She allowed just seven total hits on the day, one of them going for an extra base.

“She didn’t have her control as much in the first game,” Hartland head coach Carl Gabrielson said. “She had it (control of pitches) in the second. When she has that she’s dangerous.”

The Eagles 2-3-4 hitters came up big in the win, too. Freshman Lindsey Pajot had four hits including a double and triple and also drove in five runs while scoring three. Shelby Hard had five hits and scored five times. Kayla Gustitus had three hits, all triples, and scored four times.

The win puts Hartland at 7-1 in the KLAA West — and in possible head-on collision with Grand Blanc for the KLAA West championship. Grand Blanc defeated Howell twice today putting them at 5-1 in the west. If they manage to beat Milford twice on Friday, they will tie Hartland at 7-1.

The game between the two is next week at Hartland.

“It’s gonna be great,” Gabrielson added. “It’s the biggest game for Hartland in a long time.”

BOYS GOLF — The Eagles are going to try and put Wednesday's 165-173 loss to Howell behind them.

"There was not much that went well for us today," Hartland coach Nathan Oake said. "We tried, definitely, to keep our heads up and play hard. But, not too many putts were falling. A few other weird things happened in some of our games to throw a wrench in a good-scoring day. It was definitely not our day. But we've got to regroup for tomorrow, the rest of this week and next week."

Hartland's scorers were: Adam Firavich 42, Craig Stoddard 42, Chris Pentescu 44 and Grant Klopfenstein 45.

Howell had a pair of 40s from Andrew Brownlee and Jacob Schroeder.

Hartland (3-2 West) plays at Grand Blanc Thursday.

Tuesday

BOYS GOLF — The Eagles bounced back from Monday's loss and earned an important win over Brighton, 156-163, at .

"We stuck it out," Hartland junior Chris Pentescu said. "We didn't play perfect, but we kept our heads level."

Hartland is now 3-1 in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association West Division and is tied for the lead with Grand Blanc.

"I think yesterday got under their skin a little," Hartland coach Nathan Oake said. "We played well, but it just doesn't always go your way."

The leading scorers for the Eagles were: Chris McRae 37, Chris Pentescu 39, Adam Firavich 40 and Grant Klopfenstein 40.

The Eagles face Howell on Wednesday.

GIRLS TENNIS — The Eagles earned an 8-1 win over Walled Lake Northern.

"Hartland completed its last crossover before the conference tournament on Saturday," Hartland coach Judy Jagdfeld said. "This makes our third win out of three in the crossovers. Rachel Byron, substituting at playing No. 1 singles tonight, defeated her opponent 6-0, 6-0."

Hartland (7-3, 2-3 West) will now prepare for the KLAA Lakes Conference championship on Saturday.

GIRLS SOCCER — Lexie Schmidt scored in the second half, assisted by Michelle Rollins, to give Hartland a 1-0 win over Pinckney Tuesday.

"Julie DeBus made seven saves while the Hartland defense secured its fifth straight shutout and seventh in its last eight games," Hartland coach Andrew Kartsounes said. 

The Eagles (8-1-3, 4-1-2 KLAA West) are at Brighton on Thursday.

Monday

BOYS LACROSSE — Hartland lost to Bloomfield Hills Unified, 17-10, on Monday. 

The Eagles (7-7) were led by Austin MacDonald, who scored six goals. CJ Reuschlein had one goal and two assists; Josh Domke had one goal and one assist; Chris Griffin had one goal and one assist; Mike Bair had one goal; and Jordan Martin led the defense with six groundballs and five takeaways. 

Buck Short played the whole game in goal and finished with 10 saves.

Hartland hosts Waterford on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

GIRLS LACROSSE — Hartland narrowly defeated Northville 12-11 to move to 7-3 on the season, according to Hartlandlacrosse.com.

Courtney Lee scored the game-winner, the website said, while Haley Crouse led the team with four goals.

The Eagles next play 7:30 p.m. Thursday against Canton on Senior Night, the website said.

SOFTBALL — The Eagles (20-3, 5-1 KLAA West) cruised to a doubleheader sweep of Waterford Kettering on Monday.

Hartland won 7-0 and 4-1.

"It's like clockwork, the team is playing well and they're feeding off each other," Hartland coach Carl Gabrielson said.

In the first game, Katie Tackett had three hits, including a triple and a two-run home run, scored two runs and had three RBIs; Laura Oliver had two hits and two RBIs; Chantel Olschanski had two hits and an RBI; and Shelby Hard had two hits and an RBI.

"We had 15 hits," Gabrielson said. "We blistered the ball again."

Abbie Minsker got the win in both games. 

"She had 12 strikeouts in the first game," Gabrielson said. "She started to get ill during the game, but she toughed it out and struck out 13 in the second game."

In the nightcap, Kayla Gustitus had two hits and a run; Hard had two hits and an RBI; and Oliver had two hits and two RBIs.

Hartland is at Brighton on Wednesday for a doubleheader. 

BASEBALL — Hartland improved to 19-2 on the season with a doubleheader sweep of Waterford Kettering on Monday.

The Eagles (9-2 KLAA West) took the opener, 12-0 in five innings, and won the second game, 15-4 in seven innings.

"We came out in the first inning and really hit the ball," Hartland coach Brian Morrison said. "We had six hits in the first inning. We got off to a good start and kept it rolling. Our pitchers threw well. They threw strikes. We only had one error in the doubleheader so I was pleased with that."

In the opener, Al Wachsmuth had a triple, a single and two RBIs and Sean Bennett had two hits and four RBIs. Anthony Villar was the winning pitcher. He threw all five innings, allowing one hit while striking out six. 

In the nightcap, Jake Lowery had a three-run home run in the first inning; Travis Spears was 3-for-5 with two doubles; Dominic Dallape had a three-run double; and Travis Johnson got the win on the mound.

Hartland is at Brighton (11-6, 6-2 West) on Wednesday.

BOYS GOLF  — The boys golf standings are tight in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association West Division.

The Eagles dropped to 2-1 and into a three-way tie for second place after falling to Milford, 152-155, Monday.

"It's our first loss, but we didn't play bad," Hartland coach Nathan Oake said. "We had four scores under 40. But they had a 34 and a 35 and that's tough to make up. Those are two good, nine-hole scores."

Chris McRae led the Eagles with a 38. Adam Firavich, Austin Rivet and Grant Klopfenstein all shot 39.

"It's never fun to lose, but I'm not displeased with our play," Oake said. 

Hartland takes on Brighton (3-1 West) Tuesday at at 3 p.m.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK — Softball's Lindsey Pajot, girls soccer's Rachel Washburn and Baseball's Jake Jessen are the latest Fenton State Bank Athletes of the Week for Hartland High School.

Pajot, nominated by coach Carl Gabrielson, went 11 for 15, scoring six runs and knocking in nine. The freshman first baseman also had 28 putouts. For the year, Pajot's batting average is .517 and her fielding percentage is .983.

Washburn, nominated by coach Andrew Kartsounes, was a key part of the Eagles defense in three shutouts against Grand Blanc, Walled Lake Central and Howell. Hartland has had six shutouts in the past seven games. The sophomore central defender also notched two assists in Saturday's win over Walled Lake Central.

Jessen, nominated by coach Brian Morrison, hit .520 for the week including a home run, a triple and two doubles. He scored 13 runs and knocked in seven runs. On the mound, Jessen won two games and saved a game, striking out 11 to help the Eagles go 7-1 for the week.

Editor's note: This story was updated Tuesday to correct the name of Hartland golfer Austin Rivet. Hartland Patch regrets this error.

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