Freshman's key bunt sends Danville to state Final Four

Youths are often referred to leaders of the future.

Freshman Morgan Hinkens didn’t need to wait on the future to show what she’s capable of doing. She delivered Saturday for the Danville softball team, making the play of the day and leading the Blue Devils to the state tournament with a 1-0 victory over New Madison Tri-Village in the Div. VI regional finals at Bellefontaine.

With two runners on base in the sixth inning, Hinkens laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt that eluded Tri-Village fielders and scored Kaylee Martin for the only run of the game.

“It feels amazing (advancing to state),” Hinkens said. “I was trying to get it (the bunt) where she (Tri-Village pitcher Elizabeth Poling) couldn’t reach it. I was trying to just get a sacrifice bunt, but I got it past her and we scored a run. I was very nervous, but it makes me feel good about myself to do that.”

“Morgan, I don’t remember what she did the first two at bats (struck out both times), but it wasn’t what she wanted. She came into the dugout, saying ‘I’ve got to do better.’ I told her that her time was coming,” said Danville coach Charlie Duncan. “When we called that (sacrifice bunt), I knew there was nobody better. She put it right where she needed to. She did exactly what we wanted her to do at the time we needed her to do it. That kid is special.”

The victory puts the Blue Devils (23-5) in the state tournament for the third time in school history. They will take on Dalton (23-5) on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Akron’s Firestone Stadium for a shot to advance to the state championship game on Thursday.

Danville had been nibbling at opportunities for runs throughout the first few innings but weren’t able to get the timely hits needed to plate a runner. The Devils got a runner to third base in the third inning and twice had a runner at second.

In the sixth inning, they finally broke through.

Martin reached safely on an error to begin the inning, then moved to second on a single by Addy Bocock. After a pop-out, Hinkens came to the plate. Her sacrifice bunt bounced between the third baseman and pitcher, rolling right to where the shortstop normally plays. With her covering third on the play, Martin was able to race home with what proved to be the game-winning run.

“It’s awesome. These kids have worked so hard. The last couple of years, we’ve been so close. We knew we’ve had the team to do it (make state). It took some people doubting us to push us to that next level,” Duncan said. “This year, we have a handful of seniors, no juniors, two sophomores and five freshmen and we’re like, ‘let’s roll.’ Every challenge that’s been put in front of them, they’ve stepped up to the plate.

“These last couple of weeks they’ve been clicking. They care for each other. I see when one girl makes the play, the other girls are cheering them on, telling them good job. It’s special to watch.”

Hinkens’ opportunity to win was set up by the strong pitching of Bocock. The senior has been on fire this year and didn’t slow down Saturday. After ringing the first pitch off the backstop, she struck out the first 11 batters of the day and 16 overall, allowing just two hits and one walk.

“(This is) crazy. I did not expect this at all. We knew we had a chance, but we knew it was going to be very tough. I’m just very excited and I can’t wait (for state),” Bocock said. “That mound is a little bit elevated, so I had to work really hard to get my pitches down. I struggled a lot with that during the game, but it seemed to work in my favor. A lot of girls chased the high ones.”

“She (Bocock) was definitely on. She was in the zone. I could tell from practice, she came in ready to roll. She was talking, ‘we’re going to do this, we’re going to do that.’ She looked at our scouting report and said this is what we’re going to do. She was being a true leader. All the way on the bus ride here,” Duncan said. “Even when she didn’t get (calls on) some of those strikes, I saw her point to Morgan (the catcher) and said keep working kid, you’re doing the job. Hats off to her today.

“I could tell she had a little extra in her. The first pitch hit the backstop and I’m like, ‘uh oh, I hope it’s not too much juice.’ Then she turned it down and was spot on after that.”

Offensively, the Devils managed just five hits on the day — one singles each from Bocock, Hinkens, Dalayna Parker, Liz John and Ryleigh Geog.

The victory continues the trend of making it to state every nine years. Danville won the state tournament in 2008, then finished as runner-up in 2017, and now have a shot at another title.

“We’re very excited. This is what we dreamed of. After every game, (other seniors) Ruby (Bartok) and Taylor (Meade) are the first ones I go to. We’re just so excited and we want to keep going forward. We’re so close, we’ve just got to finish it,” Bocock said.