STATE BOUND: Hillsboro Lady Indians win school’s first regional championship 

GROVEPORT — This is the year where the history-making moments belong to the Hillsboro Lady Indians. 

Hillsboro’s 22nd win of the 2025 season proved to be their biggest to date, because for the first time in school history for any team sport, Hillsboro is a regional champion as they are headed to the Division IV State Final Four.

Hillsboro (22-3) won the Division IV Regional championship by defeating the Logan Elm Lady Braves (20-8) 5-2 on Saturday (May 31) at Groveport-Madison High School, stamping their ticket to Akron for the state semifinals next week. 

“I’m just numb right now. When I look back with the years I’ve been in and around the program, and this is the first time ever in the Final Four, I'm just numb,” Hillsboro head coach Gary Breeden said. “I’m extremely proud of every one of these young ladies, from freshmen all the way up, obviously seniors, but proud for every single one of them, all the work they put in, and now they get to see the fruits of their labors.

“It’s going to take me some time to process. It's just a really good feeling, but it's going to take some time to process.”

An 11-strikeout performance by senior pitcher Camryn Spruell was key to the win, as she pitched all seven innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks. Spruell threw 115 pitches, 82 for strikes, as the 1,000-plus career strikeout pitcher was once again dominant in the circle. 

“This is amazing. I mean, I think that we've had a plan since the beginning of the season, and now that we're getting to accomplish it is just amazing,” Spruell said of the Lady Indians going to state. “We get to do it with our best friends, and surrounding us, the best coaches and the best community. I can't say anything else but this is amazing. This is an amazing feeling. I've wanted it since I was a freshman, and it's awesome.”

Spruell struck out at least two batters in the game in five of the seven innings she pitched, including striking out the side in the second. 

Hillsboro ended the game with eight hits and three errors, while Logan Elm had four hits and three errors. 

The Lady Indians have won 11 consecutive games, and on this day Hillsboro achieved a goal they set to start the season, but they were unable to break onto the scoreboard until the bottom of the third, but they did so by scoring two runs for a 2-0 lead, a lead they never relinquished. 

That said, the Lady Indians left two runners on the bases in the bottom of the first with Chloe Roberts and and Isabelle Brunck each hitting a single with two outs, as Roberts was a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI. Brunck went 1-for-3. 

The third inning was a whole new beginning for the Lady Indians, as that’s where their fun began. 

Rhianna Clemons led off the bottom of the third being hit by a pitch, and she raced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Mylea Fridley. The first Hillsboro run scored when Spruell hit a fly ball to centerfield, but landed on the bases via an error by the third baseman, scoring Clemons for the 1-0 lead. Spruell ended the day at 1-for-3 with one run. 

Hillsboro’s lead jumped to two runs when a single hit to left field by Roberts scored Spruell, who was at third base following the error in the previous at-bat. 

Hillsboro ended the third with the two-run lead, and by the time the fourth inning was finished, they held a 4-0 advantage. 

Addley Miller (1-for-3) led off the bottom of the fourth with a hard hit to centerfield on a 3-1 count, and next Reagan Clemons had a bunt that ended in a fielder’s choice, moving Miller to second and Clemons was safe at first. 

A single by Madison Dearmon (1-for-3) loaded the bases for the Lady Indians, and the ensuing at-bat doubled the lead for HHS. Hillsboro gained the 5-0 lead when Rhianna Clemons (1-for-3) singled to centerfield, and a misplay of the ball went past the centerfielder, allowing Rilynn Swisshelm (who was a courtesy runner for Dearmon) and Miller to score runs for the four-run lead. 

Hillsboro lead increased to five runs — which was their final run of the game — when Roberts singled to centerfield, scoring Clemons. 

“That's typical,” Breeden said of HHS chipping away at their opponent. “It’s typical of how we do. We come out of the gate, we're adjusting, making adjustments, each one of the kids, and then whether it's third, fourth inning, that's when we finally start putting it all together. That's what we did this afternoon.”

In the top of the fifth, a big defensive play was made by Hillsboro, which took a base runner away from Logan Elm. After having a runner at first after being hit by a pitch, Logan Elm attempted to steal second base, but HHS catcher Addley Miller had other plans, with the freshman catcher throwing out the base runner for the second out of the inning. 

That play ended up being huge as LEHS hit a single in the next at-bat, but the inning eventually ended with a called third strike thrown by Spruell.

Logan Elm in the final two innings made the game interesting by scoring two runs in the top of the sixth, starting their half of the inning with a base hit to left field off the bat of Sadie Binkley. 

Next, a single by Brittani Lane, along with an error in the outfield, scored Binkley for the Lady Braves’ first run of the game. After two outs were recorded, Morgan Armold hit a single to centerfield, scoring Lane, but as Armold attempted a double, centerfielder Addie Huff threw a perfect throw to shortstop Roberts for the tag at second and the third out to end the inning. 

The top of the seventh was another pressure-packed inning for the Lady Indians as they were three outs away from qualifying for state. Spruell in the circle forced a groundout back to her for the first out, and the second out the senior pitcher struck out the Lady Braves batter on three pitches. 

An error kept the inning alive, allowing Hannah Goodley to reach third base with two outs. 

From there, Spruell went to work in the circle, as she threw four pitches for a 2-1 count as the sequence went ball, foul, foul and foul. Then came the history-making pitch and catch, as Spruell’s fifth pitch of the at-bat was hit to centerfield and into the glove of Huff for the third and final out, giving Hillsboro the regional championship. 

As the ball was sailing in the air to Huff, Spruell watched and put her hands on top of her head, frozen, watching the final out be recorded. Seconds later, her teammates raced to the circle, hugging her and jumping in celebration as they celebrated their goal of reaching the state final four. 

“I thought about every practice, every tear, every sweat. I just feel like it just all worked up to that, and it's just amazing to go to Akron. I've never felt it, and I've wanted it since I was a freshman,” Spruell said of watching the catch by Huff for the final out. “This community is amazing. It’s just such a little town, and they all come around and support us, and we just have such a great community, because for them to drive an hour and a half to come watch us play, they don't know if we're going to win or lose, and they still made the trip out here, because they have a lot of faith in us.”

Breeden spoke of Spruell and the senior class. 

“We know what we're going to get from Cam in the circle. We just have to step up behind her and in support of her at the plate. We're doing that right now,” Breeden said. “I've watched this senior class since some of them started out at Shaffer [Park] and rec ball, and it’s just very humbling to be a part of it for them and with them.”

Next for the history-making Hillsboro team is a Division IV State Semifinal game against Cortland Lakeview on Wednesday, June 4 at Firestone Stadium in Akron with a first-pitch scheduled for 12:30 p.m. 

The other state semifinal game for Division IV is Springfield Kenton Ridge vs. Lexington at 10 a.m. in Akron. 

Breeden said thank you to everyone who has supported the Lady Indians this season. 

“It's huge,” Breeden said of the community support. “The girls feed off of it. Some of them were in awe of it. We just want to make sure that Hillsboro makes it to Akron next week. We want to turn that city all red and white. I told them, we've made it this far. We're in the Final Four. Why not two games? Why not? Why not us? So let's go. Let's go see what we can do.

“I especially want to acknowledge and thank everybody in the community for their support, not only showing up here today. Thank goodness we had good weather for them, but everybody that's reached out and supported in different ways. We’ve had quite a few people supply dinner for the kids, lunch bags yesterday, which ended up being a rain bag, but the support from the community, local businesses and HHS softball alumni has been huge.”

BOX SCORE
LEHS    000 002 0 — 2 4 3 
HHS      002 300 x — 5 8 3