PHOTOS BY RACHEL NAGEL / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
INFIELD DEFENSE … Evergreen third baseman Leah McVey fires to first base during their April 7, 2026 home game with Hilltop. VIEW PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
SAFE! … Hilltop’s Kenley Routt slides in safely ahead of the tag at second base.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
METAMORA (April 7, 2026) — An Evergreen second-inning fielding miscue gave Hilltop an opportunity, and the Cadets took full advantage.
Hilltop notched four unearned runs in that frame and tacked on tallies every inning after to ride home with a 14-1, six-inning win over the Vikings.
Isabella Ackley reached on a one-out error in the top of the second, and Maggie Altman, along with Caelan Nofziger, followed with singles.
Viking pitcher Peyton Mossing got Grace Serrano to bounce back to the mound for a force-out at the plate, but Halle Jones cleared the bases with a line-drive double off the centerfield fence to put the Cadets up 3-0.
After going to third on the throw to the plate, Jones stole home to make it 4-0. Hilltop added two more in the third on Nofziger’s run-scoring single and Jones’ triple to left to extend the lead to 6-0.
Cadet pitcher Kelsy Connolly helped her own cause with a towering home run to center in the fourth. Brooklyn Kuszmaul’s base hit marked the eighth Hilltop run in the top of the fifth.
On the mound, Connolly scattered five Evergreen (3-2) hits while striking out 13 on the day.
Evergreen got its only run of the day when Avah Vaculik notched her third hit of the day, a double with one out in the fifth. A wild pitch and Lanae Manz’s RBI bunt brought her home.
Hilltop (5-2) put the game away with a six-spot in the sixth.
Connolly rapped her second homer of the day, a three-run shot, while Jones and Kuszmaul each singled home a run in the inning. Hilltop rang up 19 hits on the day.
HHS 042 116 – 14 19 1
EHS 000 010 – 1 5 2
WP- Kelsy Connolly (IP-6, H-5, R-1, BB-1, K-13)
LP- Peyton Mossing (IP-5.2, H-14, R-10, BB-2, K-3)
LEADING HITTERS: (Hilltop) Halle Jones – 2 triples, 2 singles, 5 RBIs; Kelsy Connolly – 2 home runs, single, 4 RBIs; (Evergreen) Avah Vaculik – double, 2 singles
