Emma Hanlon was having a rough game until she came up to bat in the seventh inning with the game tied at 3-3.

She had struck out, been caught stealing and had made two errors in the field. But she got her redemption when she smacked a game-winning single in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Highland softball team a 4-3 season-opening win over the Marlboro Dukes on Thursday at Highland High School.

The last time these two teams met was in last year’s Section 9 Class B championship game, a game the Dukes won 4-1 on their way to the Final Four. Most of that Marlboro team is gone, and the Huskies got the early jump.

“To go down 3-0 and rally in the last inning is just amazing for the whole season,” Highland coach Kathelene Canosa said. “It just sets the tone not only where we are physically on the field, but where we are mentally and our ability to be able to be resilient and come back.”

Trailing the Dukes, 3-0, heading into the bottom of the seventh, the Huskies hadn’t been able to do much against Marlboro pitcher Leah Gunsett. Through the first six innings, she had limited the Huskies to no runs on three hits.

“She will step up and this will just be one of those games that she’ll grow from and we’ll be all good,” Marlboro coach Ray Leduc said.

Gunsett walked Lex Winters to start the seventh, and Sierra Spinelli followed with an infield single. Gunsett struck out Mackenzie Brooker for the first out, but Delaney Read followed with an RBI single to put the Huskies on the board. Violet Brienza dropped an RBI single into center field to pull the Huskies within one and put runners on the corner.

The second out became a key play when Katie Dauhenheimer hit a line drive back to Gunsett, who wasn’t able to snag the liner, forcing her to record the out at first base, allowing courtesy runner Marissa Anzalone to score with the tying run.

Even though they didn’t have results, Canosa liked what he saw from her team’s offense in the earlier innings.

“I felt confident going into the last inning,” Canosa said. “All we had to do was wait for a pitch that we liked, and then drive that one, and that’s what they did. They were able to get around on her, and they were able, even with two strikes.”

That brought up Hanlon, who pulled a ground ball past Ella Leduc into left field, chasing Brienza home with the winning run. Her error in the sixth inning led the Dukes’ third run.

“She was able to rebound and come back, and that really shows off her tenacity, and her ability to dig deep and help her team out,” Canosa said.

Alexa Pavese got the win for the Huskies, working around baserunners in every inning except the fourth. She started off the sixth by walking Emma Jackson and Gunsett but was able to minimize the damage by allowing only a single run.

“Lexi’s a great pitcher, and the defense is behind her,” Canosa said. “They all know that if she ends up walking someone or someone gets on, they’re going to make sure they buckle down and get this out for her because she’s bailed us out of many tight situations before.”

Marlboro got their first run in the sixth inning, mostly courtesy of Kalista Birkenstock, who led off with a bunt single, was sacrificed to second base by Taylor Castellani and scored on Emma Jackson’s single.

Gunsett followed with a base hit but was thrown out at home.

Jackson singled in the sixth inning and scored on Hanlon’s error, and Birkenstock reached on an infield single in the seventh and was bunted home by Leduc.

“With (Birkenstock’s) speed and her base running, it’s good to have her still at the top of the order,” Leduc said. “So that helps. We’ve just got to do more in the middle. As they get more adjusted, and some of the younger girls get more used to varsity pitching, we’ll hopefully put more runs across the plate.”