NCAA DII Bracket


ALLENDALE, Mich. – Hillsdale freshman pitcher Erin Hunt sustained her postseason brilliance, penning another chapter to a storybook rookie season with a first-round victory in the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional pod on Thursday.
 
The eighth-seeded Chargers (25-14 overall), coming off a Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship run, were the ultimate underdog against the region host and top seed Lakers, champion of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).
 
Hunt punched out 10 hitters on her way to a three-hit shutout. She improved to 20-6 while silencing the bats of a team that entered the regional with a 41-7 record.
 
Hillsdale scratched across the lone run of the game in the top of the sixth inning on a Jessica Taylor two-out RBI single.
 
Hunt faced just three batters over the minimum after mowing down 34 hitters in 27 innings in the Great Midwest Championship bracket. After retiring the side in order in the second inning, she had to work out of a bases-loaded jam in the third frame and left a total of eight GVSU stranded.
 
The freshman phenom now has 186 strikeouts in 155 innings pitched with a 1.54 ERA after earning first-team all-conference accolades by the league coaches.
 
Hits came at a premium as the Chargers managed four, including a pair from junior outfielder and current athlete of the week Katie Kish, who pushed her season batting average to .496.
 
Sydney San Juan also doubled for Hillsdale against GVSU starter Allison Lipovsky, a 20-game winner who was handed just her fourth loss of the spring.

Hillsdale’s next opponent in the regional is No. 5 Southern Indiana from the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). The Screaming Eagles dealt No. 4 UIndy the Greyhounds first loss in the double-elimination tourney, 8-1.
 
HC and USI will meet tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET in a winner’s bracket showdown.