Jocelyn Burns partially dislocated her shoulder during a softball doubleheader against Canton on May 7.
The Northville freshman missed the following three weeks while nursing her injury, including not being able to bat when the Mustangs (33-6) beat Salem 1-0 to repeat as the Kensington Lakes Activities Association champions last week.
Fortunately, she made a rehabilitation start in the regular-season finale against Dearborn Divine Child, getting some reps against a live arm so she’d be somewhat ready for the postseason. But the cleanup hitter was relegated to No. 8 in the batting order.
She moved up to No. 6 for the Division 1 district tournament on May 31 at Salem, but she admitted she struggled in Northville’s 12-4 win over Canton in the semifinal. Yet when it came to helping the Mustangs in the district championship against Livonia Stevenson, she played with all the confidence in the world.
And Burns couldn’t have picked a better time for her bat to come alive again.
The Spartans (26-10-2) opened the game on a tear, as Ruby Wells lasered a line drive past third base to score Albion College commit Elaina Braunscheidel, designated hitter Katie Cramer doubled home Sacred Heart University signee Ella Stoops and Henry Ford College’s Alayna Crosby used a sacrifice fly to bring home Wells from third base.
Just like that, Stevenson was up 3-0, with momentum building from inside its rowdy dugout.
In the bottom of the first inning, Northville responded by putting three runners on base. However, there were two outs when Burns, who admitted to still being nervous following a tough outing against the Cobras earlier in the day, stepped into the batter’s box.
“I knew I had to get a hit for my teammates to get up,” she said. “I knew it was bases loaded, and I knew I couldn’t leave any runners on base. I was already down one (on the count), so I knew I had to find a pitch close enough that I could barrel up, pop up and get a hit.”
Burns smacked Brooke Benaske’s pitch and then started racing toward first. When she rounded the base, she caught a glimpse of coach Scott DeBoer wildly celebrating over at third.
“I saw him over there cheering,” Burns said. “I was like, ‘What are you doing?'”
DeBoer was, in fact, celebrating a grand slam, as Burns got just enough oomph under the ball to sail it toward the empty grass toward Canton High School.
In one play, Burns had erased Northville’s three-run deficit, stolen Stevenson’s mojo and inspired her teammates to tack on to the score.
It was 5-3, and then 6-4 and 7-4.
Later, pitcher Mary Gugala nailed a two-run line drive to give the Mustangs a five-run advantage in the sixth, enough for the eventual 9-7 victory, allowing them to repeat as the district champions.
They’ll face No. 1-ranked Farmington Hills Mercy in this weekend’s regional semifinal at Novi High School.
“For her to get that, it was really special,” DeBoer said. “She’s typically our cleanup hitter, but today we had her in the sixth hole, so that was the magic number because there’s no doubt that Stevenson is a dangerous team. For them to get three runs, with the pitching that they got, before we get the chance to bat, that was tough.”
Northville continues to add successful storylines to the magical season it’s enjoying.
Sure, it has repeated as league and district champions, but this is essentially a brand-new team.
And, yeah, they returned three of their All-KLAA selections from a year ago in Gugala, who struck out five Spartans, and outfielders Ella Tomlinson, who smashed a solo home run over the fence in center field and doubled in Burns from third base during another at-bat, and Kennedi Adams, who finished 3 of 4 with a stolen base. But this is a squad that starts four, sometimes five, freshmen and a handful of sophomores here and there.
The Mustangs aren’t chalked full of veterans who have experience in moments like the district championship, where Stevenson stole momentum from the opening pitch and was looking to hoist a wooden mitten trophy.
“They play a lot of ball, so playing the game isn’t uncommon to them, but you just don’t know what 14- and 15-year-olds are going to do mentally because this is a big stage for them,” DeBoer said. “That was my biggest concern for them coming in.”
That concern lasted about as long as it took for Burns to jog around the bags and celebrate her grand slam with her teammates behind home plate.
“All the freshmen are really excited,” said Burns, who plays travel for the Michigan Batbusters. “We’ve all played together for a really long time, and we’re really close, too. It means a lot for us to be able to come onto varsity and execute when we do. It’s a big opportunity for us, and we’re really happy about it.”
They’ll need to execute next week.
Not only do they face the Catholic League champions, but they’ll bat against pitcher Kaitlyn Pallozzi, an Alabama signee who will likely run away with the Michigan Ms. Softball honor later this month. She’s arguably the greatest player to come through the CHSL and recently won the league’s Athlete of the Year award.
But Northville is playing well, and anything is possible when it wins the momentum battle, especially when one of its better batters has finally bounced back from injury.
“I’m way more confident in my bat after today,” said Burns with a smile.
Brandon Folsom covers high school sports in metro Detroit for Hometown Life. Follow him on Twitter at @folsombrandonj.
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: Grand slam! Burns returns from injury, helps Northville softball repeat as district champs
Reporting by Brandon Folsom, Hometownlife.com / Hometownlife.com
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