There's something about the Sunshine State for the Hillsdale College softball team.

For the past four seasons, the Chargers' annual Spring Break trip to Florida has been the spark Hillsdale needed and the start of big runs in the win column that carry on when the team returns up north.

It's just two days into the 2025 edition of Hillsdale's Spring Break but it already feels like the magic is happening once again, as Hillsdale arrived in Florida with a losing record and have now won four straight games in two days, including two big wins in Leesburg, Florida this afternoon.

The Chargers started the day with a 7-1 victory over a solid Slippery Rock team from Pennsylvania. Hillsdale jumped on the Rock early, scoring on a bases-loaded walk in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead, and plating three runs in the fourth on an RBI sacrifice bunt by Emma Sather and a two-run double by Emma Vis.

Slippery Rock scored its only run in the bottom of the third inning to cut Hillsdale's lead to 5-1, but the Chargers stretched the lead back out in the fourth on a RBI single by Olivia Liguori and added another insurance run on a sacrifice fly by Sydney Davis to score Ashley Strick in the fifth.

Maggie Olaveson chipped in a double as well for the Chargers, and Mackenzi Maxson (3-3) earned a complete game victory in her best performance on the mound this season, scattering seven hits and giving up just one earned run in seven innings.

That victory was the lead-in to a huge clash in the nightcap, as the Chargers took on the 17th-ranked team in the nation and the defending Midwest Region champions, UIndy, and snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Greyhounds that dated back to 2006 with a 2-1 victory in extra innings.

Hillsdale's last previous meeting with UIndy was a tight 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Greyhounds in the 2023 NCAA DII Tournament, and the Chargers faced the same fate again when UIndy used a leadoff walk and sacrifice bunt to set up a RBI single and pull ahead 1-0 in the top of the fourth.

This time, however, the Chargers had the counter, as senior Hannah Hoverman hit a solo home run to right field to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning and tie up the game.

That sent the contest to extras, and the Chargers played the top half of the eighth inning perfectly, erasing the international tiebreak runner on a fielder's choice and holding the Greyhounds scoreless. 

UIndy's failure to score in the top of the eighth gave Hillsdale an opportunity to walk off, and the Chargers took advantage. Emma Sather, Hillsdale's tiebreak runner, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and teammate Taylor Lewis put the ball in play, allowing the speedy Sather to reach home safely and end the game on a fielder's choice.

Ashley Strick went 2 for 3 at the plate to lead the Chargers in the victory, and Anna Chellman chipped in a double as Hillsdale got enough offense off of six hits to pull out the victory.

On the mound, senior Joni Russell (3-1) pitched a stellar game to add another marquee win to a long list of them in her four years at Hillsdale. Russell held a potent UIndy offense to just four hits and one earned run while striking out 12 and walking four in eight innings of work for her second complete-game victory of the season.

The Chargers improve to 10-7 overall, and will take Tuesday off before traveling down to Lakeland on Wednesday for a doubleheader at Florida Southern College beginning at 5 p.m. The Moccasins are familiar opponents who've hosted Hillsdale on their spring break trip nine times in the last 20 years, including each of the last two seasons, and the Chargers will look forward to renewing the series once again.

Photo by Morgan Hoverman