WELLINGTON — Camryn Kiefer and her Tuslaw softball team felt they had something to prove this season after exiting the postseason tournament earlier than anticipated a year ago.
So, Kiefer struck out 13 batters and gave up only a first-inning hit in leading Tuslaw to a 4-0 win over Hillsdale as the Mustangs captured the Division III district championship at Community Park on Thursday.
Tuslaw, now 17-8, moves on to the regional semifinals next week.
Kiefer was nearly untouchable in the circle, save for a triple she gave up to Hillsdale’s Jordyn Fickes in the bottom of the first inning. A strikeout and an infield pop up later, Kiefer got out of the inning unscathed.
Tuslaw got on the board in the top of the first as Isabel McCune led the game off with a solo homer to left off Hillsdale’s Kennedy Fickes, who suffered the loss in fanning two, walking two and yielding four earned runs on eight hits.
“Last year, I was really upset with myself because I didn’t pitch my best, and this year I’ve just been working hard,” Kiefer said. ”I have a lot more confidence and I just went at it.
“I’ve really been working on my screwball, getting it up high and inside, and my curveball’s been off a little bit lately. I’ve just been trying to work in and out but after my curveball was not working too well, I started going in and up and got them to swing.”
Hillsdale coach Hannah Moore said Kiefer threw a really good game against the Falcons.
“She got us with the riseball primarily, she came in, broke it on our hands, got us to foul it off and then got us on the riseball,” Moore said. “That riseball just killed us today.”
Jordyn Fickes was stranded at third base in the first frame, which ended up being Hillsdale’s lone opportunity to score. Had she scored, that might have spurred the Falcons on offense.
“We’ll never know. It is what it is,” Moore said. “It was a good season. These girls worked their butts off all season, did everything they could this year and it paid off a lot. Going 22-4 is not a small feat, and 14-0 in the Wayne County Athletic League is not a small feat. I’m proud of each and every one of these girls for coming in and fighting each and every day.”
Kiefer also helped her own cause in the fifth inning as she and her battery-mate, Kylie Johnson, socked back-to-back solo homers. Gracie Sirgo added an RBI-double in the fourth frame.
“We were up against a tough opponent in Hillsdale. Hannah’s a great coach. I’ve played against her and coached against her so I know they were going to be ready to go,” Tuslaw coach Cayla Mattox said. “We told our girls to come in with a lot of energy and excitement, and keep attacking the ball like we have been the last couple of weeks.
“And it was important to get on the board and put the pressure on them a little bit, so that was kind of our goal today. Isabel has been hitting the ball well lately. And Cam has been such an asset for our team for so many years. And us going out early last year has kind of been the fire under her this year, just wanting more, to get after it, and she’s been such an important key piece to our team and this was probably the best game she’s pitched all year.
Hillsdale loses four proven seniors in Lilyan Amend, Belle Dalton, Mollie Goon, and Jacey Sermulis.
“I wish our four seniors the very best going on, they’re going to do great things,” Moore said. ”I think the biggest thing they instilled in the younger players was to just never quit, hard work, just Hillsdale softball in general. They kept the tradition going, just really proud of all four of them.”
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