By RICH TORRES
ARCADIA – The Hamilton Heights Huskies could have thrown in the towel after a 1-11 start to the season. But, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish, and the surging Class 3A Huskies are now in position to potentially seize a second sectional title in four years.
Adyson Baber limited the Delta Eagles to three hits during the Class 3A Sectional 24 semifinals on Thursday, and Hayley Greene went 2-for-3 with three RBI and a late two-run home run to power Hamilton Heights to a 11-1 run-rule victory in six innings.
“It’s amazing. We did struggle in the beginning, and we had our doubts,” Greene remarked on the Huskies’ late-season turnaround. “We all worked hard, and we stayed after practice, and a lot of us have worked our tails off for this.”
Their efforts have paid dividends, especially in the postseason at home. Defeating Jay County 7-1 in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, the Huskies came back strong two days later to avenge their 6-4 regular-season loss against Delta and setup a playoff rematch with seventh-ranked Yorktown on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.
Hamilton Heights is hitting .323 on the season and posted 11 hits against Delta to build a 2-0 lead in the top of the first followed by a decisive six-run fifth to improve its record to 11-15.
“The last 14 games, we’ve been 10-4 after a 1-11 start,” Huskies coach Ken Olovich said. “We’re hitting our stride right at the right time. One through nine, everyone is hitting in the lineup. We’re playing our best defense, pitching it well. It’s all coming together. And we’re doing that playing one senior.”
Baber, the lone senior in the everyday lineup, threw a gem for the Huskies, going 6 innings with two strikeouts. The right-hander ran into trouble in the bottom of the third as Delta scratched across a run with an RBI groundout, but Baber retired 10 of the last 12 batters she faced to stymie the Eagles.
“We’re very focused. We’ve had our ups and downs, and we have our mistakes. But at the beginning of the season, we kind of fell apart as the mistakes came,” Greene said. “Now, I feel like we kind of bounce back from them and fixate on the other side of the field on offense.”
The Huskies’ bats backed up their hurler by leaving just four runners stranded. Baber helped her own cause with a sacrifice fly to put Hamilton Heights up 1-0 in the first before a Belle Neiling RBI groundout made it 2-0.
Meredith Diller connected with a one-out RBI single to increase the margin 3-1 in the top of the fourth before the Huskies broke it open in the fifth.
“In the early part of the year, we had to figure a lot of things out, and a lot of the girls bought into what we’re trying to do from a long-term perspective,” Olovich said. “We’re playing our best ball now.”
The Huskies’ top four batters in the lineup combined to finish 9-for-15 with five RBI, including two by Baber.
Bayleigh Runner led off the top of the fifth with a bunt single, which snowballed into four consecutive hits. Greene drove in the first runner with a single, and Baber, the team’s cleanup hitter, drove in Alayna Baber, who went 3-for-4.
Two Delta errors plated two more runs, while Diller, who was 2-for-3 out of the seventh hole, drove in another run that stretched the Huskies’ advantage to 8-0.
Greene put the Huskies over the top in the top of the sixth as she battled back from an 0-2 count to club her eighth home run of the season. She carries a .616 batting average with 38 RBI. Runner was 2-for-4 in the leadoff spot for the Huskies.
A sacrifice fly by Kelsie Albright in the fifth gave the Huskies a 9-0 lead before Greene put the game away in the top of the sixth.
The Huskies will Yorktown for the championship, a year after the Tigers ousted Hamilton Heights 1-0 in the sectional quarterfinals.
“I think it’s a big challenge, but at this point in the season, I think we’re ready for the challenge,” Greene said. “I think we can handle it. We lost to them by one run last year, and I think we’re definitely ready for it this year.”
Yorktown beat New Castle 10-1 in the second semifinal to get an opportunity to defend their title.
“We take them one at a time. When we were 1-11, we didn’t expect to take it this far,” Olovich said. “When we were 1-11, we didn’t quit. We could have said, ‘well, maybe we’ll finish the season 2-20.’ No, we came back and have a respectable record. They’re going to get a battle. Even if they get up on us by a couple of runs, we’re not going to go away.”
The Huskies would prefer to move onto regional, if they can capture their fourth sectional title in program history and first since 2016.
“The thing that’s changed is we were showing up to games before and hoping that maybe we had a chance to win,” Olovich said. “Now, every game we show up to, we expect to win. That’s a huge change in focus.”
Heights AB R H RBI
Bayleigh Runner 4 2 2 0
Alayna Baber 4 3 3 0
Hayley Greene 3 2 2 3
Adyson Baber 4 2 2 2
Belle Neilling 4 1 1 1
Sydney Massicotte 3 0 0 0
Meredith Diller 3 1 2 2
Faith Hittle 3 0 1 0
Kat Cox 1 0 0 0
Kelsie Albright 2 0 0 1
Totals 31 11 13 9
Score by innings
Heights 200 162 x – 11 11 0
Delta 001 000 X – 1 3 3
HR: Greene. 2B: Ad. Baber, Diller.
pitching IP R ER H
Ad. Baber 6.0 1 1 3
Strikeouts: Ad. Baber 2. Walks: Ad. Baber 4.