WEST LAFAYETTE — After Crown Point’s Alexis Holloway notched her 16th strikeout to put the finishing touch on a one-hitter, the senior pitcher embraced catcher Lexi Madrigal.
Players raced from all corners of the field and streamed from the dugout to join the celebration.
The Bulldogs did not suffer a letdown in Saturday night’s Class 4A Harrison Semistate championship game.
Behind another brilliant performance from Notre Dame recruit Holloway, they downed Hamilton Southeastern 3-0 after their emotional 13-inning semifinal win against Penn.
Crown Point (29-2) won the first semistate title in program history and will play in its first state title game against defending champ Avon (23-8) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Ben Davis. The Bulldogs made the state semifinals in 1985 under a previous format that did not include the semistate.
“This is what we’ve been working for all season,” Holloway said.
These seniors reached a semistate semifinal as freshmen. But they lost in regionals as sophomores and were stunned in sectionals last season.
There was no denying the Bulldogs this year.
After knocking off Penn in a game lasting more than three hours in unforgiving heat, they headed to a local restaurant. In a partitioned area, they ate and joked and relaxed and slept before refocusing on Hamilton Southeastern (18-9).
“We were looking forward to playing Penn all year because we knew they would challenge us in every facet of the game,” Holloway said. “We tried to explain to the girls this is even more important now. We dealt with what we wanted and now we have to come back with a new mindset for this game.”
The Bulldogs wasted little time in grabbing the lead. Holloway (21-1) doubled with two outs in the first and scored when Maggie Ballentine’s fly ball was dropped.
“We talk about getting an early lead and we talked about it even more in this game,” coach Pete Iussig said. “We felt the Penn game, you want to believe you can win, but you know it’s going to be a battle. This game, we felt we were the better team.
“The longer you let somebody stay in the game, the more they believe they can win and the less you believe you can win. That’s how we approached this game.”
The Bulldogs used a little trickery to create a run in the third.
MacKenzie Dunlap bunted for a hit with one out and stole second before Gracie Frazier bunted her to third. With the Royals intentionally walking Holloway, she and Northwestern recruit Dunlap signaled to each other.
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After completing the walk, Holloway continued toward second, getting caught in a rundown to allow Dunlap to score.
“I knew instantly that’s what we were going to do,” Dunlap said. “It worked and it was awesome.”
It’s a play they’ve often run successfully as travel teammates with the Beverly Bandits. Crown Point discussed it at practice late in the week, with Iussig on board with its execution.
“We were all on the same page,” Holloway said.
Crown Point took a 3-0 lead in the fifth when Madrigal singled with two out and Dunlap followed with a triple.
“Nothing compares to this,” Dunlap said.
Holloway allowed only a second-inning single to Ashton Kiehl. She had zero walks.
“Amazing,” Madrigal said. “I can’t give her enough credit. She worked her butt off.
“I’m very proud of how Alexis pitched and I’m very proud of my team.”
Twitter @MichaelOsipoff