Hillsboro ‘believes’ while gaining ‘elite’ status in advancing to regional finals 

DUNCAN FALLS — “I told her I believe in you. You believe in yourself.”

Those were the words Hillsboro head coach Gary Breeden said to senior Isabelle Brunck before tapping her on the helmet as she went to the batter’s box in the top of the fourth inning as the Lady Indians trailed by one run with bases loaded and two outs. 

Brunck responded with a two-out, two-RBI single hit to right field, putting HHS in the lead for good. The next inning, Hillsboro broke out for a five-run fifth, eventually leading to a win over the Morgan Lady Raiders (14-10), in the Division IV Regional Semifinals, at Philo Stadium by a 10-4 score, putting HHS in the regional finals for the first time in program history. 

“It’s beyond words,” Breeden said. “These kids, they've worked their tails off, the seniors for more than four years of high school, middle school, everything else. Every kid in the program has actually been through the middle school program. I'm speechless.”

Hillsboro’s win puts the Lady Indians (21-3) in the “Elite Eight” game on Friday, May 30 against the Logan Elm Lady Braves, who defeated Meadowbrook by a 4-2 score. Earlier this season, Hillsboro defeated Logan Elm 7-0. 

On Wednesday against Morgan, the Hillsboro squad — at the home of the Electrics — caught lightning in a bottle in the fourth and fifth innings, scoring seven of their 10 runs, plus for the game they scored runs in five of the seven innings played. 

The game also saw Hillsboro senior Camryn Spruell reach a big milestone by earning her 1,000th career strikeout in the bottom of the seventh inning, as she was the winning pitcher, going all seven innings in the circle. The senior ended the day allowing one earned run on eight hits and two walks with 13 strikeouts as she threw 130 pitches, 96 for strikes. 

“She's put that work in,” Breeden said. “Everybody gets to come to games and watch what she does in games, but nobody really sees what she does on her own when the lights are out, so to speak.”

Being the away team on the scoreboard, the Lady Indians’ first batter of the day, senior Mylea Fridley, drew a five-pitch walk to get rolling started for HHS. Next, Spruell — who ended her day at 2-for-3 with one run, two RBI and one walk — hit a single to centerfield, advancing Fridley to second. A walk on a full count by Chloe Roberts loaded the bases, as Fridley already was standing at third following a wild pitch. 

The first run of the game crossed home plate when Brunck hit into a fielder’s choice at second base, scoring Fridley from third for the 1-0 lead. 

Hillsboro’s second run of the game came in the top of the second when Spruell hit a two-out single on a rope to right field, scoring Rhianna Clemons, who reached the bases on an error. Clemons took second on a sacrifice bunt and scored the second run for HHS on the aforementioned hit by Spruell. 

Morgan scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the third after the Lady Indians committed an error with one out, putting runners on first and second base. Next, the bases were loaded off a single by Blair Clawson, and the run scored off a sacrifice fly hit to centerfield, scoring Remington Keirns, who reached first base with a one-out single earlier in the inning. 

Morgan took the lead in the ensuing at-bat as Allia Rush reached the bases on an error on a pop fly, scoring Chloe Baker, who also reached the bases on an error earlier in the inning, giving the Lady Raiders a 3-2 lead after three innings. 

Then came the aforementioned top of the fourth where the fortunes changed for the Lady Indians. 

After starting the inning with a strikeout, Rhianna Clemons was hit by a pitch, followed by another out via strikeout. Instead of taking their chances against Spruell with a runner on the bases, Morgan intentionally walked her to get to Roberts. 

That proved to be a misjudgement as Roberts stepped up to the challenge by the Lady Raiders and forced a five-pitch walk to load the bases. That’s where the two-run single by Brunck happened, as she hit the first pitch of the at-bat, scoring Rhianna Clemons and Spruell for a 4-3 lead. 

Spruell took care of business in the bottom of the fourth by striking out all three batters she faced on 11 pitches, keeping Hillsboro ahead by one run. 

“We just kept plugging,” Breeden said. “We've done that all year. When one kid may not be having the night she wants, everybody else stepped up. Everybody did it top to bottom today, from Mylea all the way down through. They all do what they're supposed to.”

The fourth inning set up the top of the fifth where the Lady Indians added to their lead, scoring five runs on two hits, three errors, a sacrifice fly and a home run. 

When the leadoff at-bat was an out, HHS responded with Reagan Clemons reaching on an error, then Madison Dearmon forced a five-pitch walk, as Rilynn Swisshelm replaced Dearmon the bases as a courtesy runner. The bases were loaded when Rhianna Clemons also reached on an error. 

Fridley made it a 6-3 HHS lead when she singled to right field on a line drive, scoring Reagan Clemons and Swisshelm.

A sacrifice fly by Spruell scored Rhianna Clemons for a four-run lead, but that lead didn’t last long. Instead of a lead of four runs, Hillsboro’s lead jumped to six runs as Roberts smashed a two-run home run — on the first pitch of the at-bat — over the left field fence, putting Hillsboro ahead 9-3 in the regional semifinal game. 

Morgan continued to battle by scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth off a two-out single by Baker, scoring Paige Lanning, but they left the bases loaded when Spruell ended the inning with a strikeout. 

The Lady Indians added one last run in the top of the seventh inning when Brunck gained another RBI with a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Meredith Dietrick, who was a courtesy runner for Reagan Clemons, for a 10-4 lead. 

The bottom of the seventh put Hillsboro in the regional finals with Spruell striking out the first two batters of the inning on 12 pitches. Morgan gained a base hit with two outs, but the game ended as Addie Huff caught the final out on a fly ball hit to centerfield. 

Hillsboro ended the game with eight hits and committed three errors. Morgan totaled eight hits, but committed six errors. 

Rush of Morgan was charged with the loss in the circle, pitching seven innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits and six walks with seven strikeouts, throwing a total of 130 pitches, 82 for strikes. 

Next for Hillsboro is a Division IV Regional Final game on Friday, May 30 at Groveport-Madison High School against the Logan Elm Lady Braves (20-7) at 2 p.m. with a ticket to the state semifinals on the line. 

Logan Elm enters the game on a five-game winning streak, while Hillsboro has won their last 10 games.

Earlier this season, Hillsboro faced Logan Elm on Saturday, April 12, where the Lady Indians won that game by a 7-0 score. 

“We'll take a deep breath,” Breeden said. “It's only one day turnaround. We'll get to work tomorrow and do what we need to do and make the trip back up and just play Hillsboro softball.”

BOX SCORE
HHS    110 250 1 — 10 6 3 
MHS    003 001 0 — 4 8 6