Ravens survive and advance with comeback win

As the seventh inning began, the Hillcrest softball team trailed by three runs and HLV held all the momentum.

When it ended, the Ravens had claimed a 7-6 upset victory on the Warriors’ home field to open the postseason.

Hillcrest opened the game strong, as an RBI single for Annika Schrock and an Ella Mize sacrifice fly started the scoring.

The Ravens extended their lead to three following a double by Mize, but the Warriors broke through in the bottom of the third.

Timely hitting and a trio of narrow safe calls in favor of HLV fueled a four-run Warrior rally. HLV added two more in the fifth, chasing starting pitcher Lyla Genkinger out of the circle in the process in favor of Mize.

“I was shocked, I was honestly not ready,” Mize said of her reaction when called on in relief. “I just came out there and threw as hard as I could.”

Mize clamped down on the Warriors, cutting their fifth inning rally off at two runs and forcing a scoreless sixth, but a baserunning mistake in the top of the sixth left the Ravens down 6-3 entering the final inning.

Despite little postseason experience, the Ravens found a spark with their backs against the wall.

Claire Miller walked to open the inning, followed by an Annika Schrock flyout, bringing up the Ravens’ best power bat, Isabelle Vigneron. The eighth-grade slugger swung at the first pitch she saw and rocketed the ball over the left field fence. One-run game.

“I was so happy,” Vigneron said. “I didn’t let us lose this game and I did my job.”

Mize followed Vigneron with another double, forcing the Warriors to turn to relief pitcher Karley Moore with the tying run on second base. The sophomore pitcher struggled to find her command initially, issuing a four-pitch walk to Eden Nachtigall and putting the go-ahead run on base.

Nachtigall and Mize swiped second and third on the first pitch of Emma Parizek’s at-bat, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position.

After a night of close calls and bloop singles falling in favor of HLV, a ball bounced in favor of the Ravens.

Parizek hit a slow chopper to third base, scoring Mize immediately, and the throw to first kicked into right field, allowing Nachtigall to come around to score. The Ravens had retaken the lead.

A pair of flyouts ended the inning, giving Mize no insurance as she returned to the circle. A hit batter and an error gave the Ravens a scare, allowing the tying run to reach third, but a slow roller to Marryn Boshart at first was enough to secure the victory. The Ravens had earned another game.

“It’s kind of a game for the ages for us in terms of our development,” Raven coach Kent Blossom said. “As a young team, to really bear down and find a way to win with all odds stacked against us… our heads were down after falling behind by three runs, just to have us push through was fun. It was exciting.”

It was a clean game for the Raven defense, not allowing any unearned runs on the evening. Hillcrest has averaged over two unearned runs allowed per game this year. Catcher Brynna Boshart’s play behind the plate was particularly impactful, throwing two runners out attempting to steal second, killing a pair of HLV rallies in the process.

“She’s done it all season long,” Blossom said of Boshart’s defensive impact. “She led our conference in runners caught stealing, and she did it again tonight, early on I thought it set the tone for them on the basepaths and forced them to find other ways to move runners.”

Hillcrest will now travel to Don Bosco on Wednesday for the second round. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.