EAST LANSING — There’s enough pressure playing in a state championship game before a packed crowd, not to mention trying to extend an undefeated season. But it took only four pitches to wipe away any jitters Hudsonville softball players might have been feeling.

That’s when leadoff batter Megan Beemer singled up the middle. At that point the Eagles knew it was game on.

Beemer, has she has done many times, jump-started the offense, and the three runs the Eagles produced in the top of the first put them in a proper frame of mind to win the MHSAA Division 1 state softball championship, 5-0, over Lake Orion on Saturday.

“I take a lot of deep breaths (to calm my nerves), and once I get on base, I know that kind of stuff gets the momentum going,” Beemer said. “Tessa Heffelbower behind me always finds a way to get me around, and Ava (Gardner) and Elly (Koopman) did that also. It sets the tone for the entire game, me scoring — and us getting three runs in that first inning was huge for us.”

“It’s always important to get off to a good start, and that’s the thing that this team has done,” head coach Tom Vruggink said. “Megan Beemer has scored in the first inning, I want to say, in 34 or 35 of our 42 games. If she gets on in the first inning, she’s going to steal second, and then maybe steal third, and then Heffelbower’s going to get a hit to bring her in. That’s our formula. It worked out great today.”

Beemer stole second Saturday, Heffelbower walked, both advanced on Koopman’s fly out and both came home on a single up the box by Autumn Dennis. Lauren Luchies plated another run, as her single to center drove in Ava Gardner, who reached via a fielder’s choice play.

Suddenly, Hudsonville (42-0) had the comfy cushion by the time it took the field for the first time.

“I talked to my pitcher, Ava Snip, and she said, ‘That relieves me a lot. It takes the weight off my shoulders.’” Beemer, a Michigan commit, said. “For us to do that for her, for her to pitch up three, that’s huge.”

Hudsonville added single runs in both the sixth and seventh innings, while Snip shut down the Lake Orion bats, only allowing rival pitcher Rylee Limberger’s single in the fifth. Snip walked three but struck out eight, only requiring 88 pitches for a complete-game victory.

“This was a big crowd, the game, everything," Snip said. "I had to do so good. I had a lot of pressure on me. At the beginning I was really nervous, but then my team scored three and my nerves went completely away. My offense got me, my defense has my back, so my nerves just went right away after the three runs.”

“Our pitching was tremendous all year,” Vruggink said. “I don’t think Koop and Ava had ever given up three runs in one or two more games all year. You get a one-hitter on Thursday and a one-hitter again today, that’s pretty tremendous.”

Prior to their gems in Final Four play, Snip (18-0) had allowed just seven earned runs all year and Koopman (16-0) — the winner of Thursday’s semifinal over top-ranked Farmington Hills Mercy — had given up 11. Both had earned run averages below 1.00.

Snip survived a scare in the final inning, when Lake Orion’s Ellie Britt blasted a line drive directly at her face. But Snip snared the ball, which drained any jitters remaining.

“I was kind of just in shock at that time,” she said. “I hate those. To catch that was really insane. It just got everything exciting again. It calmed me down a little bit, just to get the final out.”

She three fanned Limberger on three pitches, and was surrounded by Hudsonville teammates in the circle, celebrating their first softball state title since 2012.

Lake Orion (38-6), making its second straight trip to East Lansing, last won in 2007.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MHSAA softball: Hudsonville jumps on Lake Orion to finish 42-0 season