GUILFORD—Guilford Little League Softball 12-year-old All-Stars manager Andrea Klein doesn’t have the best poker face.
She also doesn’t need to. She’s got two aces and she wants the world to know it, going all-in with the hand she was dealt once again this summer season.
Klein, and the entire Guilford team, have been finding the winning hands ever since. A District 9 title. A Section 3 crown. A Connecticut State Championship.
Up next, Guilford heads to the New England Regional in Bristol, with games beginning on Sunday when the CT State Champs kick off the tournament by facing Concord, N.H. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.
In 16 games this summer season, Guilford has won 15 of them and a big reason are the two girls who are strong enough both physically and mentally to say, “Give me the ball,” and toe the rubber.
Maeve Eagleson and Leah Michalowski are Guilford’s two-headed monster in the circle and one of the big reasons behind the team’s success.
“We just want to really give it our all because it’s our last year of playing and it’s empty out our tanks and just leave it all on the field,” Eagleson said. “We have to leave all we got out there and make new memories with each other.”
Over the 16 games it has played this summer, Guilford has only given up 21 runs. The pitching staff has thrown nine shutouts, as well.
Eagleson started off Guilford’s summer season with three straight no-hitters against East Hampton & Portland, the New Britain Major Stars and Madison. She then combined with Michalowski on a fourth-straight no-hitter over Haddam-Killingworth, as well.
While Michalowski would be an ace on nearly any other Little League team in the state, she’s taking a back-seat to Eagleson this summer for one very important reason.
“We are better defensively with Maeve pitching and Leah at third, and that’s really the biggest thing,” Guilford manager Andrea Klein said. “We do have someone else that could play third, but Leah is a great third baseman. So as a team that makes us the better defensive team. Leah has a ton of velocity and also has great control just like Maeve does.”
Which is why when Michalowski does head to the circle, Eagleson has full faith in her taking over the pitching duties.
“I have a lot of faith in her and I believe in her and what she could do, and she’s a really great player,” Eagleson said. “She always is capable of doing good things and she tries her best.”
Never was that more evident than last Saturday when Guilford was deadlocked with Fairfield, 3-3, after six innings in the championship round of the Connecticut State Little League Tournament.
Eagleson could have pitched into the seventh, but under Little League rules she would not have been able to pitch on Sunday, if Guilford one.
Klein turned to Michalowski in the seventh and, after surrendering a hit and a walk, she shook off the nerves, got out of the inning and Guilford won to force Sunday’s if-necessary game for the title.
“I felt really good after that,” Michalowski said. “I was really proud of myself because I really didn’t think I can do it, but I did it.”
Eagleson went back in the circle on Sunday, and Guilford won 6-4 to win the state championship.
While the two are slightly different pitchers, both have very similar stories.
Eagleson and Michalowski both started pitching around the same time and both see the same pitching coach, as well.
“My parents just kind of put me there as a position,” said Michalowski. “I tried all the positions and was put there, and it was good. I just kept practicing, kept being better at it.”
Eagleson has a similar origin story.
“One day I just really wanted to go in and try pitching and then finally they let me pitch and I was actually really good, but I never practiced before,” she said. “I just randomly started pitching and I just threw a million strikes in a row and I just randomly just started. I liked the feeling of being under pressure and just, it’s kind of up to you and I just like the position because it’s really fun and you get to decide what pitches you want to throw and what spots to hit for.”
The two Guilford pitchers, both of whom play travel ball with the Shoreline Sting, kept working on their craft and by 10 years old, they were leading their team to their first state title and a run to third place at their regional tournament.
This summer, both are hoping for a deeper run at the New England Regionals.
“We just kind of want to finish off strong and make history, you know?” Michalowski said.
With two aces, Guilford manager Andrea Klein knows she could very well have a winning hand every time her squad takes the field. But it will take the entire deck of cards—of in this case the rest of the Guilford roster—to complete that winning hand starting Sunday at the New England Regional.
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