The Oakland Press/DOUG BAUMAN Lake Orion’s shortstop Christina Basso (left) forces an out at second as Clarkston’s Lizzy Zezula races to the bag.The Dragons dropped both games of a doubleheader to the Wolves on Tuesday. (The Oakland Press/DOUG BAUMAN)

From the moment the ball left her bat Taylor Hasselbach knew she hit a home run.

Hasselbach took a one-ball, one-strike pitch over the centerfield wall for the first runs of the doubleheader. At a hitter- friendly field like Lake Orion, Hasselbach knew it was long enough.

“I hit it a pretty hard. If the fence was a little bit longer it could have been a little bit closer,” she said.

The Clarkston sophomore finished the doubleheader with a home run, two RBI, two base hits and four walks, two of which were intentional. Hasselbach was also hit by a pitch as she reached base in seven of eight plate appearances.

The first inning, two-run homer sparked the Clarkston offense as the visiting Wolves defeated rival Lake Orion, 6-5 and 7-0 Tuesday.

Clarkston freshman Sarah Altene held the Dragons to six hits en route to a complete game shutout in game two.

Altene believes the performance was the highlight of her young career.

“I’ve had a couple shutouts but this one was pretty big,” Altene said. “I mean we beat Lake Orion.”

While losing a doubleheader in such a rivalry can be discouraging, Lake Orion coach Denny Davis looked for positives.

“I’m not discouraged, they’re big rivals but we didn’t play very well,” Davis said. “We didn’t catch the ball and it’s a game of catching the ball and throwing the ball and we didn’t do that. We couldn’t get a big hit when we needed one.”

Clarkston got four runs in the first inning of the second game and never looked back. That early scoring surge was keyed by a two-run double to left-center from junior Shantel Uballe.

Altene appreciated the early run support.

“It makes it so much easier because you just know that your team has your back the whole time and it just feels great,” Altene said. “It gives me lots of confidence. I know that my team’s going to go a long way and we’re really good.”

Lake Orion sophomore Tessa Tomlin was 3- for-6 on the day. Despite the high batting average, Tomlin felt she and her team could have done more.

“Not very proud of our performance,” Tomlin said. “I gave 110 percent. The whole time I was hitting it right to them. I couldn’t do much about it.”

Davis, too, was concerned with his team’s offensive approach, but credited Clarkston.

“If you knew and I knew what the problem was we’d solve that problem,” he said. “All season, we take batting practice. Their pitcher, you got to give her credit and that’s all I can say. We didn’t hit the ball. We tried to make some adjustments and it didn’t work. They’re a good team.”

In game one, Clarkston took a 2-0 lead on Hasselbach’s home run. Lake Orion responded with four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Clarkston took a 6-4 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning when Bailee Braunreuther closed the game for the Wolves.

After the first game, Clarkston manager Don Peters was thrilled with the way his staff pitched, particularly Braunreuther.

“She’s been on injured reserve for four weeks, I was very impressed,” Peters said. “I couldn’t be prouder. I thought the whole staff did a great job. They got tough when they had to and stayed focused.”