Trojans move to 16-4; earn top seed at regional

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
The Hillsboro softball team finished its regular season by crushing Canton-Galva 15-0 and 26-2 in a pairing of mismatched programs last Tuesday in Canton.


Holly Lindsay pitched a five-inning no-hitter in the first game and struck out a season-high 10 batters to raise her record to 14-4. Two Trojan errors prevented the junior hurler from registering a perfect game.


Offensively, the Trojans started off relatively slowly, thrown off stride by the slow delivery of the Eagle pitchers.


Jill Hein struck the first blow with a two-out inside-the-park home run with Lindsay on board to give the Trojans a 2-0 start in the first inning.


A walk to Julie Wall, a single by Robyn Penner and a double by Melissa Deckert resulted in two more runs and a 4-0 lead before the Eagles registered the third out.


Hillsboro was shut out in the second, but pushed the lead to 8-0 with four more runs in the third. The key blow was a one-out triple by Dionne Jost that scored Danielle Goosen and Emily Donahue, who had both reached on errors.


After going down in order in the fourth, Hillsboro found their stride and scored the final seven runs in the top of the fifth, aided by four more Eagle errors.


For all their runs, Hillsboro finished the game with only nine hits. Hein registered two hits in three official at bats, scored twice and was credited with three RBIs. Robyn Penner went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored.


The nightcap quickly turned ugly for the hometown Eagles. The Trojans capitalized on three base hits, two walks and four Canton-Galva errors to take a 5-0 lead after the first half inning.


Hillsboro scored six more runs in the second and 10 in the third to put the game safely away.


Julie Wall and Erin Bartel each hit inside-the-park homers for Hillsboro.


Bartel, who has been platooned this season, contributed a career game, going 5-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs. She hit for the cycle with two singles, a double, triple and her home run.


Hein was 3-of-5 with five runs scored and four RBIs.


Sophomore pitcher April Funk (1-0) started her first game of the season for Hillsboro. She allowed only two hits and one earned run through five innings. She walked four and struck out three.




Post-season play


With the two wins, the Trojans completed their regular season with a 16-4 record.


They begin regional action today at 2 p.m. at Southeast of Saline as the top seed. They will play the winner of the play-in game between Russell and Northern Heights that was scheduled for yesterday afternoon.


If the Trojans win that game, they will play for a berth in the state playoffs against the winner of the 3:30 p.m. matchup between second-seeded Southeast Saline and third-seeded Herington.


The championship game is scheduled to follow at 5 p.m.

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