Whenever it’s been needed this season, the Hamilton softball team has come up with the big hit — or several big hits.
And the Emerald Knights stuck to that successful formula in Wednesday’s game against rival Morrisville-Eaton, leading to a 9-6 victory that clinched the outright Center State Conference regular-season championship.
After sharing the league title with Westmoreland in 2009, Hamilton was in no mood to be unselfish now, especially with the Warriors as an opponent.
A two-run second inning pushed the Emerald Knights in front, but it really got to M-E pitcher Jenn Horton in the bottom of the fourth, putting up five runs.
The Warriors didn’t go away, though, staging its own six-run rally in the top of the fifth (helped by shaky defense), forcing Hamilton coach Bill Dowsland to replace Sam Martin with seventh-grader Rebecca Rogers.
It worked, as Rogers blanked M-E in the sixth and seventh innings as Hamilton tacked on two more late runs to reclaim some of its cushion.
Rogers also stood out at the plate, as she and Kaitlyn Askew both went three-for-three and Rogers added three RBIs. Jordan Peterson added two hits and an RBI, scoring twice. On M-E’s side, Danielle Clement tripled and earn an RBI as Jesse Woodruff and Sami Leamer earned doubles.
Even with the league title secure, Hamilton still wanted to finish the regular season strong on Thursday, against West Canada Valley — which it did, rolling past the Indians 12-4.
To compensate for getting just seven hits, patient Emerald Knights hitters coaxed Waterville into issuing 10 walks. That led to runs, as Hamilton, once down 1-0, scored three times in the second inning and sealed it with a six-run outburst in the fifth.
Katie Weeks, who had three of those walks, also doubled and scored three times. Peterson tripled, Allie Hanson doubled and Askew earned a pair of hits to support Rogers, who had nine strikeouts in her complete-game effort.
Hamilton required just one big hit in last Monday’s game at Waterville, where the Emerald Knights were three outs from defeat — but turned it around to beat the Indians 3-1.
All through the first six innings, Hamilton’s potent lineup could not solve Waterville pitcher Katrina Jones, getting two total hits as Jones would finish with 15 strikeouts.
Though not as overpowering, Martin and Rogers also proved stingy, giving up just a fourth-inning run. Still, it appeared to be enough as, entering the top of the seventh, Hamilton still trailed 1-0.
Then Peterson hit a fly ball that a Waterville fielder dropped. Moments later, Katherine Keever singled home Peterson with the tying run.
With two outs, and two runners on base, Weeks came to the plate — and her triple cleared the bases, giving Hamilton the lead. Rogers got the final three outs and earned the win.
All this followed Hamilton’s own tournament on May 15, which resulted in a tournament title for the host Emerald Knights.
In a 20-2 opening-round rout of Brookfield, Hamilton had 12 runs in the first inning alone and 21 hits overall, including home runs from Peterson and Allie Hanson.
The final against Remsen proved much tighter — but the Emerald Knights still won 7-0, most of those runs coming in a six-run fifth inning that climaxed when Peterson, with the bases loaded, smacked the ball over the fence for a grand slam.
That gave Rogers (who threw a two-hit shutout) a lot of cushion as, at the plate, she hurt the Rams with a pair of doubles.
Hamilton drew the no. 3 seed for the Section III Class D playoffs and will meet no. 14 seed Copenhagen in the first round. M-E has the no. 9 seed in Class C-2 and visited no. 8 seed Onondaga, with the winner to get top seed Fabius-Pompey later in the week.