With a chance to put the game away, the Hillsdale College softball team exploded offensively not once, but twice to roll to a doubleheader sweep of visiting Kentucky Wesleyan on Friday afternoon, in the Chargers' home opener for 2024.
The pair of victories, 11-3 and 10-2, over the Panthers run Hillsdale's winning streak to 14 straight, tied for the longest by a Chargers team since Hillsdale rattled off 23 straight wins in 1991.
THroughout the doubleheader, Hillsdale consistently punished Kentucky Wesleyan for issuing free bases and committing errors, leading to repeated big innings for the Chargers. That started early in the first game, as Hillsdale used a walk and hit by pitch in the first three batters of the second inning to load the bases, scoring a run on a wild pitch and then getting a bases-clearing single from Sydney Davis to score three and take an early 4-0 lead.
Kentucky Wesleyan responded with three runs in the top of the third inning, but Hillsdale seized control back in the bottom of the inning on a two-run home run by Emma Vis to take a 6-3 edge. Then, in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Chargers exploded again, scoring five runs on three hits, including back-to-back two run doubles by Taylor Lewis and Emma Sather. Sather reached third on an error in the outfield by the Panthers, putting her in position to score the walk-off run on a sacrifice fly by Hailey Holtman in the next at-bat.
Lewis led the Chargers at the plate in the victory, going 3 for 3 with two doubles, and Davis added a single and a double as well.
Joni Russell picked up her 11th win of the season on the mound, striking out eight, walking two and giving up five hits over five innings.
In the nightcap, Hillsdale fell behind 2-0 early and went scoreless for the first three innings, but caught fire in the final two to roll to a 10-2 victory. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Hillsdale pounced on Kentucky Wesleyan when the Panthers made back-to-back errors that could have gotten them out of the inning, plating six runs on five hits. Hannah Hoverman stole home on a perfectly executed double steal with teammate Grace Wallner, Holtman hit a two-run double, and Lewis and Davis each added a RBI single as well.
Leading 6-2, Hillsdale kept its foot on the gas in the bottom of the fifth to walk off early. Another early error by Kentucky Wesleyan set the table for the Chargers, who got a RBI double by Emma Vis and RBI singles by Emili Blackie, Holtman, and Davis, with Davis driving in Emma Sather for the walk-off run.
Holtman led Hillsdale in the nightcap, going 2 for 4 with the RBI double, and Davis, Olaveson, Lewis and Sather each added two hits as well. Erin Kapteyn picked up her eighth win of the season on the mound, going five innings with four strikeouts, no walks and just one earned run conceded.
Hillsdale is now 20-8 overall, 6-0 in the G-MAC and two games clear of the field heading into a monumental doubleheader tomorrow, Saturday, against Trevecca Nazarene. The Trojans, along with Northwood, lead the early chasing pack behind the Chargers with an 8-2 record, and Hillsdale could strike a big blow to the Trojans' title hopes or cede their advantage over Trevecca depending on the outcome of tomorrow's games.
Photo by Meredith Wipper