The Hillsdale College softball team made an epic and history-making run from the bottom of the elimination bracket to the doorstep of a regional title on Saturday in Tiffin.

But that legendary rally that included 42 innings of softball in under 48 hours came up just short of the crown, as Hillsdale fell to champion UIndy in the final inning of a thrilling 3-2 contest on Saturday afternoon.

Hillsdale entered Saturday having played 17 innings of Midwest Regional softball on Friday, winning two draining elimination contests to set up a showdown with the Greyhounds. The odds were stacked against the Chargers, who needed to win twice to advance while a well-rested UIndy squad needed to beat Hillsdale just once in two tries to claim the title.

Despite the odds, Hillsdale played with extreme grit in the first game on Saturday, holding the Greyhounds scoreless across seven innings despite significant scoring threats from UIndy in the first and second innings, including loading the bases with just one out in the second. Hillsdale ace Joni Russell worked her way out of both jams with the help of an excellent defensive performance behind her. 

With the game still scoreless in the top of the sixth inning, Hillsdale got a two-out double from Taylor Lewis to get a runner in scoring position, and senior Emma Vis blasted a ball over the left field fence for her second home run of the regional to put Hillsdale ahead 2-0. That score would hold up as Russell and the Chargers put the Greyhounds down in order to seal a 2-0 victory, the first of two Hillsdale needed to claim the title.

Russell's complete game effort was her 23rd win of the season and her 11th shutout of the 2025 campaign, as she held UIndy to just three hits with five strikeouts in the win.

The victory leveled the playing field between the Chargers and UIndy, setting up a winner-take-all second game later in the same afternoon. Hillsdale continued to battle despite falling behind 2-0 early on a second inning home run by the Greyhounds, as Russell, back on the mound for her second start on the day, worked four scoreless innings after the home run. 

The Chargers cut into the deficit in the fifth inning, as Maggie Olaveson hit a two-out RBI single to score Emma Sather and trim UIndy's lead to just one run. Olaveson came up again in the top of the seventh with Hillsdale still trailing and down to its final out and delivered another clutch hit, a single down the left-field line that again scored Sather to tie up the contest.

It looked like Hillsdale might have a chance to rally and claim the title in extra innings, but it wasn't to be as the Chargers couldn't hold the Greyhounds in the bottom of the seventh. UIndy strung together four straight hits and walked off for a 3-2 victory with a single to left field.

 Olaveson did everything she could to keep the game going, finishing 3 for 4 with both RBIs for the Chargers, and Emma Sather added two hits and a stolen base as well. Russell (23-4) finished a legendary Hillsdale career with a fine effort in the circle despite the loss, throwing over 200 pitches on the day and limiting a potent UIndy offense to just three runs across 14 innings.

Hillsdale finishes a special season at 39-18 overall, the team's best win total in 34 years and just one victory shy of the record of 40 set in 1990 and 1991. The Chargers claimed the G-MAC Tournament crown for the fourth time and were the last G-MAC school standing in the NCAA Tournament, going 3-2 in regional contests and finishing with three NCAA Tourney wins for the first time in program history.

The Chargers were led by a special senior class, including Russell, who rewrote virtually the entire pitching record book at Hillsdale and will likely become Hillsdale's first multi-time softball All-American by the end of the month, Vis and Hannah Hoverman, both three-year starters whose names are also all over the Chargers' record books, and Ashley Strick, one of the best defensive outfielders in the Midwest Region and a leader in the dugout for the squad.

All four will be dearly missed, but Hillsdale has several exciting pieces coming back, including a strong junior class led by three-year starters Olaveson, Sather and Taylor Lewis, as well as other critical pieces in the order like Anna Chellman, Sydney Davis and Olivia Liguori. Pitchers Mackenzi Maxson and Grace Harris both got valuable experience in the regional this year and will look to take a step forward next year as the Chargers look to add to a now five-year run of sustained success that's unprecedented in program history.