From the sports archives: Hitting, pitching carry the Hillsdale High School Knights

Nearly 20 years later, Metheany is back as the Knights’ head man but a lot has changed — Softball has improved loads since Metheany left the sport. Pitchers and hitters are bigger, stronger and just plain better than a generation ago.

But the recipe for success hasn’t changed: Add strong pitching and defense with a solid, aggressive approach at the plate and it should equal wins. The 2009 version of the Knights are set in the pitcher’s circle with sophomore Jordan Richwood and the defense is fairly solid. The last ingredient, hitting, is the Knights’ biggest concern, but even that appears to be coming around.

Against Mills Thursday, Hillsdale banged out 10 hits in a 7-2 win over the host Vikings to improve to 2-0 in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division.

“We’ve been working really hard in practice, in the (batting) cage and off the tee,” Metheany said of the work his team has put in trying to improve at the plate. “Today, we swung the bat pretty well.”

Hillsdale (2-0 Bay Division, 5-3-2 overall) had at least one hit in six of the seven innings and had two or more hits in three innings. The Knights also spaced out their runs consistently throughout the game. They jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, tacked on a pair of runs in the third and fourth innings and capped the game with two more in the seventh. In the innings they didn’t score, the Knights had runners in scoring position but just couldn’t come up with the timely hit.

Leadoff hitter Christine Miyake had a pair of hits for the Knights, as did Amanda Anderson, who also drove in a run. Lindsay Handy had a hit and an RBI and hit the ball hard on a couple of other occasions.

“Handy’s been hitting the ball but hasn’t been rewarded,” Metheany said.

Richwood helped her own cause by going 2 for 4 and driving in a pair of runs, Marissa Cho tripled and walked twice while Jeannette Bertron came off the bench to go 2 for 3 with a triple and an RBI.

Richwood took advantage of all the offense by limiting Mills to just two runs on five hits. She wasn’t at her best but you can hardly blame her. In the PAL opener against Capuchino, she pitched all 12 innings of a 4-0 Hillsdale win, striking out 68% (27 of 40) of batters.

If she was a little tired against the Vikings, it was understandable. But it didn’t prevent her from striking out 14 — including the side in the fifth and sixth innings.

Despite striking out more than a dozen, Richwood wasn’t blowing away the Vikings. Mills had its opportunities to score but couldn’t come up with the big hit until the game was all but decided. The Vikings had runners at second and third with two outs in both the first and fourth innings but came up empty each time.

The Vikings finally broke through in the sixth inning. Rebecca Bright walked and Sammy Pacheco singled to center, with Bright moving to third when the Hillsdale center fielder couldn't field the ball cleanly. Following two strikeouts, during which Pacheco moved into scoring position by stealing second, Gina Villeggiante came to the plate. On a 2-0 pitch, she singled sharply to right field, driving in Bright. The Hillsdale right fielder tried to throw Villeggiante out at first. The ball got away from the first baseman, allowing Pacheco to score.

Those two runs, along with a couple other bobbles from the Knights were the only things that went wrong for the Knights Thursday.

“I’m extremely proud of my girls,” Metheany said.