Lady Trojans keep 3A title hopes alive
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
The Lady Trojans exploded into post-season Monday night in Hillsboro, routing the winless Northern Heights Lady Wildcats, 12-2, to keep state tournament hopes alive.
In the likeliest of times, you find out who the true heroes are, and Monday in the Southeast of Saline regional, it was junior Amy Duerksen.
Duerksen went a flawless 4-for-4, scoring four runs and a game-high three RBIs in the Trojans' run rule.
The Wildcats' nightmares began right away with Hillsboro erupting for four runs out of the gate.
Danielle Goossen cracked the scoreless game with an RBI-double to score Duerksen, and the rout was on.
With the aid of a pair of Wildcat blunders and Sara Hamm's RBI single, Hillsboro was in good shape, up 4-0.
The Trojans pushed their lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the second with a run-scoring single by Duerksen and Goossen's second double.
Northern Heights broke up the shutout in the top of the third against Trojan starter Marissa Diener, rallying to cut Hillsboro's lead in half.
Diener gave up three straight singles, and the Wildcats had a glimmer of light left.
Much to Northern Heights' chagrin, that was the last the Wildcats were heard from.
The determined Trojans added another quartet of insurance runs in the bottom of the third to close the deal on Northern Heights.
Up 8-2, the Trojans inched closer to their meeting with host Southeast of Saline with yet another four-run explosion.
Hillsboro's title hopes came to a screeching halt Tuesday night at Gypsum against a familiar foe, second-seeded Southeast of Saline, in an error-plagued 7-0 shutout.
The Trojans end the season 15-5.
Comprised of a young team, Hillsboro should return enough players in 2005 to make it past regionals.
