HEADS UP … North Central’s Masen Boles lifts a flyball during the Eagles’ home ACME game with Hilltop.
PHOTOS BY REBEKAH DELL / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
FOUR STRONG … Hilltop’s Brennan Dempsey tossed four innings, allowing three runs on five hits with a pair of strikeouts. VIEW 146 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
PIONEER (June 22, 2026) – When the game ended, Hilltop was ahead of North Central on the scoreboard 7-6. It was how the game ended that overshadowed everything else.
A violent collision between Hilltop’s Chandler Hartman and Cameron Shimp as they chased Jackson Poynter’s foul pop between the plate and third base left both players on the ground in the bottom of the ninth inning.
While those in attendance watched in stunned silence, Hartman eventually regained his feet. Shimp, however, required the assistance of Williams County EMS and was transported to a local medical facility.
The soon-to-be senior was able to talk and use his limbs before leaving the field.
According to Hilltop head coach Tony Gerig, all of Shimp’s x-rays came back negative and he will soon begin the return-to-play protocol.
To ignore the events of the game itself would be unfair to those who played in it — including Hartman and Shimp, who both contributed significantly before the frightening finish.
Hilltop drew first blood in the top of the second against North Central starter Easton Fidler when Corbin Hartman scored an unearned run on Flint Bowman’s two-out RBI single.
That lead ballooned to 4-0 in the third on three more unearned runs. Chandler Hartman singled with one out and promptly stole both second and third.
A throwing error on Alejandro Rubalcava’s grounder plated one, and when a wild pitch got loose, Rubalcava scored all the way from second to make it 3-0. Corbin Hartman’s base hit to right brought home one more, giving the Cadets a 4-0 cushion.
North Central answered with two in the bottom of the third. Jett Reinbolt and Garrett Shockley singled around a fly ball and a strikeout against Cadet starter Brennan Dempsey, and after a walk loaded the bases, Fidler bounced a two-run single up the middle to cut the deficit to 4-2.
The Eagles continued to chip away. Gentry Fackler’s run-scoring single in the fourth made it 4-3, and North Central took the lead for the first time in the sixth when a walk and a throwing error put runners on second and third.
Brock McClanahan’s seeing-eye single through the middle of a drawn-in infield plated both runners to give the Eagles a 5-4 advantage.
Hilltop responded in the eighth when Camryn Nichols’ double and two straight wild pitches knotted the game at 5-5.
North Central wasted little time reclaiming the lead in the bottom of the inning, however, pushing across a run on a hit batsman, a throwing error on a pickoff attempt, and a wild pitch on a third strike to lead 6-5 heading to the ninth.
With their season on the line, the Cadets came through. Back-to-back doubles from Chandler Hartman and Shimp tied it at 6-6, and after Shimp took third on the throw to the plate, Rubalcava’s slow roller down the third base line brought him home with the go-ahead run for a 7-6 Hilltop lead.
Ezra Mahlman, working his third inning of relief, retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the ninth before the collision between Hartman and Shimp brought the contest to its sudden and sobering end.
Mahlman was credited with the victory, having allowed one unearned run and two hits over 2 2/3 innings. Jacob Poynter absorbed the loss for North Central.
HLLT 013 000 012 – 7 9 4
NC 002 102 010 – 6 8 4
WP- Ezra Mahlman (IP-2.2, R-1, H-2, K-4, BB-2)
LP- Jacob Poynter (IP-2.0, R-2, H-2, K-2, BB-0)
LEADING HITTERS: (Hilltop) Cameron Shimp – 2 doubles, RBI; Camryn Nichols – double; Chandler Hartman – single, double; Alejandro Rubalcava – single, 2 RBIs; (North Central) Garrett Shockley – 2 singles; Easton Fidler – single, 2 RBIs; Jesse Taylor – single, 2 RBIs.
