Two down, one to go.

The Chesterton softball team exploded offensively Thursday night en route to a 13-3 Sectional Semifinal victory against Hobart. The Trojans will face Crown Point, a 4-3 winner over Portage, tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the Finals.

“I’ll take the win,” Chesterton coach LouAnn Hopson said.

Hobart took an early 1-0 lead thanks to two Chesterton errors, but the Trojans responded immediately.

After two quick outs in the bottom of the first, Megan Matheny reached on an error. A walk to Sydney Cooley was followed by a two-run double by Mallory McKee. McKee scored on Amanda Dujmovich’s single.

A triple by Jill Bohnert scored Dujmovich and Sarah Richards finished the inning with a two-run home run.

“I worried a little in that first inning when we gave up that run with a couple of mistakes and errors, but to come back and put some runs on the board kind of calmed everybody down,” Hopson said.

Chesterton put two more runs on the board in the third when Shelby Carter and Megan Tymorek reached on fielders choices. A double by Sammie Howard plated Carter and courtesy runner Alexa Olson for an 8-1 lead.

The Trojans slammed the door offensively with five more runs in the fourth as Cooley led off with a solo home run. A one-out home run by Dujmovich followed and then three consecutive singles by Bohnert, Richards and Sierra LaFreniere kept the rally going.

Tymorek doubled to score Bohnert and Richards. Howard’s single scored Olson to finish the scoring.

“It’s seems to be contagious,” Hopson said. “I just hope if it doesn’t go well, it’s not contagious. Hitting and defense can be that way sometimes.

“We’ve got 20 home runs on the season by six or seven different kids. We’re capable, but we’ll need to hit a lot more line drives.”

Hobart added a two-run home run by Hannah Spence in the fifth, but it was too little, too late.

Tonight the Trojans will have to solve a Crown Point riddle that has one-hit them two of the last three times they’ve played.

“We can’t hit the ball hoping the wind takes it against Crown Point,” Hopson said. “Twice they’ve one-hit us because we didn’t pick the best pitch and hit it straight up. They’ve got good hitters so Megan will have to be good and the defense will have to hold up.

“Should be a great game.”

SCORING BY INNINGS

Hobart 100 02 -- 3 2 3

Chesterton 602 5x -- 13 15 3

2B -- Mallory McKee, Sammie Howard, Megan Tymorek ©. 3B -- Jill Bohnert ©. HR -- Hannah Spence (H); Sarah Richards, Sydney Cooley, Amanda Dujmovich ©. Pitching Summary -- Hobart -- Dana Claussen (3.2 IP, 14 H, 1 K, 1 BB), Jasmine Suarez (.1 IP, 1 H, 1 K, 0 BB); Chesterton -- Megan Tymorek (5 IP, 2 H, 9 K, 1 BB). WP -- Tymorek. LP -- Claussen.

Posted 5/25/2012