Box score: #8 Hillsdale 4, #5 Kentucky Wesleyan 3 (10 inn.)
Clearly, a team's seeding in this year's G-MAC Softball Tournament has nothing to do with whether it actually advances in said tournament.
The top two seeds - #1 Ohio Dominican and #2 Trevecca Nazarene - were the first two teams eliminated. And #8 Hillsdale is very much alive and is in as good s shape as any team in this year's tournament.
Late Thursday night, the Chargers showed heart and character in pulling out a 4-3 win over Kentucky Wesleyan in 10 innings to move on in the winner's bracket of the tournament. The Chargers are 21-26 overall and will face the winner of the Findlay-Tiffin second-round game, which didn't start until close to 11 p.m. Thursday.
Hillsdale is now 6-0 all-time in the G-MAC Tournament. This is the third time in the past five years the Chargers have won the first two games of a conference tournament (2015, 2018, 2019).
That sixth consecutive win needed extra innings to decide a winner, and junior Victoria Addis decided to handle matters herself.
She crushed a two-out, solo home run to right field that broke a 3-3 tie and ultimately, decided the game. She went 2-for-5 and scored two runs, giving her five hits in Hillsdale's two tournament wins Thursday. Addis got hit in the ribs with an errant throw earlier in the day, but the pain in her ribs was replaced by the euphoria of helping her team to a pair of conference tournament wins.
Kentucky Wesleyan took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Hillsdale's comeback began in the fifth inning when Amanda Marra's sac fly brought home Anna Dixon to make it a 2-1 game. Dixon later singled home Carlin MacDonald-Gannon, then Sarah Wojcik singled in Addis to give Hillsdale a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning.
Freshman Camryn Olson picked up her first career postseason win, coming in for 2.2 innings of relief work. She threw 24 strikes among her 40 total pitches, and recorded two strikeouts while allowing just one hit.
Olson picked up the win, but pitcher Julia Sayles may have been the team MVP in this win. She was called upon in relief with no outs in the second inning, and hung in for 6.1 innings, allowing one run and four hits with three strikeouts. She held the Panthers down while the Chargers mounted their comeback in the middle innings.
Senior Jessica Taylor stepped up again, going 3-for-5, also giving her five hits on the day. Katie Kish was 2-for-4 while Marra went 2-for-3 in the win over the Panthers. Dixon scored once, had a run batted in and a base hit in the victory.