Seniors lead Lady Indians past Washington
The Hillsboro Lady Indians saw two seniors step up when their team was trailing against a South Central Ohio League foe and push them into the lead for good.
Hillsboro seniors Kirsten Juillerat and Ali Stratton had the clutch hits at the times when the Lady Indians needed them the most, and in that process HHS defended Alice Cassner Field with a 3-2 win, Monday.
HHS is now 6-2 in the SCOL.
The first run of the game for Hillsboro was scored by Savannah Scott, who initially took first base on a full-count walk with one out. From there, she stole second base and scored on a base hit by Stratton in the third to tie the score at 1-1.
After a second Washington run rounded the bases in the fourth inning, HHS didn't blink, adding two runs in the sixth off the bat of Juillerat to take the lead.
With Kerstin Thornburgh and Hanna Breeden on bases following a single and walk, with two outs and with a 1-2 count against her, Juillerat sent the ball to centerfield for a single to score both runners and give HHS the one-run lead.
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"She (Kirsten) stood up and was the senior she needed to be," HHS head coach Katie Moberly said. "She showed the everybody they can't give up at any time. She had a nice hit, knocked two people in, made the score 3-2 and that's where it ended."
"Ali Stratton also stepped up with her RBI hit to knock in our first run of the game when we were trailing. The seniors stepped up when we needed them to."
The door was slammed shut by Breeden in the top of the seventh as the senior pitcher retired three straight batters with a ground out, a fly ball and a strikeout to end her complete game effort.
Breeden finished the game with seven innings pitched, allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits and no walks. The junior pitcher struck out six batters.
"Hanna pitched a nice game … had a couple errors behind her and that ended up costing us two runs, but she believed in her team, and they stepped up and played defense for her," Moberly said.