Maddie Glade pitches Serena to third straight regional title

SERENA — The players on the Serena softball team are, in their own words, locked in.

The No. 2 Huskers, behind a two-hit shutout from senior Maddie Glade and a key two-run triple by sophomore Ann Hjerpe, topped No. 3 Gardner-South Wilmington 4-0 in Friday’s Class 1A Serena Regional championship contest.

“We as a team are locked in,” said Glade, who walked one and struck out 10. “We have a great mix of serious seniors and goofy sophomores, but the younger girls flip that switch to serious when the game starts. It’s a good mix to have, I think.

“I felt like I pitched OK, but I missed a few 0-2 pitches that I have to hit my spot with. My defense also played great behind me, so all in all, not too bad of day.”

Serena (25-6) moves on to Tuesday’s 4:30 p.m. home sectional semifinal against Little Ten Conference rival and top-seed Newark. The teams split their two meetings this season.

The Panthers, who will return everyone next season, finish 21-11, the program’s most wins in a season in a decade.

“Maddie was locked in, and she has been for us most of this season,” Serena coach Kelly Baker said. “She had that look of ‘I’m coming for you’ and when that happens, it’s more often than not good for us. (GSW) was able to get a couple runners on base early which made me a little nervous, but Maddie did a great job of not letting them score.”

In the bottom of the fourth, Serena scored three times to break a scoreless deadlock.

Jenna Setchell led off reaching second on a pair of Panters errors and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Lanee Cole. Maddie Glade reached on a bunt single with Setchell holding at third. Hjerpe followed with a triple to score two and Finley Brodbeck knocked in Hjerpe with a base hit.

“Coach Baker is always telling us to have confidence in ourselves,” Hjerpe said. “I had confidence I could get a hit in that situation, but I wanted to make sure I swung at my pitch. I took the first pitch to let the runner steal second and then the next one was right down the middle.

“I was just happy I could through for my teammates.”

“In the fourth we were able to get on base and then Anna came up with a huge hit and Finley followed that up,” Baker said. “I felt less nervous having a three-run lead going to the fifth with how Maddie was pitching.”

Serena added a run in the fifth as RayElle Brennan singled to right, stole second, moved to third on a sac bunt by Brynley Glade, and scored on an infield single by Setchell.

GSW had singles by Ella Mack in the fourth and Maddie Sims in the sixth, but no Panthers advanced past second base.

Sims allowed seven hits, three earned runs with one walk and three strikeouts.

“The one positive from today was that even after Serena got those three runs our girls were still staying in the game mentally,” GSW coach Amber Eisha said. “We battled all game, but we just weren’t able to really get anything going offensively.

“Maddie really pitched well for us. She pitched a complete game with 17 strikeouts (on Thursday) and then came back today with another good performance. We’ve put pressure on her to be our girl in the circle, our workhorse, and she’s handled that so well. We just weren’t able to get her any runs today.”