Sterling Heights -- Defending Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 2 Champion Tecumseh beat Division 1 No. 9-ranked Fenton 3-2 to win the Michigan Stars Tournament May 4 at Liberty Park of America.

The 48-team tournament featured many championship contenders from across the state.

Tecumseh opened the tournament with a 19-0 win over Birmingham Groves and then beat Detroit Renaissance 10-2, before falling to Division 1 No. 2-ranked Alpena 3-0 in the Pool C final. As runner-up in pool play, the Indians earned a trip to the championship round.

Fenton (19-5) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first as Jamie Risner opened with a single and later scored from third on a passed ball.

The Indians came right back to tie the game at 1-1 in their half of the inning. All-state shortstop and Michigan-bound Jackie Barley reached on an error then moved to second on Whitney Hastings's perfectly executed sacrifice bunt. Bailey Brooks drove home Barley with a single.

Tecumseh took the lead in the second. Brooks opened the inning with a double and scored on Kristen Kenyon's single to make it 2-1.

The Indians made it 3-1 in the fifth as Danielle Prill (running for all-state catcher Stayci Cook) scored on Chelsea Gonzalez's single.

Risner scored her second run of the game for Fenton in the sixth to close the game to 3-2, but Catie Kaliszuk closed the Tigers out in the seventh for the win. Kaliszuk pitched six strong innings, allowing only two hits and striking out five in relief.

Other pool winners included four-time defending Division 1 champion Warren Regina, D1 No. 5-ranked Sterling Heights Stevenson, D2 honorable mention Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Garden City, and Fenton.

Championship play began Sunday as Tecumseh beat Regina 4-3, Northville topped Stevenson 5-0, Alpena beat Notre Dame Prep 4-2, and Fenton topped Garden City 5-3 in the opening round.

In the championship semifinals, Fenton beat Alpena 5-4 and Techumseh beat Northville 3-0 to advance to the finals.

The Indians finished as runner-up to Grosse Pointe North in the tournament last year.

Head Coach Kristalyn Smith's Indians finished 37-5 last season and beat Comstock Park 3-1 to win the Division 2 state championship. Smith returns the vast majority of her championship lineup, including all-state players Cook, Gonzalez, Barley, and Nikki Hughes.

Hughes is currently out of the lineup after shoulder surgery. It is undetermined when she will return to her place in center field.

Kristalyn Smith, a former Western Kentucky University and Portage Northern softball and tennis standout, is joined on the bench this season by her sister Ashley, a professional softball player with Philadelphia Force of the National Pro Fastpitch League. The former Portage Northern and University of South Carolina star is currently finishing her master's degree at the University of Michigan. She was 2002 Michigan Miss Softball.

With the win, the Indians improved to 17-3 on the season and look primed to return to Bailey Park in Battle Creek to defend their title.

"I hope we can continue to improve this season," said Kristalyn Smith. "Hopefully we will get back to the championship, but our first goal is to win our conference championship and then take it one game at a time in the state tournament."