Game Report: Eastern vs. Hauser Softball 05/30

Hauser chose to have a “Hawaiian” theme for its home Regional Championship game against Eastern Tuesday night. Fans showed up in Hawaii shirts, wearing leis, and hoping for a Jets victory. After a sectional championship game victory against Milan just five days ago filled with angst, stress, rapid heartbeats, and more emotional ups and downs than a rollercoaster, it’s possible that the theme was chosen in hopes of a more peaceful, relaxing game.

And although not completely void of some tense moments that every close game has, the Jets delivered a calmer effort for the massive turnout of fans at their home ballpark in a 3-1 Regional Championship win, making it three straight regional crowns for Hauser.

Winning pitcher Paige McDaniel scattered 10 hits in a complete game victory, striking out five without walking a single batter. She also had help from a terrific defensive effort behind her. Her biggest ally of the night was her catcher, Haylin Campbell.

“I felt strong tonight, but I wasn’t spotting my curve ball that well,” McDaniel said. “I used my fastball more than normal tonight, going back to some basics. But the defense was amazing, and really helped me when I needed them too.”

Campbell picked off two runners when the Musketeers were threatening to tighten the score. Trailing 3-1 in the top of the fifth, Eastern leadoff hitter Maleah Blevins singled to begin the inning. After being sacrifices to second and stealing third, Campbell noticed she was creeping down the third base line too far and fired a strike to Hauser third baseman Kyra Meister, who slapped the tag on Blevins for the pick off.

In the top of the seventh, Campbell actually outdid herself. After a leadoff single by the Musketeers’ Emma Dean and a bunt single by Meadoe Chreech, Campbell noticed that Eastern’s pinch runner had wondered off of second base and was not hurrying to get back to the back. Without hesitation, she fired the ball to Hannah Taylor, who quickly tagged out the Musketeer runner, getting a huge second out in the inning.

“I noticed that their runners were taking large leads after the pitch, or rounding the bases aggressively, so I was able to get a couple of outs. I have faith in our defense, and tonight it worked out for us,” Campbell said after the game.

Hauser’s Reagan Johnson provided the grand finale as she threw out Creech from left field, who was trying to score on another Blevins single from second base. This throw and subsequent tag at home by Campbell ended the game and gave the Jets victory.

“To allow 10 hits and only let one run cross the plate is a tribute to our defense. I thought we played well tonight,” Hauser coach Andy Brunner said after the game.

Offensively, Hauser did not exactly tear the cover off the ball. They managed 10 hits on the night, nine of which were singles along with a Taylor triple. They were slow out of the gate and trailed 1-0 going into the bottom of the third inning.

Luckily for the Jets, Kylie Mack awakened the Hauser offense by leading off the bottom of third with a single. After Campbell sacrificed her to second, Izzy Brunner drilled a single to centerfield, scoring Mack to tie the game at one. The ball slipped under the centerfielder’s glove, which allowed Brunner to get all the way to third, where she was driven home by Taylor’s triple over the leftfielder’s head, giving Hauser a lead, it would not relinquish.

The Jets added an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth. Back-to-back singles by McDaniel and Meister began the inning. Haley Jordan then grounded out to shortstop allowing McDaniel to score the Jets’ third and final run.

From there, McDaniel and the Hauser defense held on for the victory.

Brunner, who struggled at the plate in the sectional, led the Hauser offense with three hits on the night, knocking in a run and scoring two herself.

“I went and saw my hitting instructor this week,” Brunner said. “We worked on some things, cleaned some things up, and that really helped my confidence, which had been lacking.”

“We still have some things to work on going forward,” Brunner said. “We lacked some plate discipline tonight. I try to tell the girls that all we need are base hits. We don’t need the huge hits, the homeruns. We need to simply string some hits together and put some pressure on the pitcher. Before you know it, if we string hits together, we score two, three, or four runs.”

With the victory, Hauser finds itself in the Semi-state for the third consecutive year. They will travel to Forest Park this Saturday, where they will face Triton Central at 11 a.m. But for now, Hauser can enjoy the victory and relax, possibly at a Luau.