Richmond-Burton’s Hailey Holtz throws perfect game, breaks team’s strikeout record in playoff-opening win

RICHMOND – Hailey Holtz burst onto the scene as a freshman three springs ago, already armed with a devastating riseball that had batters flailing at pitches and looking foolish.

In her first game, the Richmond-Burton freshman sensation fired 15 strikeouts.

The whiffs haven’t stopped coming.

On Thursday, Holtz, now a senior, continued to make batters look silly on her way to Rockets’ history.

The NCAA Division-I Iowa State commit became R-B’s all-time record holder for strikeouts, striking out the first 13 batters while also facing the minimum in an 8-0 win over Marian Central in a Class 2A Richmond-Burton Regional semifinal.

Holtz finished with 17 strikeouts, throwing 61 of 83 pitches for strikes, in her first perfect game of the year.

“It’s been something I’ve been working towards since the beginning of the season,” Holtz said of breaking the record. “Sophomore year kind of set me back. I didn’t have a great sophomore year, so coming into the season I knew it was going to be all or nothing. I had to give it my all in order to get it. I knew it was going to come down to the wire.

“I’m so honored to have it and hold it.”

Holtz entered the playoff opener tied with 2003 graduate Jory Bodi with 874 career strikeouts. She needed only four pitches to strike out the first batter, at which point junior catcher Rebecca Lanz tossed the ball aside to coaches inside the dugout and walked to the pitcher’s circle and gave her record-setting pitcher a hug before her teammates joined in.

“It’s awesome to catch for her,” said Lanz, the Rockets’ catcher for the past two seasons. “You can tell by her body language. She’s always calm and focused. She never gets jittery or anything.

“If she misses a spot, the next one she dials back in. She always looks confident out there.”

Richmond-Burton (21-9-1), too, had its hands full with Marian Central pitcher Christine Chmiel, who entered with 226 strikeouts on the season. The Hurricanes junior struck out 13 in a complete-game effort, but the Rockets got to her on a Holtz RBI double in the bottom of the fourth inning and scored four more in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead.

Holtz finished 3 for 4 with three RBIs, Lanz (2 for 4) had two RBIs and Emerson Herrick went 2 for 2 with one RBI. Ellie Smith also drove in a run for the Rockets, while Lilly Kwapniewski had two stolen bases and two runs scored.

Richmond-Burton coach Tylar Stanton was worried a long layoff between games could play a factor. Rain delayed the playoff opener by two days, with the Rockets last playing May 14: a 1-0, nine-inning loss to Harvard. Holtz had 19 strikeouts in that game and allowed one hit.

Holtz’s 11-pitch first inning with three strikeouts, however, was a good sign that the time off wouldn’t be a problem.

“That was perfection,” Stanton said. “She can’t strike out every single batter, but she was pretty darn close today. Normally I would talk to her during the school day and say, ‘How are you feeling?’ Today it was, ‘Are you rested?’ Because we haven’t played since (last) Wednesday. The rest did her good and it did our defense as well. She was dominant.”

After Holtz struck out the first batter of the fifth inning for her 13th strikeout in a row, the Rockets’ defense did its part to make sure the perfect game stayed intact.

Second baseman Gracie Johnson ranged far to her left on a groundball off the bat of Vivianna Lara for the second out. Then, third baseman Gabby Hird ran in to field a bunt by Kaylie Kowalsky and threw over to first for the last out as the Hurricanes tried anything to get a hit.

“She kept us off balance,” Marian coach Paul Sandall said. “Her screwball was working, her riseball was working, and we couldn’t put a bat on the ball. She made us look a little silly a few times, but she’s a good pitcher and that’s what she does.”

The Hurricanes finished the season 13-10, taking runner-up to Bishop McNamara in the Chicagoland Christian Conference.

“These girls are a pleasure to coach,” Sandall said. “There’s not a mean bone in any one of their bodies. They’re always energetic; they always have each other’s backs.”

Marian only has two seniors – Lina Conner and Abby Ziolkowski – and will return Chmiel for her senior year.

“We keep building every year,” Chmiel said. “We’ll have six or seven juniors back. We’ve all been so close this year, and I feel like we’ll be able to lead the team to more.”

Richmond-Burton will face the winner of Friday’s semifinal between Johnsburg and North Boone for the regional title at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Rockets will try and win their fifth regional championship in a row.

“That’s one of the goals we’ve all really been working towards,” said Holtz, who will enter the game with 891 career strikeouts. “That would just solidify all of our hard work.

“After that, we want to keep pushing and see how far we can go.”