By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
FISHERS – Not even an overnight postponement could cool off Hamilton Southeastern ace Grace Swedarsky.
With one no-hitter already on her resumé this postseason, lightning nearly struck twice for Swedarsky, as the sophomore carried a perfect game through five innings before recording her second complete-game, one-hitter this season during the two-day Class 4A Regional 4 championship.
The Regional 4 title game between the Royals (22-4) and visiting Logansport Berries (25-6) originally began on Tuesday night, but play was halted until Wednesday due to inclement weather with two outs in the top of the fifth and HSE up 5-0.
The delay didn’t faze Swedarsky, who retired five of the final seven batters she faced to nail down HSE’s 9-0 win and seventh regional title in program history.
Swedarsky struck out a personal-record 19 batters without a single walk issued, and the 4A No. 12 Royals’ bats posted a pair of four-run frames to clinch HSE’s first regional championship since 2017.
“It’s definitely something all of us teams in the state of Indiana have had to battle this year. Rain delays, cancellations, makeups, just having to continue to figure out how to get the girls in the zone and then put a pause on that and regroup,” HSE head coach Emily Pusti said.
“The girls in general kept that energy, so I wasn’t too worried about them. In the circle, we just kept it short and said, ‘Yeah, it may say something on the scoreboard, but we have to play like it’s 0-0 and kind of start right out of the gate.’”
From the first pitch on Wednesday, Swedarsky picked up right where she left off Tuesday, needing only three pitches to battle back from a 2-1 count suspended during the at-bat initiated the night prior.
A swinging strikeout to end the top of the fifth marked Swedarsky’s 14th punchout and fifth-straight 1-2-3 inning.
“I knew from the first pitch she threw tonight that we were good,” HSE senior shortstop Lani Wyrick said. “It’s just so much fun to cheer her on and watch her do her thing.”
For 19 of Logansport’s 22 at-bats, the HSE defense wasn’t tasked to do much.
A pop up to Wyrick to open the fifth inning was easily handled to secure a 13th consecutive out for Swedarsky.
The first Logansport hit didn’t occur until the top of the sixth, as sophomore Adrienne Scott (1-for-2) laced a hard, lead-off grounder to right field.
“It didn’t really matter, and we were able to throw her out, so we still got that out of it,” Swedarsky said.
A strike’em out, throw’em out double play in the next at-bat erased the Berries’ first base runner. The Berries didn’t have another runner until a fielding error awarded junior Kellyn Cripe first base in top of the seventh.
Swedarsky stranded the final runner at first base with back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.
“We were up 5-0 and half of the game had already passed, so I felt pretty good going into today,” Swedarsky said. “It was definitely strange (finishing today), but I still got a good warmup before each part of the game, so it wasn’t too bad. It was a big achievement to get 19 strikeouts.”
Prior to Wednesday, Swedarsky’s single-game best was 17 strikeouts, which she recorded three times as a freshman and three times this season, including during her first-career no-hitter against Zionsville in the Sectional 8 semifinals on May 21.
“Grace is really good at figuring out, especially in her sophomore year, how to get into the groove. She’s very good at figuring out what calms her and then just stays focused on that,” Pusti said. “That starts from her figuring out that pacing for her that works. She was ready to go today.”
She was equally as dominant on Tuesday, striking out the Berries’ first 12 batters and 14 out of 15.
“You just have to be confident in those high-pressure games, and obviously, all of these games are high pressure, but if you can just take the pressure down and focus on the little things, then it’s all good,” Swedarsky said. “Honestly, I think, just keep it going.”
The Royals provided ample run support, beginning with a Wyrick (1-for-2) scoring in the bottom of the first on one of Logansport’s two errors.
HSE’s 1-0 lead grew to 5-0 after a four-run bottom of the fourth, powered by a bases-loaded RBI double from Wyrick with no outs and an RBI groundout by senior Addy Justice (1-for-4). The Royals plated a run on a wild pitch during the three-hit inning.
A four-run top of the sixth was fueled by four hits. A leadoff single by junior Chloe Smith (3-for-3) followed by a sacrifice bunt by Wyrick got the rally rolling.
“We had a whole bunch of momentum coming into today. We were five runs ahead, and we were so excited to keep going. Our team just wanted to win and finish it,” Wyrick said.
A two-run double by junior Makena Burlingame (1-for-1) with the bases loaded and one out kicked off a string of three RBI hits. Keira Lodes, a junior, drove in a run on a groundout and senior Megan Wincek (1-for-2) lined an RBI single to right field for the fourth.
“I knew we had it in us because our whole team is super talented, and we’re putting the pieces together,” Swedarsky said. “We’re pulling out wins. It’s awesome.”
Senior Jenna Chase went 2-for-4, as seven of 12 HSE batters posted at least one hit each.
“We play for each other, and we just want to see each other succeed,” Wyrick said. “For Grace to keep doing her thing is great to see. Throwing a no-hitter and then 19 strikeouts today, it’s crazy.”
On the season, Swedarsky now has 224 strikeouts in 119.0 innings pitched with 22 walks and a 14-2 record.
HSE travels to the Harrison Semi-state on Saturday to face Carroll (20-5) in the semifinals at 11 a.m.