The Hillsdale College softball team showed its spirit with two comebacks on the final day of the Maryville Invite on Sunday in St. Louis, with one paying off in a victory and one falling just short to split the day and the weekend.

Hillsdale trailed Purdue Northwest 6-5 entering the bottom of the seventh of the morning contest. With two outs and the bases loaded, senior third baseman Anna Chellman delivered the decisive blow with a two-run single to left centerfield that walked off the Pride and gave Hillsdale a 7-6 victory. 

The Chargers had loaded the bases with no outs to start the inning on two walks and a single by Nathalie Hagle, but after Hillsdale made two outs the game came down to Chellman and the senior had no trouble providing a clutch hit.

The ending was fitting for a high-scoring and back-and-forth contest in St. Louis. After falling behind 2-0 on an error in the top of the first, Hillsdale surged ahead with four runs in the bottom of the third. Freshman Cayla Contreras kicked off the scoring with her first career home run, over the left field fence, and Hillsdale later took the lead on a two-run double by Hagle. Hagle later scored on an error by the Pride to give the Chargers a 4-2 lead.

Purdue Northwest tied the game up at 4-all with two runs in the top of the fourth, but Contreras briefly put the Chargers back in front again in the bottom of the inning. In her first at bat after her first collegiate home run, Contreras proved the power she displayed wasn't a fluke, hitting the ball over the same left field fence in the same situation for a second solo home run to give the Chargers a 5-4 lead.

Hillsdale wasn't ahead long, as the Pride answered back with a long ball of their own in the top of the fifth, a two-run home run that put PNW back up 6-5 and set up the final inning drama.

Contreras' two home runs and Hagle's single and double led eight Hillsdale hits at the plate on the day. In the circle, freshman Katie Jonas (3-1) got the win in relief, bouncing back from the two-run home run in the fifth to pitch a scoreless sixth and seventh and give the Chargers a chance late. Grace Harris got the start and gave up two earned runs in four innings of work.

In the nightcap against host Maryville, Hillsdale again made things interesting late, but a six-run deficit was too much to overcome in a 9-6 loss.

Trailing 9-3 in the top of the seventh, Hillsdale made a run at it, starting with a leadoff single by Taylor Lewis. Hagle also reached on a single and the Chargers cut into the deficit with back-to-back runs on a single by Olivia Liguori and a double by Maggie Olaveson. When Ava Stripp reached on an error and Liguori scored from third, Hillsdale trailed 9-6 with one out and the potential tying run at the plate. The Chargers couldn't keep the rally going, however, as Hillsdale made the next two outs to come up short in its comeback attempt.

Freshman Emily Miessner had kept the Chargers' hopes alive with a two-run home run as a pinch hitter in the top of the fith, and Hagle had added a RBI single as well to keep Hillsdale within striking distance.

Ultimately, Hillsdale couldn't overcome an early 7-0 deficit, kickstarted by four Maryville runs in the bottom of the first inning. Those runs, coupled with a slow offensive start, made the hole Hillsdale had to dig out of too large to make it all the way back.

Mackenzi Maxson (0-2) started and took the loss for Hillsdale, pitching three innings, while Gracelynn Kelly also pitched two innings of relief for the Chargers and Anistyn Foster struck out two batters in a scoreless, hitless sixth as well.

The Chargers are now 7-7 overall heading into their annual Spring Break trip to Florida, which starts on Saturday, March 14. Hillsdale will play 10 games in a week in the Sunshine State, starting with a doubleheader in The Spring Games against St. Martin and Edinboro on that first Saturday.