XENIA, Ohio – It seems to be a recurring theme for a dominating inaugural campaign in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference for women’s sports at Hillsdale.
This time, at the Great Midwest Softball Championship, it ended with the ringing chorus of the hit song “This is Me” from the movie The Greatest Showman showering down from the speakers as the Chargers basked in their latest glory.
As symbolic as the lyrics may be in the song reflecting the life of circus mogul P.T. Barnum, the Chargers created their own identity to stamp an exciting exclamation point in a busy three-day stretch.
Add the traditional water bath and a textbook feet-first slide from sprinting head coach Joe Abraham into second base, it was just another signature moment in time for the fourth-seeded Chargers as the program completed a perfect 4-0 run in the playoffs.
The Chargers carried more hardware back to Hillsdale, following in the succession of volleyball, women’s basketball, women’s cross country, women’s indoor track and field and women’s tennis.
And even though some those programs may not have always entered as the top seed, preseason favorite or the regular-season champion, the outcome has become somewhat predictable as they reel off remarkable championship runs.
It would be the first of two conference championships won by the Chargers on Saturday (women’s outdoor track & field), but Abraham’s program kicked things off with a strong statement made.
The 14th game of the eight-team conference tournament bracket went down in the books at the Athletes in Action Sports Complex as the Chargers brought down No. 7 Kentucky Wesleyan, 4-1.
With the win, Hillsdale (24-14, 14-8 G-MAC) punched its ticket into the NCAA DII Championship Midwest Regional as the Great Midwest at-large selection.
Erin Hunt’s brilliance in the pitcher’s circle was on display one more time in the Great Midwest Championship as she solved a powerful Kentucky Wesleyan offense for the second day in a row. The freshman was a true workhorse in the playoffs with all 27 innings pitched, 34 strikeouts and just one earned run against her in four games.
But the offense picked the rookie ace up with run support and seemingly routine plays that go down in the box score like an F8 or L5 doesn’t quite reflect how well the defense performed.
Hunt improved to 19-6 going into the national tournament and the spotlight didn’t faze the rookie as she painted the strike zone with poise like a four-year veteran.
Hunt’s golden arm shut down No. 5 Trevecca, No. 1 Cedarville and No. 7 KWC twice. She had 10 strikeouts in the first postseason game vs. Trevecca before blanking the top-seeded Yellow Jackets.
Hillsdale put the pressure on early as the first of two doubles from Sam Catron pushed home the first run in the Chargers’ first series of at-bats. Madison Rathbun added another sharp RBI single as part of a two-run second inning and Emma Johnson, the pinch-hit hero vs. Cedarville, plated another insurance in the fifth inning.
Jessica Taylor caught the final out of the game at shortstop as the Chargers streamed out of the dugout to start the celebration on the first-base side.
The NCAA DII Selection Show will streamed live tomorrow morning on Monday at 10 AM ET.