Staff writer
It took the Hillsboro softball team the equivalent of one full game to sweep Canton-Galva Friday, as the team improved to 12-0 on the season.
In the first game, Hillsboro only led 2-0 at the end of the first inning on a two-RBI double by Bradli Nowak, but the Trojans blew the game open in the second.
Pitcher Julie Sinclair retired three Eagle batters at the top of the second, and the team’s offense took care of the rest. The Lady Trojans scored 12 runs on 10 hits in the inning, highlighted by a three-run triple by Madison Klein and a three-run home run by Nowak.
Sinclair struck out two more batters in the third inning before Shannon Heiser scored the 15th run on an errant pitch. The 15-run mercy rule ended the game.
The Trojans led 8-0 by the bottom of the third inning in game two. Klein scored two runners on a double, followed by Nowak’s second home run, a two-run shot, to lead 12-0 going into the fourth inning.
Allison Weber also pitched a shutout on the day, as Hillsboro scored three more runs in the bottom of the inning to win again 15-0.
Coach Stephanie Sinclair said afterward the girls can always improve defensively, but they have gotten stronger through the course of the season.
“We’ve got tough games coming,” Sinclair said of upcoming games at Pratt. “They have a really tough left-handed pitcher. That’ll be a tight game unless we give up too many hits or something.”