Crown Point’s MacKenzie Dunlap did her part to ease the tension in Tuesday’s Class 4A Chesterton Regional.
The senior shortstop and Northwestern recruit led off with a home run to help send the Bulldogs to a 7-0 win over the host Trojans.
That run was all senior pitcher Alexis Holloway, a Notre Dame recruit, needed for Crown Point (27-2) to secure the third regional title in program history.
Dunlap’s homer was her fourth of the season.
“That was an amazing feeling,” Dunlap said. “To come up that big is unreal. Getting a run for Alexis, it took a lot of pressure off her. You just have to go out there and do your job, and I did mine.
“I can’t be more proud of this team and what we accomplished.”
After coming up short in recent seasons with similarly touted teams, Crown Point broke through for its first regional title since 2014. The Bulldogs, who are ranked No. 3 in the state, also won in 1985.
Holloway (19-1), who pitched a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts and one walk, was more focused on the present.
More Top Picks Best Macbooks
“We’re all competitive,” Holloway said. “We want to win, and that legacy that comes with it is awesome. But that’s not what’s on our mind — we want to make it as far as possible.”
Crown Point plays Penn (27-1), ranked No. 1 in the state, at 10 a.m. Saturday in the semifinals of the West Lafayette Harrison Semistate.
The Bulldogs added two runs, one earned, in the fourth against No. 9 Chesterton (24-7), including an RBI single from Lydia Byrd.
Trojans coach LouAnn Hopson had “no complaints” about their season.
Chesterton lost 5-1 to Crown Point on April 13, and after another 3-0 Duneland Athletic Conference loss to the Bulldogs on April 26, the Trojans won 13 straight entering Tuesday’s game.
“Up to the fourth, we were doing what we tried to do,” Hopson said. “We wanted to play enough defense to keep the score down, we wanted to force them to play some defense and they made some mistakes.
“Then we made some mistakes and it seemed to deflate the tires a little bit.”
Crown Point batted around in the seventh, adding four runs on six hits. Dunlap had an RBI single, Maggie Ballentine had a two-run single and Caitlyn Phillips added an RBI single.
Dunlap went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, two runs, a walk and a stolen base. Phillips and Gracie Frazier each went 2-for-4.
Crown Point coach Pete Iussig did not like facing good friend Hopson in a “do-or-die” game, but was happy for his players.
“It’s been a really wonderful season,” Iussig said. “You almost always have drama, but there hasn’t been any this year. These girls are great.
“I was mowing the lawn the other day and was thinking, ‘I don’t want it to end because I want to hang around these guys.'”
The Trojans stranded three runners, including two in scoring position, in the first two innings. Holloway ended each with a strikeout.
Chesterton had both of its hits in the first two innings, including a leadoff single by junior catcher Shelby Grimm, Holloway’s future Notre Dame teammate.
“Chesterton has a great lineup,” Holloway said. “Those Grimm sisters at the top are always tough. We just locked down and scored some more runs.”
Twitter @MichaelOsipoff