In a head-to-head road showdown with one of the top teams in the G-MAC, the Hillsdale College softball team dominated from start to finish to end the regular season in impressive fashion on Friday.
The Chargers swept past 31-win Northwood to run their win streak to nine straight games, shutting out the Timberwolves in both contests while scoring 12 runs in a decisive showing that sends Hillsdale into next week's G-MAC Tournament as no worse than the two seed.
Hillsdale rolled to a 10-0 victory in the opener with a stunning display of power at the plate. The Chargers scored their 10 runs on seven hits, taking advantage of four Northwood errors and blasting three home runs to tie their single-season program record with 37 on the year. Freshman Sydney Davis got the Chargers the lead in the second at-bat of the game, hitting the first home run of her career over the left field fence, and senior Hailey Holtman follwed up in the third inning with a solo shot of her own, her fourth of the season.
Then, leading 6-0 in the top of the sixth, Hillsdale loaded the bases and senior McKenna Eichholz blasted a grand slam to left center, giving Hillsdale a 10-0 lead and allowing the Chargers to end the game via the run rule in the bottom of the sixth. Along with the power, Hillsdale also did a great job of manufacturing runs on the basepaths, as sophomore Emma Sather stole home for a run on a first and third play in the third inning, and Hillsdale also scored two runs in the top of the fourth on a bases-loaded walk and a bases-loaded hit by pitch as well.
Hillsdale's offensive outburst was in addition to another pitching gem by junior Joni Russell, who gave up just two hits to one of the top hitting teams in conference play, struck out six and walked none in six innings for her fifth shutout and 17th win of the season. At the plate, Emma Vis went 2 for 3 and Eichholz was 2 for 4 with the home run to lead the Chargers, while Sather finished with two stolen bases.
In the nightcap, Hillsdale proved it could thrive in a very different type of game, using small ball to take a 2-0 defensive slugfest and complete the sweep. After going down in order for the first seven batters, Sather gave Hillsdale their first baserunner in the top of the third inning, was bunted over to second by Taylor Lewis, then scored on a RBI single by Sydney Davis to help Hillsdale take a 1-0 advantage.
Hillsdale added a critical insurance run in the top of the sixth inning thanks to a leadoff single by Lewis, who then stole second and scored on a RBI single by Eichholz to help increase the Chargers' margin of error.
In what turned into a pitcher's duel, Hillsdale was lucky to have senior Erin Kapteyn in the circle. The senior threw a gem to match Russell's, a complete game three hitter with five strikeouts and one walk for her 15th win of the season and eighth shutout, just one shy of the Chargers' single-season record. Kapteyn was perfect through four innings and easily worked out of the only two jams she faced, inducing an inning-ending flyout with a runner on third in the bottom of the fifth, and getting a flyout and a grounder into a fielder's choice to end a scoring threat in the bottom of the seventh.
Vis had a double to lead the Chargers at the plate, as Hillsdale turned six hits into two critical runs.
Hillsdale finishes the regular season at 34-12 overall, 20-4 in the G-MAC. It's the most overall wins in a regular season since the Chargers finished with 36 wins in 1991, and the most conference victories in a single season in program history. The Chargers still have an outside chance to win the G-MAC regular season title if Cedarville sweeps current leader Trevecca Nazarene on Saturday, and no matter what will be at worst the second seed in the upcoming G-MAC Tournament, which begins Wednesday at Firestone Stadium in Akron with opening round contests. Hillsdale is the defending G-MAC Tournament champion, and a three-time tourney champion overall.
The wins over the Timberwolves should also solidify Hillsdale's spot in the Midwest Regional Rankings heading into the tournament. The Chargers were ranked fifth in the Midwest in the most recent poll on Wednesday, and two road wins over Northwood, who was ranked 10th, should enhance Hillsdale's overall resume and make them a strong contender for an at-large bid regardless of what happens in the tournament next week.
Photo by Reva Ludwig