One step further than last year for Archbishop Hoban.
Now the Knights will try to take that final step and win a state championship, something they haven’t accomplished since 1992.
Hoban (24-3) overcame early jitters that led to an immediate deficit Friday to earn a 5-1 victory over LaGrange Keystone in a Division II state semifinal at Firestone Stadium.
The Knights collected eight hits, scoring single runs in the second, third and fifth and putting it away with two more in their final at-bat in the sixth to support the two-hit pitching of senior right-hander Laney Jones (16-2.).
Their reward is a rematch with Hebron Lakewood (31-1), the team that knocked them out of the state tourney in last year’s semifinals, at 7 p.m. Saturday for the championship.
Lakewood defeated Jonathan Alder 14-6 in the other semifinal Friday. Lakewood beat Hoban 4-1 last year.
“We have so much more confidence going into it,” senior Katie Clark said. “We think this year, we deserve to be here. We worked here. We earned to get back to where we were last year, and further.”
Junior Emma Terzola said it was “our goal since the beginning of the season to get back here.”
“And now there’s just one left,” she said. “Lakewood is an amazing team but so are we in the same spot. It’s another game and I like to look at it that way so I don’t pressure myself too much.”
Three errors — two on one play — and two walks by Jones resulted in a first-inning run for Keystone (26-5). The Knights committed another error in the second, and Jones allowed another walk.
But the Wildcats stranded runners on second and third both innings. They didn’t score again and Hoban played flawlessly in the field the rest of the way.
“They really closed up any gaps once they started getting threatened,” Hoban coach Frank Voss said. ‘They’ve played well defensively all year. The first inning was the anomaly.”
Jones issued no more free passes, striking out three. She allowed leadoff singles in the fourth and sixth but retired the next three hitters each time.
“We needed to get a little bit of nerves out of our system,” Jones said.
Keystone pitcher Lauren Shaw (13-3) allowed all five runs in five innings (two earned). The Wildcats also committed three errors, two of which started Hoban scoring rallies.
Terzola smacked two hits, scoring a run in the fifth and driving in two big insurance runs in the sixth with a two-out single up the middle.
“She was throwing a really good screwball,” Terzola said. “Coming up after that, I knew to look for that. I also switched bats because I like to go to a lighter bat against a faster pitcher.”
Jones reached on an infield throwing error to start the Knights’ second. After a single by junior Chloe Weidrick, Jones scored on junior Ashley Matousek’s groundout to tie it 1-1.
The Knights took the lead for good in the third. Junior Adrianna Powers led off with a single, and senior Maddie Terzola reached on an infield hit. After a forceout at third, junior Alex Whitmore bounced a single up the middle, scoring Maddie Terzola.
In the fifth, Emma Terzola led off with a single, stole second and scored on Clark’s line double, which ticked off the first baseman’s glove and rolled down the right-field line for a 3-1 lead.
Matousek reached on an error starting the sixth and sophomore Jessica Knicely walked. Both scored on Emma Terzola’s hit that made it 5-1.
Jones baffled the Wildcats with her super-slow change-up all day. And that made her other pitches more effective.
“It’s always been my favorite pitch,” said Jones. “Even if it’s not working on a certain day, I’ll throw it to keep the hitters off balance.”