EAST LANSING – A pitching duel broke out between Mendon’s Rowan Allen and Hillman’s Gretchen Weiland in Friday’s first Division 4 Semifinal.

Allen got the best of it, and her strikeout to end the game sent Mendon to the championship game and a chance to repeat.

The Hornets (31-3) survived to edge Hillman 2-1 at Secchia Stadium and will play Brown City in Saturday’s Division 4 Final at 5:30 p.m.

“As soon as I got it, and I knew we were going back-to-back (to the championship game), it was the best feeling,” said Allen, who scattered five hits over seven innings of work and struck out eight.

“As a senior it feels awesome to be able to play for another state title.”

Mendon entered the final inning up 2-0 after single runs in the first and fourth innings, but Hillman closed the gap.

Allen struck out two of the final three batters to secure the win. 

“It was a big stressful situation, but I knew I just had to take some deep breaths and do my job because I knew my team was going to back me up,” Allen said.

The matchup pitted the top-two ranked teams in Division 4 and was a rematch of last year’s Semifinal, which Mendon won 4-2 en route to the championship.

Hillman senior pitcher Gretchen Weiland was dominant Friday and kept the Tigers in the game with 14 strikeouts.

She allowed only three hits and one earned run.

“If you ask me, you just watched the best two pitchers in Division 4,” Mendon co-coach Mike Smith said. “Gretchen is a stud, and she's done a fantastic job all four years. And Rowan's body of work speaks for itself. Just unbelievable.

“A lot of stress in that last inning, but these girls have battled all year and they had nerves of steel.”

The Hornets prevailed despite managing only three hits.

A first-inning RBI single from Cienna Nightingale put Mendon up 1-0. The Hornets tacked on another run in the fourth when Nightingale tripled and scored on a ground out.

“As a team we think ‘win the inning,’” Allen said. “We wanted to get on top early and then just win each inning. We did the best we could, and we wouldn’t give up.”

Hillman didn’t go away quietly in the final frame.  

Madelyn Oswald smacked a one-out triple and then scored on an error to make it 2-1. 

A two-out single from Payton Banks put two runners on base, but they were stranded after the final strikeout. 

Hillman, which outhit Mendon 5-3, was making its third-straight trip to the Semifinals and finished 33-10. 

“Mendon is a good team,” Tigers coach Jason Weiland said. “But I think we are a little more than just up-north good. These girls came hard, and we just fell short offensively. We came back at the end and tried to manufacture some runs, but I couldn’t be more proud of these girls and the team and the sisterhood we’ve created these years.

“The girls are going to remember this for a lifetime, and the bar is raised for these girls now that we’ve been here three years in a row.”

Mendon has the opportunity to join its football and volleyball programs among those that have won back-to-back championships for the school.

“To add softball would be very special,” Smith said.

Click for the full box score.

Brown City 7, Fowler 1

Senior pitcher Maddie Hohne has been a standout player all season for the Brown City softball team.

However, in Friday’s second Division 4 Semifinal, she played like Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani with her two-way performance.

Hohne shined on the circle and at the plate in helping lead the Green Devils to a resounding win over Fowler.

“She’s played a lot of good games this year, but she played her best game of the year today,” Brown City coach Scott Parr said. “She was phenomenal, and I will say flawless. She hit her spots better than she has all year, and I’m proud of that kid for her pitching and what she did at the plate.”

Hohne allowed one run on two hits over seven innings while striking out 13 batters.

At the plate, she went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

“Honestly, I think it was my best game,” said Hohne, who didn’t issue a walk and threw 95 pitches. “It was a different feeling today. It was like, ‘You deserve to be here so show that you deserve to be here.’ I’ve been struggling at the plate, so it feels better to have the confidence back.”

The Green Devils will make their first appearance in a Final.

“This is surreal, and this is an unbelievable feeling right now,” Parr said. “My girls were just pumped and they never get down. I can’t say enough about these kids, and their energy is contagious. The way these girls are playing right now … there’s not a doubt in my mind we can win.” 

Junior Sydney Maybee homered in the top of third inning to put Brown City on the board, but Fowler rebounded with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning on a two-out RBI single from senior Selena Stump.

From there it was all Brown City, as it scored four runs on five hits in the fourth inning.

The Green Devils, who banged out 14 hits, added two more in the fifth on a throwing error.

“I knew as soon as we hit the home run that this was our day,” Parr said. “They just kept hitting the ball, and we knew they were going to hit well. They wanted to be here. They wanted to win Regionals, they wanted to win Quarterfinals and so why not win a Semifinal game. That’s where we are at.”

Hohne, who returned this season from a torn ACL, appreciated the run support from her teammates.

“Pitching without a cushion is just hard and you’re more stressed, so when these girls started getting on base I knew we had this,” she said. “I love them so much, and I was so excited to come back this year after my injury and be with these girls.”

The Eagles returned to the Semifinals for the first time since 2014 and also were looking to play in the program’s first Final. 

Stump had both of Fowler’s hits.

“As soon as they (Brown City) won I jumped right into my coaching duties and scouted them,” Eagles coach Brian Miller said. “I watched three different games and in all three games they were solid, so I knew when we came in here they were going to be a tough team.  

“They have a great pitcher, and we just had an off day at the plate and had a couple errors in the outfield. But it’s a huge accomplishment to come back here, and they can be proud of that.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Mendon’s Rowan Allen makes her move toward the plate during her team’s Division 4 Semifinal win over Hillman on Friday. (Middle) Brown City pitcher Maddie Hohne winds up to throw a pitch.