The Hillsdale College softball team shook off a month of tough breaks in close contests and found the clutch hitting they'd been missing in two victories to kick off their time in The Spring Games on Tuesday in Winter Haven, Florida.
Trailing entering the seventh and final inning of both games on Tuesday, the Chargers came through at the plate when it counted to pull out a 3-1 victory over Lock Haven and a 4-3 extra inning victory over New Haven to improve to 6-14 overall on the season.
Opening the day against the Bald Eagles, the Chargers got a great pitching performance from freshman Joni Russell, who pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts and no walks while scattering five hits and conceding just one earned run.
But Lock Haven scratched a solitary run across on a ground ball in the bottom of the third inning, and for most of the game, it looked like that would hold up and send the Chargers to a painful 1-0 defeat.
Hillsdale, however, came up in the top of the seventh with other ideas. Sophomore Hailey Holtman led off with a single, and freshman Olivia Latimer followed that up with a triple to center field that drove in the tying run.
Senior Natalie Stepanenko then reached on an error to give the Chargers two baserunners, and senior Madison Rathbun delivered the clutch hit that put the Chargers ahead for good, driving in Latimer and Stepanenko to give Hillsdale a 3-1 edge.
Russell finished off the victory with a 1-2-3 inning to snap a three-game losing streak for the Chargers, while Renee Bielawa led Hillsdale at the plate with a 3 for 3 outing.
In the nightcap, Hillsdale found itself in an equally dire predicament in a battle of the Chargers, falling behind 2-0 to New Haven in the top of the third inning. Pitcher Erin Kapteyn came through for Hillsdale, however, in one of the best starts of her career, striking out a career-best 14 batters and scattering five hits to keep Hillsdale in striking distance.
The Chargers got a run back on a RBI single by Elaine Townley in the fifth inning, then, with their backs to the wall in the bottom of the seventh, took advantage of an error on a ball hit by Madison Stoner to score the tying run and force extra innings.
Hillsdale fell behind again immediately in the top of the eighth as an error allowed the international tiebreak baserunner to score on the first at-bat, but the Chargers got through the rest of the inning unscathed, then answered back in another clutch situation in the bottom of the eighth. Rathbun came through with another big single to tie the game at 3-apiece, and freshman Hannah Hoverman blasted her first collegiate home run in the next at-bat to walk off and give the Chargers the victory.
Kapteyn picked up the win for the Chargers, and Townley led the way for Hillsdale at the plate, going 3 for 4 with a double in the contest.
Hillsdale looks to build off the momentum from today's victories with two more contests tomorrow in Winter Haven, taking on Indiana (PA) and Pace.
Photo by Matt Hoverman