First, she hit a three-run homer that bounced off the top of the fence in left-center to get the Elks rolling in the first inning. Then in the fifth she hit the another three-run homer to walk it off for a 12-1 Elks victory over GWOC rival Miamisburg in the Division I district semifinals.
Hopf bats third for the Elks (23-4) and leads them with eight home runs, but it was the first walk-off homer of her life and the first time she has hit two in a game.
“I didn’t play well against them the last time I played them, so I had a different mindset going into this game,” Hopf said. “There were pitches I was looking for, sat on those pitches, just tried to put my best swing on those pitches.”
So did Ally Middleton with another three-run homer, her second this season, that put the Elks up 7-0 after the first inning as the Elks sent 11 batters to the plate.
“It meant so much,” pitcher, leadoff hitter and emotional leader Hayley Arnold said. “I called it before the game. I said, we’re going to bat through the first inning because we want this just as bad as anybody else.”
The Elks weren’t finished. Arnold added a two-run homer, her sixth, for a 9-1 lead in the third, and the Elks were well on their way to winning in five on the 10-run rule.
“We just absolutely erupted – I can’t believe it,” Elks coach Wendell Hutchinson said. “We’ve been waiting for this all year. We have great hitters, but for some reason we just haven’t been consistent the whole year. We had good score totals against really good teams. but we never just put someone away.”
The second-seeded Elks will play in a district final for the second straight year and play for their first regional berth at 5 p.m. Thursday at Lakota East against Western Brown, a No. 8 seed and a 7-6 winner over Harrison.
“They are a great team, and we knew they were,” said Miamisburg coach Steve Beachler, whose team (15-9) came in as the sixth seed and had lost two tight games to the Elks. “We had to play our best, and we didn’t take enough away from them. Great team, great coaching, great program.”
The Elks are trying to do what Miamisburg did last year and almost did. The Vikings won their first district title since 1994 and lost a one-run game to Lebanon in the region semifinals.
“Our team chemistry is amazing,” Hopf said. “I’ve never played on a team that got along this well on and off the field. We all trust each other, all respect each other, coaches are amazing. And we’re all really talented individually. So when we come together as a team it’s just something special.”
The early 7-0 lead made pitching easier for Arnold, who allowed only a solo home run to Ryla Zehring in the second inning. When the Vikings loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth, Arnold got out of it with a pop-up double play and one of her six strikeouts.
The Elks are senior-led by Division I college talent. Arnold will play at Stetson, Hopf at Buffalo and Middleton, the Elks’ No. 2 pitcher, at Belmont. Hutchinson said others on the team will eventually find their way to Division I programs.
“We have so much talent throughout the whole lineup, throughout the whole dugout,” Arnold said. “He could start any single player, and I would be confident in the circle that they will get the ball. Everyone has their whole heart into it. Nobody wants to go home.”
And nobody shows that more than Arnold. She celebrates strikeouts, celebrates what her teammates do and leads the dugout cheers.
“She’s a great leader,” Hopf said. “Everyone really looks up to her. We love the energy we feed off of her energy.”
In other Division I district semifinals:
Fairmont 6, Lebanon 3, 8 innings: Trailing by three runs in the top of the seventh, Fairmont’s Hannah Perdue hit a three-run homer to force extra innings. Then after back-to-back doubles in the eighth, Hannah Raines hit a two-run homer to knock off top-seeded Lebanon (21-5).
The fourth-seeded Firebirds (19-9) will play Lakota East at 5 p.m. Thursday at Mason High School.
Fairmont freshman Jaylin Turner struck out six, allowed eight hits and settled down after a three-run second inning.
Beavercreek 3, Springboro 0: Viera Barrett’s two-run hit in the fifth inning snapped a scoreless tie and lifted Beavercreek to a district semifinal win at home.
The third-seeded Beavers (20-4) will play Mason at 5 p.m. Thursday at Kings High School.
Senior Haley Ferguson struck out nine Springboro (12-11) hitters for her fifth shutout this season and 19th of her career.
About the Author