Hillsdale High School pitcher Ashley Driscoll untouchable in home opener against Sequoia Ravens

By far the most colorful part of her mystique, though, is the beaten up glove she wears, with its loose laces, droopy fingers and a tear inside through the middle of the pocket. Yeah, she’s had the thing since she was 10. And even though it started falling apart a year or two ago, she isn’t in any hurry to replace it.

“I don’t really like getting new gloves,” Driscoll said. “Then you have to break it in. So, I just use this one. It’s probably been broken since I was like 14.”

For some strange reason, though, the if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it approach applies here. After all, the sophomore pitcher was untouchable through three innings of work in Hillsdale’s 5-1 win over Sequoia (0-1).

Driscoll — who is softball royalty; her mother Lori played Division I college softball at Miami University-Ohio, and her aunt is longtime Hillsdale coach Michelle Zalba — was near perfect, facing just one over the minimum through three frames, surrendering a second inning walk. Otherwise, she struck out four while allowing neither a ball out of the infield, nor a hit. This set the stage for three Hillsdale pitchers combining on a one-hitter, with relievers Sydney Nagamine and Sammy Lin also seeing action.

“Oh yeah, [Driscoll] is a trooper,” Hillsdale head coach Clinch Fuentes said. “We want to get the girls some work in. This is our second game — we only had five games last year — so we want to get them some work.”

Fuentes did admit if it wasn’t so early in the season, he would have let his 5-5 sophomore Driscoll stay in the game.

“I think every pitcher did great,” Fuentes said. “They were hitting their spots. There was one pitch Ashley threw, I was like: ‘That was the best pitch I’ve ever seen.’”

Sequoia pitcher Ainsley Waddell presented the tallest challenge Driscoll had to face. In addition to pitching, Waddell is also a talented left-handed hitter who bats second in the Ravens’ batting order. And, just two batters into the game — and into the season, as Tuesday was Sequoia’s season opener — she gave Driscoll quite a battle, fighting off pitch after pitch during a nine-pitch at-bat before finally striking out.

“It was my first at-bat of the season, so I was kind of eager to hit and excited,” Waddell said. “And then after that I calmed down and looked for a pitch to hit.”

Waddell got her revenge for the first-inning strikeout, however, as it was her explosive swing of the bat in the fifth inning that wrecked the no-hitter.

With Claire Sarrail on first base, Waddell connected with a low fastball and sent it sailing up the gap in left-center for a triple. This plated Sarrail for Sequoia’s only run of the game, and — with Sequoia trailing 3-1 at the time — could have extended the inning for No. 3 hitter Jasmine Oda. But Sequoia’s third-base coach waived Waddell home, and it wasn’t until the sophomore was past the point of no return that she realized the ball was arriving at the plate well before she would.

“My coach told me go,” Waddell said. “I wasn’t looking. … I tried to slow down and turn around but by then it was too late.”

In the circle, Waddell pitched a complete game, and settled down after a first inning in which the Hillsdale offense enjoyed its only loud contact of the day. Mika Chong smashed a one-out single into left. And after she stole second, Hannah Levy scorched a grounder through the middle to plate Chong, giving Hillsdale a 1-0 lead.

Hillsdale (2-0) added single runs in the second and fourth, but in neither inning did a ball leave the infield. In the second, Kristen Conliffe reached on a bunt single, advanced to third quickly with a steal of second and a take of third on a wild pitch, then scored on an RBI groundout by Chase Nestor. And in the fourth, Sahara Daily reached on an infield single, stole second, then took third, and home, on consecutive wild pitches.

In the sixth, Hillsdale added two runs. But, again, Waddell yielded no solid contact. Daily led off the frame with a bloop single to right. Conliffe followed with a bunt out front of home plate, but Waddell’s throw sailed over first base, moving Daily to third, and Conliffe to second. Nestor followed with a bunt down the third-base line, seeing Daily wait for the throw to first before taking off for the plate, drawing a throw from the first baseman Oda. The throw got past the catcher though, and allowed not only Daily to score, but for Conliffe to come around from second as well.

The sixth-inning rally could have been worse, but Sequoia right fielder Lilliana Santos made a brilliant diving catch down the right-field line to rob Chong of an RBI and end the inning.

Working in relief for Hillsdale, Lin was electric. The freshman opened her day with a walk to start the sixth. Then, after a fielder’s choice groundout, Lin went on to strike out the last five batters she faced.

Levy and Daily each notched two hits for Hillsdale.