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Softball: Stearn warning: Hebron senior carries Hawks into playoffs, hoping for déjà vu
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
CARROLLTON -- Tightly-contested games between Hebron and Marcus' softball teams are nothing new. They just haven't typically been on the last day of the season with a playoff spot on the line.
But those were the stakes Friday night when the Hawks and Lady Marauders squared off with the winner earning the No. 4 seed from District 8-5A.
Heather Stearns and Chelsea Herndon made sure the Hawks weren't the ones going home disappointed, as the pair helped Hebron get past Marcus, 2-1, to secure a spot in the postseason.
"I can't describe the feeling," Herndon said. "My heart is racing so much I can even barely breathe. I wanted to go into this game with no regrets. When I got up, I was thinking 'this is my pitch to hit and we're scoring this run no matter what.' I wasn't striking out. I wasn't walking. It was my turn and now we're going to the playoffs."
The win puts Hebron in the postseason for the third consecutive season after previously having never accomplished the feat in Class 5A. The Hawks are also hoping it is a bit of déjà vu. Two years ago behind the hot arm of Stearns, the Hawks made their first 5A playoff appearance by sneaking in as the No. 4 seed and advanced all the way to the State Tournament. Along the way, Hebron topped Keller in the bi-district round and eliminated Marcus in walk-off fashion in the regional quarterfinals. Next up for Hebron this year in the bi-district round are the Lady Indians.
"I'm so proud of the girls," said Staci Jackson, Hebron head coach. "We kept battling and battling this year. We've had tough games that haven't gone our way where we've been the one on the scoreboard and not the two. So this feels really good to be that two on the scoreboard."
Marcus, meanwhile, will miss out on the postseason for the first time since 2005.
"There's nothing really you can say to the team after a game like that," said Christy Tumilty, Marcus head coach. "It was just a great game that didn't go our way."
Stearns was at her finest in the circle for Hebron, allowing one run on six hits with no walks and 18 strikeouts.
In the top of the fifth inning, Marcus' Jessica Webb reached on one of her two singles on the night and after moving into scoring position, just beat the tag on a stolen base attempt at third. With two outs, Ashley Hardin drove in Webb with one of her two doubles in the game. But that was all Marcus could scratch across against Stearns, who struck out the side in four innings, including in the top of the seventh.
"I felt really good on the mound and at the plate," Stearns said. "I didn't want to go out in possibly my last game and play poorly. I left it all out there and it feels great.
"Marcus is always a tough opponent for us and plays well. We knew that would probably be the case again and it was."
Marcus starter Hannah Null equaled Stearns for most of the night, surrendering two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts and five walks -- three to Stearns. After allowing the leadoff homer to Stearns to straight away center in the top of the first, and a subsequent single with two outs to Deja Talton, Null gave up only a single to Talton in the sixth as the teams headed to the seventh, 1-1.
"I thought Hannah did a great job," Tumilty said. "When we played them the first time (a 3-0 Marcus win), I thought she was able to handle their hitters pretty well and she did that again tonight."
In the bottom half of the inning, Stearns didn't see much to hit en route to a base on balls with one out, and courtesy runner Wilson advanced to second with two outs following a sacrifice bunt from Brynn Putnam setting up Herndon's heroics.
"I told the girls we were going to have to manufacture runs and execute," Jackson said. "We needed key hits and to lay down bunts when we needed to. [Putnam's sacrifice] was huge in the last inning. She hadn't gotten a hit and I asked her if she could get the bunt down and she said 'yes'. And then Chelsea came up in the clutch. She was due and had been struggling against Marcus' pitcher. She finally got her one."
"We certainly weren't going to let Heather beat us on the mound and at the plate," Tumilty added. "After giving up that homer her first at-bat, we weren't going to give her anything good to hit. I don't question our move to walk her because we had handled those batters behind her all night long."
Now Hebron shifts its focus to the playoffs and Keller.
"We're hoping it's déjà vu," Stearns said. "Coach Jackson always talks about the softball gods and history, so we're hoping maybe we can repeat history."
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