CLEVELAND, Ohio - May 18, 2023 - Timely hitting and composed pitching lifted Hiram to a 3-1 win over Mount Union in the opening game of the NCAA Regionals at Mather Field on the campus of Case Western Reserve University on Thursday afternoon.
The victory moves Hiram to the winner's bracket, where it will play either Case Western Reserve on Friday at 12 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to the Regional final, while the loser will move to an elimination game.
"It feels great," head coach Summer Collins said. "It also gave us a little bit more of a confidence boost. We are a good Regional team that can compete."
The Terriers tallied 3 runs on 3 hits in the fourth inning to give starting pitcher Trinity Meza all the run support she needed for the win. Darian Kanno shut it down with her 3rd save of the season, all of which have come over the last week.
The crooked number in the top of the fourth inning proved to be the difference. Fayth Kawamura led off the inning with a walk before Kylie Perez bunted her over to second base, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position with the score still 0-0.
"We want to move runners and get them in scoring position," Collins said. "We practice bunts a lot. We trust it."
That set up Giselle Bahena, who used her impressive opposite-field approach again for an RBI triple down the right-field line. Kanno then knocked Bahena in on a sacrifice bunt to give the Terriers a 2-0 advantage.
"For us, it was, 'As quickly as we can score, the better,'" Collins said.
Angel Santellan kept the inning going with a 2-out double before Abriana Schwartz – who was an All-Greencastle Regional selection in last year's NCAA Tournament – doubled to open up a 3-0 lead.
The offense helped fuel Meza in the circle; the junior kept the opposition off-balanced and finished with a final line of 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K. She notably got out of trouble after having runners at second and third base with 1 out in the fourth inning.
"She's a spark-plug," Collins said of Meza. "She's done great. She's just started to believe more and more that she can compete and that she can hold this thing down."
Kanno then entered in the seventh inning and shut it down, retiring each of the three hitters she faced to clinch the Game 1 win. Larissa Baeza caught the final out in medium-deep left field to wrap up the team's hard day of work.
Hiram will now play Case Western Reserve on Friday at 12 p.m. from the same Mather Field location.
