With the No. 2 Michigan softball team down to its last out while trailing, 4-3, against No. 17 Missouri, Kelsey Susalla stepped to the plate.
The senior right-fielder had yet to record a hit in this weekend’s NCAA Super Regionals, going hitless in her first three at-bats in Sunday’s game while also going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in Michigan’s 5-3 win Saturday.
Now, with runners on first and third with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, the Wolverines needed one more run to prevent a loss and extend the game.
As the crowd cheered her on, Susalla dug into her stance, taking the first pitch for a ball, before exchanging a few words with Michigan coach Carol Hutchins.
“(She) probably (said) to stay in my legs and stay low, and slam my backside and frontside,” Susalla said of her talk with Hutchins. “It worked out.”
On the second offering from Missouri pitcher Paige Lowary, Susalla swung and made contact.
The ball exploded off her bat, rolling into left-center field for a double that tied the game at four and kept the Wolverines alive in a game they would go on to win, 5-4, completing a sweep of Missouri and earning a spot in the Women’s College World Series.
For Susalla, her first and only hit of the series proved to be of the utmost importance.
“Obviously I’ve been struggling a little bit at the plate,” Susalla said after the game. “But my teammates and coaches have been just so supportive of me over the weekend, and that at-bat, I just had a feeling that something was going to come my way if I (kept) swinging, so that’s what I did.
“We had some things go our way that inning, and (it) was really special to us. I could just feel our momentum was catching up.”
Susalla admitted that she has been struggling with her confidence in light of her recent performances at the plate.
“The thing about softball that makes it so challenging is that there are a lot of ups and downs,” Susalla said. “Obviously last weekend (at the NCAA Regionals) — and even this weekend — was kind of like a down for me, so it’s easy for your confidence to go down. Hutch and my teammates have all been cheering me on and giving me advice. I got here for a reason, so I just need to relax and not put all the weight on me. I have other teammates that can do it, too.”
Though Susalla’s confidence may have suffered as a result of her struggles at the plate over the past couple of weeks, her coach’s faith in her has not — Hutchins has yet to move Susalla out of the No. 4 spot in the batting order.
“I have confidence in Kelsey,” Hutchins said. “I just need her to have confidence in Kelsey. Sometimes when you fail enough, you’ve just got to say ‘Screw it.’ You just have to let it go, and I knew she would.”